Larger than life portrait packers a punch

A PORTRAIT of rock whiz Glenn A. Baker has taken the Packing Room Prize, the award that launches the Archibald Prize at the Art Gallery of NSW.

A TOWERING, black and white portrait of rock journalist Glenn A. Baker has taken the Packing Room Prize, the award that marks the launch of the Archibald Portrait Prize at the Art Gallery of NSW.

Baker, seen side on with trademark soft hat, glasses and a twinkle in his eye, gazes out from the painting benevolently.

The artist, who prefers to be known simply as Nafisa, said she chose black and white because it tended to be more dramatic.

"I wanted to capture Glenn's warmth and generosity," Nafisa said.

"Glenn doesn't hang out with celebrities and the elite and keep it to himself. He shares his experience with the public."

Baker said he liked the idea that there might be another dimension to the way people looked at him.

"But more than anything I respect Nafisa's artistry," he said.

"I respect her eye, and her view, and I am absolutely chuffed that she took what she saw and made it into such a fabulous piece of art."

The $1000 Packing Room Prize is adjudicated by gallery storeman Steve Peters, who has a predilection for portraits of entertainers (but not for picking the overall winners).

Only three of the 19 he has chosen have been from other fields, and the Packing Room Prize has never won the main Archibald.

Peters, who bumped into Baker at a Boz Scaggs concert a fortnight before the painting arrived, said it was a fantastic likeness. "And what a bloody good hat," Peters said.

"As soon as I saw the painting, I felt it had something extraordinary in it."

The Packing Room Prize was also chosen from 849 entries as one of the 35 finalists in the main Archibald Prize this year.

Other finalists span a wide range of styles, sizes and media.

They range from the impressionistic The squire -- portrait of Luke Sciberras by Robert Malherbe, to the ultra modern I wake up with Today! (Steven Jacobs), by Shane Bowden and Dean Reilly, which is essentially outlines of a face and shoulders.

The famous stare down from the walls of the gallery this year like attendees at a celebrity convention. A lifelike Kate Ceberano in boots and billowing dress was painted by Christine O'Hagan.

Journalist Peter Fitzsimons looks relaxed in his garden with a dog as seen by Peter Smeeth.

Director, screenwriter and cinematographer Warwick Thornton has been rendered in startling bronze hues by Craig Ruddy.

And a creased but serene Malcolm Fraser was painted by Robert Hannaford.

The winner of the $50,000 Archibald prize will be announced on March 26.