Face of 'has-been' takes prize that packs a jinx

CAN Packing Room Prize winner Raelene Sharp beat the Archibald hoodoo?

ACTOR John Wood admits he is no oil painting -- but a portrait of him has won the Packing Room Prize, chosen from finalists for the Archibald Prize for portraiture.

"I'm not exactly the world's most handsome man," Wood said at the Art Gallery of NSW in Sydney yesterday.

"It's wonderful that a relatively unknown painter, painting a portrait of a has-been, has managed to win such a prestigious prize."

The portrait, A Strength of Character by Raelene Sharp, caught the eye of storeman Steve Peters, who controls 51 per cent of the vote. But it's a mixed blessing for Sharp: in the 21 years that Peters has chosen the Packing Room Prize, he has yet to pick the Archibald winner.

His choice is traditionally viewed as a jinx for the award, in what Peters joked was "obviously an oversight" by the gallery trustees, who select the winner.

Sharp's portrait is hanging at the AGNSW alongside 40 other portraits selected as finalists.

"I've tried a couple of times to enter over the years and know what it feels like to be rejected," Sharp said.

"I now appreciate what it's like to be selected out of so many entries. It's mind boggling."

More than 830 portraits were entered for the Archibald this year.

Coming in a close second for the Packing Room Prize was Paul Newton with his portrait of Future Fund chairman David Gonski. Peters said it wasn't chosen because "a lot of people wouldn't know who he is".

Vincent Fantauzzo won the Packing Room Prize last year with a portrait of celebrity chef Matt Moran brandishing a butcher's knife. He is a finalist again this year with a painting of New Zealand-based singer Kimbra in a red dress.

Ben Quilty, who won the main prize last year with a portrait of the late Margaret Olley, is again a finalist with his portrait, Captain S after Afghanistan.

This year the AGNSW board of trustees has increased the main prize money by $25,000 to $75,000. Finalists were also announced yesterday for the $35,000 Wynne Prize for landscape painting or figurative sculpture, and the Sulman Prize, worth $30,000, for subject, genre or mural painting.

Another famous face to make this year's Archibald finalists is radio and television personality Father Bob Maguire. Painted by stencil artist Luke Cornish, the portrait depicts Father Bob with his characteristic scowl.

The Archibald Prize will be announced on March 30.