The people have spoken and the Archibald Prize judges got it wrong. Again.

Melbourne artist Vincent Fantauzzo’s “honest and simple” portrait of girlfriend and Gold Logie winner Asher Keddie has won the Archibald People’s Choice Award, announced Thursday at the Art Gallery of NSW.

“I had so many ideas about how to paint it that I didn’t quite know which way to go,” Fantauzzo said. “In the end I decided it needed to be honest and simple. A face can display so much emotion and Asher’s eyes tell you so much of the story.”

It is Fantauzzo’s fifth time as an Archibald Prize finalist and his third People’s Choice award, following wins in 2008 and 2009 for paintings of actor Heath Ledger and child actor Brandon Walters.

His portrait of chef Matt Moran won the 2011 Packing Room Prize.

In March the Archibald judges declared Del Kathryn Barton’s portrait of Hugo Weaving as the winner of this year’s $75,000 prize.

Only twice have the people and the judges seen eye to eye: in 1988 with Fred Cress’ portrait of John Beard and in 2004 with Craig Ruddy’s portrait David Gulpilil – Two Worlds when the portraits won both prizes.

This year’s People’s Choice attracted 21,141 votes from gallery visitors.

Also announced were the winners of the inaugural Young Archie competition for budding five- to 18-year-old artists, judged by 2011 Archibald winner Ben Quilty and Victoria Collings, the AGNSW’s senior co-ordinator of education and family programs.

The four winners in four age categories were Liam Williamson, 7, Archibald Hyles, 10, Max Fontaine, 13 and Angela Yang, 17.

Article via The Age

Vincent Fantauzzo’s subject is his sweetheart, actor Asher Keddie who he met last year through their mutual friend, celebrity chef Matt Moran.

Keddie is one of Australia’s most popular actors, best known for her award-winning performances in television shows Offspring and Paper giants: the birth of Cleo in which she played Ita Buttrose.

‘I had so many ideas about how to paint it that I didn’t quite know which way to go,’ says Fantauzzo. ‘In the end I decided it needed to be honest and simple. A face can display so much emotion and Asher’s eyes tell you so much of the story.’

Arriving home late one evening, Keddie gave Fantauzzo a look, which proved to be the key to the portrait. ‘I knew she’d had a hard day and so was relieved to be home,’ says Fantauzzo. ‘It was a look of real happiness.’

The wash that Fantauzzo has used for the background represents the chaos of a hectic life. Against that Keddie is a picture of composure and contentment.

Renowned as a portrait artist, this is Fantauzzo’s fifth time as an Archibald Prize finalist. He won the 2011 Packing Room Prize with a painting of Matt Moran and the People’s Choice Award in 2008 and 2009 for paintings of actor Heath Ledger and child actor Brandon Walters from the film Australia. His portrait of Ledger was highly commended by the judges.

Article via the Art Gallery of NSW

But the Collingwood favourite’s off-field charity work brought him to the attention of acclaimed Melbourne painter Vincent Fantauzzo.

Now O’Brien will be the first of 30 well-known faces painted in 30 days for an exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria opening today.

“I had heard of Vincent before and seen his work, so it’s a huge honour to be painted,” O’Brien said.

“It’s the first time someone has painted me. I never thought I’d be a work of art, but Vincent can make anything look great.”

Fantauzzo – best-known for his Archibald Prize portraits of Heath Ledger and Matt Moran – is keeping most of his 30 subjects a surprise, but confirms others include Bob Hawke, Baz Luhrmann and Kimbra.

Using photographs, he will paint a new 60cm x 40cm portrait each day, to be hung at the Federation Square gallery alongside a video of each subject revealing their inspiration in life.

“The idea is that they’re all inspirational people, so I’m asking them what drives or inspires them,” Fantauzzo, 34, said.

“I want to break down that barrier between the general public and the art community. People who are interested in these people can come in and appreciate art.”

Fantauzzo has previously done the 30-portraits-in-30-days challenge in Hong Kong and New York.

A 10-metre mural of those works will be part of this exhibition and patrons will be able to use supplied art materials to create and hang their own portraits.

The exhibition is in aid of the charity Lucid, which helps people with drug and alcohol addiction.

Metro Gallery is delighted to welcome acclaimed Australian artist, Vincent Fantauzzo, into its stable of artists.

The winner of the 2011 Metro Art Award will present his first solo exhibition at Metro Gallery in September after joining the gallery this week.

Vincent Fantauzzo rose to prominence in 2008 with his Archibald Prize entry, a haunting portrait of the late Heath Ledger, that won the artist his first of two consecutive People’s Choice awards.

Last year the 34 year old Melbourne artist claimed a trifecta of coveted Australian art awards. They included the world’s most lucrative portrait prize, the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize, for his depiction of director, Baz Luhrmann, the Archibald Packing Room Prize and Australia’s richest award for emerging young talent, the Metro Art Award.

Vincent joins leading emerging and established artists represented by Metro Gallery including John Olsen, Michael Peck, Criss Canning, D*Face, Hush and ABOVE.

