On the 24th of March this year, the winner of the Archibald prize was announced, and some poor painter fellow got his 30 second slot on the news, and walked away with a pretty lowly $35,000. I found this out via some Google research earlier today and was pretty surprised because on an annual basis there seems to be an awful lot of whinging about how the winner has broken the rules, or how the judges choice has only been the same as the People’s Choice twice in the 85 year history of the award. It’s seems it’s got to the point where the judges have to make a weird choice, just to keep the controversies bubbling along. 
This was not the winner. It’s what I liked. When I saw I could view the final 30 “paintings” (the 2005 winner was a charcoal drawing of an aboriginal actor, which was involved in a court case because it wasn’t technically a painting, though when it came down to it, the artist was said to have potentially used a non-visible paint wash underneath the main sketch – which clinched things) for free in my lunchbreak, I dragged Ash into Myer yesterday for a look. The sixth floor was only accessable by stairs, so it surprised me to see so many oldies up there – I think we were the only corporate types around. We didn’t have long, and I was determined to choose “my Archibald” but after 20 minutes I stepped away, baffled. They were all so different. I had to choose between classic photorealistic portaits, cartoonish exaggerations, modern art, and an aboriginal one that didn’t resemble a person or human. What is it that captures the soul of the person? It was all too hard, so I decided I was going to be childish and pick one that I liked the colour of, as I couldn’t just pick my favourite celebrity because the Cate Blanchett one was terrible. So, Phil Noyce got my pick, with apologies to Clover Moore, Martin Armiger and Gary McDonald. I think Ash liked the Julia Leigh and the Bin Zie ones. Have a look at them here (and vote!)