The most joyful Archibald painting

Lidcombe artist Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran has had a stellar year, being named a finalist in three of the most prestigious Australian art prizes.

Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran with his Sulman Prize piece Transforming into a multi limbed figure. Pictures: John Appleyard

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Among the sea of serious portraits in this year’s Archibald Prize, a vibrant self-portrait of a man with multiple limbs and a wide smile stands out.

Lidcombe artist Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran’s painting Multi-Limbed Self Portrait (After Ceramic Figures), one of the finalists in the country’s most prestigious art prize, is an imaginativedepiction of himself.

“I think portraiture is often a very kind of heavy, loaded, genre or art so I wanted to do something imaginative, a bit fun and celebratory rather than weighty and heavy,” he said.

Nithiyendran is one of only 12 artists who have the prestigious nod of being named finalists in more than one prize; in addition to the Archibald, he was named a Sulman Prize finalist for his piece Transforming into a Multi-Limbed Figure.

Ramesh with his Archibald piece.

His piece for the Sulman Prize, which he was also a finalist in last year, shows a human encountering a multi-limbed figure in a tropical landscape.

“It’s presenting this imagine narrative about transforming into this multi-limbed deity figure,” he said.

The University of NSW lecturer, who was also a finalist in the $100,000 Ramsay Art Prize this year, created both pieces at the Parramatta Artists Studios’ Rydalmere site where he was one of the inaugural residents.

The award-winning artist said being named a finalist in the Archibald Prize was unexpected.

“It was actually pretty surprising,” he said.

“I think mainly because, I don’t mean this in a derogatory way, but I think the Archibald is generally quite conservative in terms of subject matter and style and I think the work I made is not a conventional portrait, it’s not naturalistic.”

Nithiyendran said “when you think about contemporary art it can be anything”.

Sulman Prize judge Fiona Lowry, who won the Archibald in 2014 and was painted by Benjamin Aitken in this year’s competition, said choosing finalists was a challenging process.

“For me it’s just something that really speaks to me in some way,” she said.

“It’s really something that I’m responding to that makes a successful painting.”

The finalists’ work will be on display at the Art Gallery of NSW until September 8.

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