A night at the gallery

Little did I think as I held our firstborn baby that one day I would see her art work hanging in the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

But there she was last night at the official opening of the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes.

And there we were, soaking up the atmosphere, sipping our champers and celebrating with Maz, our son-in-law Nathan and their friends.

Note:  My camera threw a hissie at being taken out on such a cold night and became quite temperamental. It produced blurry images and half the time took video shots when decidedly not asked to do so.  This is what really happened:   

Along with about 1,000 of our close personal friends, we listened to speeches from officials and politicians, buoyed by even more champagne and Matt Moran catered food.

At last we were invited to view the art works and the rush was on.  Artists and celebrities mingled with us mere mortals as we entered gallery after gallery of paintings on view for the first time.

The Wynne Prize was taken out by Michael Johnson (r) who was suitably chuffed with his win (no pun intended).  

Another entry in the Wynne which caught the eye.

It was difficult to get close to the Archibald winner Fiona Lowry's haunting portrait of architect Penelope Seidler.  It was a popular win and looks so much better viewed in reality than it comes across on the web.

The Sulman Prize was taken out by Andrew Sullivan with his wonderful entry T-rex (tyrant lizard king).  Do you notice what a gracious person I am, considering he was in competition with my daughter?

What Death Leaves Behind

  

I was so happy to finally meet an artist I have admired, Jason Moad who flew up from Melbourne with his wife Peggy to attend the opening.  His beautiful painting was quite poignant - I loved it.

We took one last look at our daughter's entry before braving the winter winds to drive home.  If pride is one of the seven deadly sins, then I stand guilty.