“Metro Gallery is committed to supporting and nurturing artistic talent in Australia. We’re privileged to welcome Vincent Fantauzzo into the fold and are excited to present a solo exhibition of work later this year.” said Metro Gallery Director, Alex McCulloch.

Renowned for his portrait work, Vincent Fantauzzo’s art has been likened to cinematic stills, with a stunning level of detail and accuracy that carries emotive, powerful and striking honesty. Through the use of contrasting elements of light and dark, shadows and colours, he creates a depth that heightens the narrative’s realism and theatrical effect.

Unable to read well as a child and later kicked out of school, Fantauzzo was drawn into the world of storytelling through film, inspired by the idea that imagination is more important than knowledge.

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“In the same way an art gallery space can sometimes isolate its audience, fashion shows can make people feel, ‘How do I turn up? How do I dress? Can I be myself? Can I have an opinion?’,” concedes Vincent Fantauzzo, one of Australia’s most celebrated portrait artists, sometime model, movie-maker and L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival regular.

That’s why, this year, LMFF has enlisted nine local ambassadors or “Friends of the Festival” — including ballet dancer Andrew Killian, models Nicole Truniio and Alexandra Agoston, DJ Andy Murphy, restaurateur Sharon van Haandel and Fantauzzo — to highlight the natural relationship between fashion and creative opinion.

“It’s about making people feel comfortable about expressing themselves not just through clothes, but by crossing over boundaries like art and music,” explains the softly spoken 34-year-old, who became something of a household name with his People’s Choice Award-winning Archibald portrait of friend Heath Ledger in 2008, then last year clinched the world’s richest portrait prize — the Doug Moran — with an image of his close friend Baz Luhrmann.

“There are no boundaries across the arts spectrum anymore. Creative people often have a strong personal style or taste and a good eye for things — for example, often someone who dresses well will know how to furnish their house well,” he says, referencing several of his multi-talented creative buddies — celebrity chef Matt Moran, supermodel Jessica Hart and Luhrmann — throughout our conversation.

Birmingham-born Fantauzzo, who moved to Melbourne as a boy and still lives there with his beautiful wife, Michelle, and son, Luca, is well placed to be an expert on this “‘multi-hat” phenomenon despite having had a rocky start at working life after leaving school at age 14 with undiagnosed dyslexia, before he tried art school in his twenties and eventually graduated with a master’s. He will soon co-direct a feature film, the remake of 1960 Hollywood-meets-Hong Kong classic The World of Sizzle Wong, based on the 1957 book of the same name, for Paramount. “Most of the inspiration for my painting comes from film and photography,” he offers by way of explanation.

The business side of movie-making, however, he’s leaving to the experts, including Kim Ledger, father of Heath, with whom he’s still close. “He’s got great connections in the industry and he’s really passionate about it. Honestly, I can’t even produce lunch,” he says.

Adding to his work commitments this year is an exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria, along the same lines as his marathon 30 Portraits 30 Days NYC project in New York. (each day he painted someone new, with each subject — including random New Yorkers, but also the likes of Hart, model Chanel Iman and New York fashion week doyenne Fern Mallis — pointing him to the next day’s subject), to raise money for a charity organisation called Lucid that helps people with drug and alcohol addiction.

“In Australia I want to focus on painting inspirational people. I don’t want to plan it too much yet; I want the result to still be organic.” He’s also hoping to complete two 2012 Archibald entries, one of Silverchair front man Daniel Johns (“He’s a little outrageous, but just so committed to and passionate about what he does”) and the other of singer Kimbra.

“Ideally, I’d love the two of them to collaborate on something musically, then I’d paint them together,” he says.

Fantauzzo also directed a video and photographic package submission for the International Emerging Fashion. Talent Award (IEFTS), hosted by the British Fashion Council last month during London fashion week. Instigated by LMFF arid entitled The New Antipodeans, it showcased designers Christopher Esber, above, Dress Up, Song for the Mute and limedrop.

But the Melbourne festival says Fantauzzo, will be nothing but fun. “I’m excited that I can turn up to events that are just down the street from my house, drink champagne and look at models,” he jokes. ‘Seriously, this festival is a great event about culture and fashion. which should include everybody It lets people say, ‘Fashion’s not my scene, but I can be involved.’ You can just go and do some people-watching if you want.

This article appeared in Harper’s BAZAAR – April Issue – click here to see the full version

The Build Up (originally 8 minutes) off Kimbra’s new album, Vows is something rather special.

It delivers the haunting, melancholic tone which is then dripped in raw felt lyrics and beautifully controlled vocals. This song in particular reminds me of Princess Mononoke, one of my favourite films that has a great film score composed by Joe Hisaishi.

It shows a brave move from Kimbra, considering the rest her album is glazed in catchy nu-jazz sounds, and for me, personally, it makes me respect her more as an artist, knowing how developed and confident she is with her music.

FABRIC SOUND.

