With over 800 entries, a portrait of Australian Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers entitled "Fool's Gold – Australian Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers by Christopher Malouf (OR2007) has been selected as a finalist for the 2024 Lester Portraiture Prize, one of only 3 from NSW, one of Australia's most prestigious art prizes. OIU news recently caught up with Chris between sittings.

Chris: This is such a privilege. Portraiture is the most accessible form of visual art. No matter the style in which it is rendered, the human likeness is something we can all relate to. It's the one form of art we have all created at some point in our lives. There is something elemental in human nature that drives us to draw or paint the likenesses of people.

OIU news: Your love of all things artistic, when did it begin? Was it in the home or was it one of the teachers that the light bulb came on.

Chris: It started with my grandfather, on my dad's side, he collects a lot of Australian artists, primarily Australian art, with a focus on Australian landscapes. So, he's got a lot of the original artworks around his house and I've always liked that. But then it was at Riverview, where I was taught to paint from there. I did art all the way throughout including for the HSC where my focus was on Australian bush landscapes. After my schooling, I went to the Archibald with mum one year, and I thought some of the entries were crap, and that I thought that I could do better. I went back and taught myself how to do portraiture using my old art teachers from Riverview as private tutors. I still see Katia Durst regularly as a close friend.

OIU news: So, you went from maybe I can and maybe I'm going to give it a go to let's put something in the Archibald?

Chris: I submit an Archibald entry every couple of years because it takes so long and the process can be quite exhausting as well as the submission process into prizes taking much of the following year to complete. I also enter into flow-on competitions, which is how the one from Jim Chalmers is. It got picked for the Lester Art Prize. I've also been a finalist for the Moran Art Prize. Steve Price, the radio host, was my third Archibald entry. And he was actually great, but he wasn't a finalist. I got more publicity that year than the actual winner because we had the head of the NSW Art Gallery and some of the other judges on air where he even actually proved that some of the entries, they don't know if they're real paintings or whether they are 'faked' and painted on top of those photo canvases with and oil varnish. So, all the packers know me but probably not for the best reasons! 

OIU news: So, let's go to subject selection. How did it come about that you chose the Federal Treasurer?

Chris: I never pick anyone I've known. I always go, right, who is someone I will never cross paths with day to day and might be someone that potentially has a different background and an interesting story few know about. So, for instance, Steve Price, everyone knew him from TV and radio but few knew about his involvement with wounded soldiers behind the scenes. I cold call until I get the subject. Gina Reinhardt said no five times (That may not be one I approach again for a little bit), Twiggy Forrest was a yes, then a no. Mick Gatto from Victoria. He's great. He said yes. But then I found out someone else is doing it at the same time and so withdrew the offer for the painting as I will never submit the same entry as someone else and also rarely wish to paint someone that may have already been painted before. It makes it more exciting when the process is unknown to both myself and the sitter.

OIU news: What is the process after they agree to a sitting?

Chris: I do research on them, there is often a side of them a lot of people in the public never know of, including myself. When I do the artwork, that artwork could potentially reflect that side of the hidden story and bring it to the publics awareness. The artwork then becomes a question for the viewer of did you really know that subject at all. It's also a good way to meet people. What a lot of people don't realize is the art industry and the culture around it. It's one of the biggest networking facilities out there in the world.

OIU news: So, with the Jim Chalmers portrait, I thought it was really interesting how he weaved in, you know, the Keating look, that stare! 

Matt: I'm a liberal supporter. I'll admit that. I was painting the opposition. A question which Jim did ask me within minutes of us meeting although i didn't reveal the truth in that moment. But Peter Hartcher (in the SMH article) was very interested. He was just very intrigued as to how Jim subliminally captured his idol or tried to look like an idol. For Peter the painting took on a new form and became a representation of the economy and state of the Governments perceived influence over the public at that single moment in time. OIU news: Where did he sit? 

Chris: We went to his Bligh Street offices in Sydney. I was given 10 minutes, and it was done in the foyer of his level of the building. 

OIU news: 10 minutes. How can you get to know someone in that time? 

Chris: Well, it had taken about three to six months to arrange the meeting with me giving the Treasurer's office an ultimatum to confirm the meeting by that afternoon or I would move onto my next subject who had already agreed which was the Deputy Prime Minister. He agreed with 5 minutes to spare. I only ever normally get about 15 minutes of my subjects, so for the whole 15 minutes, I'm normally pumping them full of questions and taking as many photos as I possibly can. And then I've just got to try and capture as many different facts as possible from there. Following that behind the scenes, there's a lot of research that I tend to do, trying to find them online. Their secretaries are the ones you tend to get a lot of the facts about them from.

