Archibald packers pick Waititi portrait for category prize
SYDNEY: For selftaught New Zealandborn artist Claus Stangl, getting Academy Awardwinning director Taika Waititi to pose for his prizewinning portrait was a lucky coincidence.
Stangl yesterday took out the $A3000 ($NZ3320) Packing Room Prize, an Archibald Prize category judged by gallery staff who receive, unpack and hang the works for Australia’s leading portaiture awards.
The Sydney artist, who saw portraitpainting as a way to — if you are lucky — meet people you really admire, said he took a shot in the dark at coaxing the filmmaker into a studio.
Waititi agreed to sit for him in June last year while he was in Sydney making the film Thor: Love and
Thunder.
‘‘He’s one of my favourite writers. His scripts are just beautiful,’’ Stangl said.
‘‘It was really fortunate. I knew if I reached out to him whilst the last Archibald was going, I might get a little window of time when he’s in the country.’’
Stangl’s creative partner Stuart Miller happened to know Neil Sharma, who worked with Waititi on Thor, so the artist managed to send through some ideas on how they should approach the portrait.
He settled on a 3D style to express Waititi’s playfulness, wit and charm, he said. — AAP