Who doesn’t love leftovers? The ‘reject’ show artists want to be in

When the Salon des Refuses was first staged in 1992, some of the artists chosen were reportedly irked to have work included in the Archibald Prize “reject” show.

Thirty-two years on, inclusion in the annual show – which makes its selection from the Archibald and Wynne prize “leftovers” – now carries prestige second only to being hung in the Archibald or Wynne.

SH Ervin Gallery director Jane Watters with some of this year’s Salon des Refuses selection.Credit: Janie Barrett

Jane Watters, one of the salon selectors and director the SH Ervin Gallery, likes to refer to the exhibition an “alternative vision” of the Archibald and Wynne.

In fact, tongue only partly in her cheek, Watters contends that being selected for the Salon is tougher than getting the nod in the Archibald.

“There are 57 works selected out of 1005 this year for the Archibald,” she says. “Our Archibald selection only got 38 out of [the remaining] 948 works. It’s actually harder to get in the salon than it is to get in the Archibald.”

However, when Watters calls artists to tell them they have been selected for the salon, the reaction can be unpredictable.

A detail from Wendy Sharpe’s ‘Self-Portrait With Improbable Beings’, which is hung in this year’s Salon des Refuses.Credit:

“I am the one that rings them up to tell them they’ve been picked for the salon, and then they go, ‘so you mean I’m not in the Archibald?’” she says. “I’ve been on the end of a few rants. I’ve had people screaming down the phone, ‘It’s the best painting I’ve ever done! What’s wrong with them?’

“But mostly artists are fairly sanguine and they know with 1000 entries, it’s always going to be a pretty hard task to get into either.”

Watters says one year an artist even rang to ask if he could skip the Archibald and enter the salon directly.

Christopher McVinish’s The Silent Street is in the Wynne section of the Salon des Refuses.Credit:

“I said, ‘I don’t think it works like that. I think you’ve actually got to be seen first and then come to us.’ ”

This year’s Salon des Refuses selection, made by Watters and Orange Regional Gallery director Brad Hammond, is as striking and diverse as ever with the usual sprinkling of big names, including former Archibald winners Wendy Sharpe and Tony Costa, with a substantial number of first-timers.

“To get on the walls anywhere in Sydney is great,” says Watters. “There are fewer and fewer commercial galleries and opportunities for artists to get their work seen. The Archibald gets 150,000 people through. So to get into anything connected with it and get a big audience to see your work is a great thing.”

Salon des Refuses is at the SH Ervin Gallery, Millers Point, until August 25