OIU news: How do you translate that into the way he sits or the way he looks?

Chris: The way I approach it is that I go to the subject, "Well, what do you want the painting to be shown as?" e.g. do they want a formal one for their board room, one they want to hang in their house and have their dog or kids in it, etc. When you do a painting, it's essentially a vanity project. Very few people get a portrait these days and have someone spend months staring at every fine detail. The instance in time has been diluted by the availability of the camera and smart phone. But when they agree and you go, what do you want? For instance, if this painting doesn't get picked its yours, they often pause and think because ultimately I want them to be happy with it. This results in the subject revealing facts about themselves they wouldn't normally dream of because 90% of the time the subject is flattered you've even asked them. Like a speed date. For instance, Jim was saying, He's a family man. He's got three kids. These are my kids' favourite colours, he likes running etc. And then he always wears those bracelets on his hand. I had no idea what they were but made sure to make a mental note of them while taking photos. I found out it's to do with a Buddhist temple in his electorate of Rankin.

OIU news: Such short time …

Chris: With Steve Price I had five minutes in between a commercial break. He literally got waving through the glass as I was standing by with the camera ready. I had Alan Jones behind me in a bright pink suit. I had Ray Hadley in the next studio preparing for another show. And then Steve'd wave, and I'd bolt in with the staffers, take photos up against the window in a pose I had tested at home to get the lighting I wanted, with him and then spend the next three to six months staring at them and painting the small details that you had no idea existed till you look closer I don't know if the paintings are actually that person until I do the eyes. If the eyes do not work, it'll never be that person.

OIU news: Are the eyes that important?

Chris: Yes, it can completely change the person's face, the emotions and who they are. When I did the Stenmark twins, I think they were two or three years below me at School. I did them during covid, because I couldn't get to a lot of people due to travel restrictions, there are two guys there that look nearly identical, but aren't, and so you had to then capture the little differences, the subtlety of the crease around the eyes and the slight freckles one had but not the other. That was actually a family portrait and one of my hardest, which a lot of people don't realise, because all the different arms in that portrait are all their family members.

OIU news: So, you reckon you got Chalmers eyes?

Chris: Oh, yeah, absolutely. I got his ear as well which I had to repaint 5 times. He's got some of the biggest most well-known ears in the country, giving Abott a run for his money, if you look at a painting. So definitely I got his eyes, because in the painting and the pose he ended up choosing, he was looking away from me. A reflective or self-importance look depending how you read it. He actually has quite expressive eyes, because they have a little bit of a contemplative, I guess a sort of a lively eye. You know something's going on. And if I didn't get that right, it didn't work.

OIU news: So, in terms of the nuance, you know, the absolute details, when you take a photo, in your five minute window, do you do close-ups of their face?

Chris: It's hard because photos don't do a portrait that's painted justice. There's a lot of very subtle details, such as the five o'clock shadow, or his little freckles and all that, which, in real life, they're actually there. The photos are extremely high resolution so I can zoom in.

OIU news: What is the reaction when you have the big reveal?

Chris: That's the best thing about every subject. I send progress photos up until about the last two months, and then they never see it until they unveil it live. They never see it until the very end. A lot of the time the subjects have told me they didn't think the painting was going to look very good at all because the last one they see often made them look deformed or the paint work was half complete. It's the look of sheer speechlessness and excitement of seeing themselves in photo realism that provides a pleasant, stunned moment. And as an artist that's the moment you wait for.

OIU news: So, in terms of the Jim Chalmers that you now know, and you see on TV, do you have more respect for the person you've shone a light into their eyes and into their person?

Chris: I do, but there's only so much you get to know, but it can also ruin your impression of a person as well. Don't' they say never meet your idol or someone you respect.

OIU news: Finally, any advice to young artists that maybe just left school or thinking about it, what would your advice to your younger self be.

Chris: Give it a go. I know that's the easiest thing to say, but you know the worst someone could ever say to you is no. What's it going to impact you if they say so, I have no issues in making a fool of myself and most of the time people respect you for trying to stand out and take on a challenge. You only live once, so you might as well try it. If you fail, at least you know you've given it a go rather than not try.

OIU news: We really appreciate your time and congratulations.

Chris: Thank you.