The annual Bald Archy award is a pisstake of its more genteel cousin, the Archibald Prize for portraiture, focusing on cartoons and caricature. This year’s entries have just been unveiled in Canberra, and are as irreverent as ever.
The artists tend to take aim at political figures, and this year, there were few more tempting than Jacqui Lambie, the bane of the senate, who last year accused PM Tony Abbott of having “no balls.”
“She’s so full-on, which is wonderful for this sort of in-your-face art,” said Bald Archy founder Peter Batey, via ABC News. As you’ll see, she inspired more than one piece:
Kim Kardashian‘s internet-breaking butt reveal was reportedly the inspiration for many entries at this year’s competition, however, this one, by artist Mark Tippett, really stood out from the pack.
Tony Sowersby‘s portrait captured commentator Andrew Bolt on an entirely average day, and should probably just be called ‘Nothing To See Here.’
Arthur Piwko, otherwise known as PikPok, rendered Tony Abbott as he would probably like to see himself.
Vincent de Gouw‘s rendering of Peta Credlin as Cruella de Vil is also pretty on-point.
Lambie cropped up again in this Star Wars-inspired number by Lindsay Spears, a fairly accurate depiction of how things went down between the former PUP senator and Clive Palmer this year.
Joe Hockey was famously snapped smoking a fat cigar before the budget this year, but Murray Grellis went ahead and took things a step further, imagining the Treasurer as a decadent Marie Antoinette-style figure.
As you may recall, last year’s winner, by Judy Nadin, featured a resplendent Mitchel Johnson coming in on a giant cricket ball, Miley Cyrus-style. This year’s winner will be announced July 24.
“Aren’t we lucky in Australia that we can hang up whatever we want in this country without huge damage to society?” Batey said of the prize.
“It’s terrific and it’s always been like that in this country.”
Image via ABC News
