Archibald Prize 2015 Finalists and Packing Room Prize Announced

Portraits aren’t all regal furs and awkward “Oh, didn’t see you there,” poses. They can be weird, abstract, figurative, unrecognisable, or downright adorable. That last one sums up French-born Sydney artist Bruno Jean Grasswill's portrait of Australian actor and The Castle legend Michael Caton, winner of the 2015 Packing Room Prize and one of the finalists for the Archibald Prize, announced today.

One of 47 artworks picked as Archie finalists in the Art Gallery of New South Wales' annual Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes, Grasswill's portrait of Caton took home a Packing Room cash prize of $1500, judged by the gallery staff who receive, unpack and hang the entries. There's no jousting sticks in sight, but we're pretty sure this one's going to go straight to a lucky gallery's pool room. Caton apparently congratulated the AGNSW packing room staff “on their excellent taste in art.” What a boss.

After 832 Archibald, 653 Wynne and 518 Sulman entries, this year, these 47 Archibald finalists are the top tier of artists trying to make us wake up and pay attention (whether for great or WTF reasons) to Australia’s big ol’ faces. It's not an easy task; capturing a realistic, unrelentingly vulnerable likeness of your own reflection, someone you’ve just met or one of your oldest buds takes a fair few stories, maybe a few beers and a willingness to tackle the intimidating notion of thinking up something new after decades of Archie winners.

There's a few standouts for us this year, which you can see when the exhibition opens to the public on July 18. There's this striking portrait of Australian fashion designer Jenny Kee by Carla Fletcher:

This pretty damn impressive self portrait of Australian artist and political activist Richard Bell:

Adam Alcorn's sharply figurative portrait of Sydney award-winning writer, comedian, podcaster and radio host Alice Fraser:

Julian Meagher's candy-coloured portrait of Daniel Johns:

And Stewart MacFarlane's got Corey Bernadi holding some kind of whip?

The Archibald Prize exhibition opens to the public at the AGNSW on Saturday, July 18. To view all the Archibald, Sulman and Wynne finalists, head over here.

Images: Archibald Prize, AGNSW.