WAGGA artist Tony Curran has been shortlisted for the nation’s most prestigious art prize.
Mr Curran’s portrait of Luke Grealy, the manager of the Museum of the Riverina, impressed Archibald Prize judges this year and made the cut to be included along with portraits from some of Australia’s top artists.
The portrait, simply titled Luke, was part of Mr Curran’s recent exhibition at the Wagga Art Gallery.
“Luke has been amazing to my wife and I since we moved to Wagga – from inviting us round to dinner and even sourcing an amazingly hospitable refuge for us when the city was evacuated during the 2012 flood,” Mr Curran said.
“This painting is the most ambitious painting I’ve completed to date in terms of both scale and technique. It was the culminating work of my PhD research in contemporary portraiture and was the apex of my recent exhibition, STAY.”
Mr Curran has recently completed a PhD at Charles Sturt University and now teaches at its Wagga campus.
