Julia Gutman wins $100,000 Archibald Prize with Montaigne portrait

Julia Gutman wins the $100,000 prize with her portrait of the singer songwriter Montaigne; the Wynne prize goes to APY Arts Centre Collective artist Zaachariaha Fielding.

Archibald Prize-winner Julia Gutman with her portrait of singer-songwriter Montaigne, titled Head in the Sky, Feet on the Ground. Picture: Getty Images

Sydney artist and Archibald Prize-winner Julia Gutman says her ­portrait of singer-songwriter Montaigne is a painting, although it includes collaged fabrics including denim, a tie-dye T-shirt and even an old blanket.

Gutman, a first-time Archibald finalist, was named winner of the $100,000 award at the Art Gallery of NSW on Friday.

The rules stipulate that the winning portrait be a painting.  “The form itself has come out of painting – I studied painting, I teach painting,” Gutman said.

Artist Zaachariaha Fielding's Inma won the Wynne prize.

“In terms of the way the figure is composed, it’s very close to the process of making an oil painting. This isn’t a traditional textile format – I’ve made it up and it’s come out of my painting practice.”

Gutman said she became friendly with Montaigne, real name Jess Cerro, a few years ago.

Friendship was at the heart of the portrait, which Gutman said became a collaborative project with her subject. “I love her work, and how she is just so unapologetically herself, and really defies genres,” she said of Montaigne.

“She is incredibly experimental. She is also very grounded and humble and normal. You don’t ­expect a pop star to hang out and play video games.”

Echoes of a teenage superstar, portrait of Daniel Johns by Matt Adnate.

The portrait, titled Head in the Sky, Feet on the Ground, shows Montaigne in a seated position with her knees raised. The pose was borrowed, Gutman said, from a famous painting by Austrian ­expressionist artist Egon Schiele, Seated Woman with Bent Knees.  “It’s a favourite painting of mine and it really questioned representations of gender,” Gutman said.

“Jess is queer, and I wanted to play off that history and that pose. It’s a beautiful painting, angular and soft at the same time.”

Cooking my famous Indulkana soup, self-portrait by Kaylene Whiskey

The caption for Gutman’s portrait says it is composed of oil paint, found textiles and embroidery on canvas. It included denim, lame, T-shirt fabric, a woollen jumper and an apron, Gutman said, and “every material that is included becomes part of the narrative of the work”.

Asked about the painted elements, Gutman said the “form of the canvas is oil painting”.

She said the portrait grew out of her painting practice, including Montaigne’s pose and the layered elements of the composition.

Montaigne said she was honoured to be the subject of Gutman’s prize-winning work.

“I sure didn’t see it coming; not because I don’t believe in Julia’s ­incredible talent and warm heart, but because you just never think this stuff is going to happen to you,” she said.

Archibald Prize finalists (Part 1)

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Archibald Prize finalists (Part 2)

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