10 April 2006
A Monash drawing tutor and Masters student has won Australia's richest portrait prize.
Peter Wegner won the $100,000 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize for his portrait of friend and muse Graeme Doyle, who he has painted more than 100 times since they met at art school in the 1980s.
"I never get sick of painting Graeme," Mr Wegner said. "He has such an interesting face. Recently I came across a series of etchings from the early eighties and l realized not only have l documented Graeme's changing moods, but it l have also documented my own way of seeing."
It was fourth time lucky for Mr Wegner, who has made the final shortlist three years in a row before triumphing this year over 36 finalists from more than 423 entries.
Mr Wegner's win with Wounded Poet, announced in Sydney last month, also marks the third time a Monash artist has taken out the award. Prudence Flint (2004) and Kristin Headlam (2000) are both previous winners.
But Mr Wegner said there was no template for winning competitions. "All the stars have to line up. There are so many variables. You have to have the painting that the judges will warm to."
He said the judges had recognised the strong connection between the painter and the sitter - a fellow painter and poet with schizophrenia.
"There's a certain edge to those portraits of Graeme and they reflect, in some way, his illness," Mr Wegner said. " Wounded Poet depicts a very private moment and the paradox of course is such a private moment has now become public."
He said the prize money would be spent on his mortgage, travel and a renovation of his shed.
But it would also free him up to keep painting what he wanted. "Because it takes the financial edge off, I'll spend more time painting," Mr Wegner said. "For me the time spent in the studio is the most important."
For more information contact Melissa Marino, Media Communications, on + 61 3 9905 2085 or 0437 121 978. Photographs are available.
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