Manu brings the sauce to portrait sitting

A CHEEKY photorealistic portrait of chef Manu Feildel “sizzling” in a large saucepan has won the top prize in the 2018 Hunters Hill Art Exhibition.

Photorealistic painting Bon Appetit, by Gladesville artist Mertim Gokalp.

A CHEEKY portrait of chef Manu Feildel “sizzling” in a large saucepan has won the top prize in the 2018 Hunters Hill Art Exhibition.

The photorealistic painting Bon Appetit, by Gladesville artist Mertim Gokalp, was awarded the 64th annual prize out of more than 380 finalists and 1000 entries.

It was the second year in a row the Turkish born painter has won the prize, and he said he was “pleasantly surprised”.

The portrait features Feildel, a French-born Australian chef best known for his role as a judge in television cooking competition My Kitchen Rules, in a huge saucepan on a stove, ladle in hand and looking directly at the artist.

Gokalp, who has also had work displayed in the Archibald and Black Swan Prize, said he aimed to engage viewers in a “humorous way”.

Another portrait Gokalp created of Feildel shaving with a kitchen knife won the $25,000 Kennedy Prize last year.

Gokalp and family with his Kennedy Prize winning portrait of Feildel.

This concept was a team effort from both artist and muse.

“When we saw each other, we both had a silly smile on our faces as we are both naughty boys and we have the same European sense of humour ... so we knew that we were about to embark on a journey that will produce an entertaining outcome,” Gokalp said.

Gokalp, who was introduced to Feildel through his close friend and Efendy chef Somer Sivrioglu, said they kept brainstorming ideas until they landed on the concept.

“And we decided to stop at this point as if we were to continue to brainstorm, we probably were going to come up with a crazy idea that the world was not ready for yet,” he said.

After coming up with the idea, the pair met in a restaurant where Feildel posed for Gokalp — although in a container rather than a pot.

Gokalp, pictured in 2015. Picture: Carly Earl

“We could not find a cooking pot big enough for him so we decided to use a transparent plastic container for him to sit in it,” Gokalp said.

The work was also part of the 2017 Archibald Salon de Refuses, S.H. Ervin Gallery’s “alternative” selection chosen from entries to the Archibald and Wynne Prizes that were not selected to the official display.

Gokalp said the underlying inspiration behind the painting was a recent modern composition of 1793 painting The Death of Marat he was commissioned to create.

“I am trained in a traditional fine arts academy in painting therefore I appreciate the classical paintings a lot,” he said.

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“I have painted a number of modern takes of classics such as Caravaggio’s The Entombment of Christ and The Incredulity of St Thomas.

“I also take commissions of family paintings and I create modern compositions with references to classical figures ... most recently I had David’s famous painting The Death of Marat ... and I believe this was the underlying inspiration behind Manu’s painting.”

The exhibition opened tonight and continues until Sunday, May 20, at Hunters Hill Town Hall and surrounding venues.

Details: huntershillart.com