The 52 finalists of the 2022 Archibald prize have been revealed by the Art Gallery of NSW, which also announced the packing room prize-winner: a painting of Taika Waititi by Claus Stangl, as judged by the gallery staff who unpack and hang the entries. Here is a selection of this year’s finalists, including portraits by Anh Do, Wendy Sharpe, Vincent Namatjira and Kim Leutwyler. The full group can be seen atOn 13 May the winning painting will be announced.
This is the second time Claus Stangl has been an Archibald finalist. Of Waititi, he said: ‘I wanted to create a portrait that captured Taika’s sense of humour and to execute it in a playful cinematic style, reminiscent of the movies of the 1970s and ’80s that were playing when he was a child. After sharing some concepts with Taika, we landed on the idea of making a 3D-style portrait using the reds and greens from retro cardboard glasses.