Hobart artist Robert O’Connor wins the 2020 Glover Prize

A “piss-take” painting featuring a giant cooked lamb leg with peas, potato and gravy has taken out the prestigious Glover Prize — And the artist’s reaction is something to savour.

Hobart artist Robert O'Connor won the Glover Prize with his painting of a lamb dinner in a southern Tasmanian agricultural landscape. Picture: PATRICK GEE

ROBERT O’Connor says he was “trying to take the piss” when he entered his painting of a chunk of meat into the prestigious Glover prize.

Instead he became $50,000 richer after he was announced as the overall winner on Friday.

“I was trying to take the piss and I messed up,” the Hobart artist said.

“I can’t do anything right.”

Hobart artist Robert O'Connor won the Glover Prize with his painting of a lamb dinner in a southern Tasmanian agricultural landscape. Picture: PATRICK GEE

The painting features a giant cooked lamb leg with peas, potato and gravy in an agricultural Tasmanian landscape and at the bottom says: ‘somewhere near Oatlands’.

“It’s fun to paint big hunks of meat, it’s fun to try and disrupt a landscape prize by entering a hunk of meat into it.”

O’Connor learned how much money he had won part way through Friday’s press conference.

“I can’t imagine that much money,” he said.

“I make my own Nike sneakers, I don’t know anything about 50 grand.”

He said he would spend the money on his art and eating “actual food”.

O’Connor, whose work was selected from 563 entries, had no idea why he won.

“I was just trying to amuse myself really.”

He has entered the prize four times and has always tried to “undermine the landscape painting genre”.

Glover Prize judge Chris Saines. Picture: PATRICK GEE

Judge Chris Saines said O’Connor’s work combined “wonderful absurdity and brilliant painting”.

“If artists aren’t disrupting the norm, what are they doing?” he said.

“Isn’t that the job of artists, to get us to look again and think again? If artists are doing that, they’re doing important work. I think if they do it and pull the prize off, well that’s fantastic.”