On each window Fantauzzo has created visual narratives in which are displayed the looks created by the most promising fashion designers such as Above Label, Christopher Esber, Limedrop, Dress Up and Song for the Mute. A visual narrative that brings fashion to the city in a direct way and visible from everybody walking to get to Somerset House.

Italian Vogue

No. In fact, Australian fashion is sometimes sophisticated beyond imagining. Since design pioneers such as Linda Jackson and Jenny Kee took the first experimental steps into an “Australian aesthetic” in the 1970s and ’80s (Linda Jackson Bush Couture is on at the NGV’s Ian Potter Centre until September) a stream of fashion creatives – Toni Maticevski, Anna Plunkett and Luke Sales (Romance Was Born), Dion Lee, Scanlan & Theodore, Sarah-Jane Clarke and Heidi Middleton (sass & bide) and Christopher Esber among the most recent – tapped deeply into global themes and the Zeitgeist.

Yet, Aussie fashion still has “something” that, for example, made three fashionably dressed Melbourne girls I know of recognisable as just that – Australian – on the streets of San Francisco, Tokyo and Paris in recent years. “Maybe it’s that fine line [Aussie designers] walk,” Fantauzzo says. “They create something that’s quite elaborate but, depending on how you put it on, it can look really out there or it can be quite wearable. It’s your choice.” Maybe that’s it: unique, chameleon concepts that fit the wearer’s mood and, in a subtle way, say “Australian” to the beholder.

Fantauzzo was plunged into speculation about an Aussie fashion aesthetic by the L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival. Fantauzzo is one of several “faces” representing the event (March 8-15) and although it’s not usually a gig that requires more than turning up and looking cool, Fantauzzo’s reputation as an artist was, apparently, too good not to exploit. Festival organisers commissioned him to photograph five carefully chosen local fashion brands in a way that would make them stand out in the world. Fantauzzo’s subsequent short film and stills, titled The New Antipodeans, feature garments from ground-breaking fashion brands Song for the Mute (designers Lyna Ty and Melvin Tanaya won last year’s LMFF Designer Award), Christopher Esber, Above, Dress Up and Limedrop.

It’s Australia’s submission to the British Fashion Council’s inaugural International Fashion Showcase for emerging talent, a rare chance for one country’s cutting-edge designers to rocket-fuel their careers and possibly be lauded as a source of future trends. On Monday night (Tuesday, Australian time), festival chief executive Graeme Lewsey and chairman Laura Anderson will present the film, stills and an installation of garments to a room full of movers and shakers at a cocktail party at Australia House, London, as part of London Fashion Week.

Fantauzzo’s vision is realised in a moody, soft-lit clip with a breathy, original backtrack and suggestive narrative; “The idea that getting dressed into these clothes is as sexy as undressing,” he says. “That these clothes actually make you feel as sexy and sensual as getting undressed.” There’s not a kangaroo or gumleaf within cooee, of course; instead, he trusted that something uniquely Australian might fizz up of its own accord from the efforts of his team of Aussie creatives, including film director Barney Howells, producer Luke Coulson with music by the 1200 Techniques crew. Whether it did, or not, you can judge on blog.lmff.com.au and by comparing the submission with others from countries just as intent on asserting an identity, at britishfashioncouncil.com/internationalfashionshowcase.

More than 80 designers from 19 nations including Botswana, Estonia, Croatia, the Caribbean, Italy, Japan and the US are competing in the award, to be decided by judges from the British Fashion Council, Victoria & Albert Museum, Vogue US, Royal College of Art and The Guardian. The winner will be announced on March 30 before the award’s heavy promotion via social media and the installations and events at the entrants’ respective London embassies. “It’s a significant opportunity for us to be scrutinised by major players in the international fashion circuit,” says the project manager for the Australian submission, Yolanda Finch. “Our designers have more than enough integrity to stack up on that stage.”

She says the designs are diverse but fuse harmoniously in Fantauzzo’s vision and plug into a “global visual language”. “It’s a mixed bag, just as Australia is a really mixed bag: Christopher Esber’s keen understanding of high end; Above’s more intellectual, subtle approach to basics; Limedrop’s quirky styles and playfulness …” Finch is particularly impressed by Esber, the young Sydney designer whose collection triggered a shock-and-awe response at his first Australian Fashion Week.

“We’ll be hearing a lot about him in the coming years,” she says but adds that any one of the five “New Antipodeans” has global star potential. “Future fashion could be driven [by] an Australian designer having a significant voice internationally,” she says. “There’s no barrier.” And, no kangaroos or gumleaves required.

Article Sydney Morning Herald

He has also won a multitude of art prizes including the Doug Moran Portrait Prize and the 2009 People’s Choice Award for his portrait of actor Brandon Walters from Baz Lurhmann’s film Australia.

In 2010 Vincent completed a month-long painting marathon in New York where he painted portraits of 30 identities including DJ Mark Ronson, former boxing champion Lennox Lewis and model Chanel Iman.

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