Archibald Prize People's Choice 2016: Portrait of refugee advocate Deng Adut picked as winner

Updated

A portrait of a former Sudanese child soldier and lawyer has been selected as the People's Choice of the 2016 Archibald Prize.

The prize, which is the favourite work as voted for by visitors to the exhibition, was announced today at the Art Gallery of NSW in Sydney.

Artist Nick Stathopoulos was inspired to paint the artwork after seeing Deng Adut in an advertisement for Western Sydney University, which Adut graduated from.

The ad documented how Mr Adut came to Australia following life as a child soldier in Sudan and how he put himself through law school, becoming a formidable refugee advocate and community leader.

Michael Brand, the director of the Art Gallery of NSW said the painting was "a remarkable portrait that captures a remarkable person".

"This portrait has been greatly captured by Nick, who has developed his own style and process over a unique lifetime

"It should also be noted that Nick is also a sculptor ... you will see that there is a tense combination of 3D and 2D surfaces built up in microscopic layers that gives this painting the feeling also of a sculpture."

Mr Stathopoulos said he was pleased that so many voters chose his work as their favourite of the exhibition.

"I love the people's choice because inevitably they choose the paintings that I love as well," Mr Stathopoulos said.

"Once you get to that size there is nowhere to hide and I wanted to show all those delicate scars that Deng has on his face.

"There is a fearsome intellect but there is also an incredible back story.

"At one stage he was sitting in this weird pose and I asked him what was wrong.

"He said I have been shot four times and I can't sit for long periods of time."

Refugee proud to tell his story

Mr Adut said sitting still for five hours was irritating, but he understood the art world required perfection.

"I'm not a perfectionist. I like to do things and move on," Mr Deng said.

"I am lucky to tell my story. A lot of other people are in a similar position.

He said that he hopes that people can learn something about resilience and hope from his story.

"And most importantly not taking anything for granted," he added.

Mr Stathopoulos said the artwork took four and a half months to complete, more time than he had spent on any other single painting.

This work is Stathopoulos' fifth Archibald finalist.

This year's Archibald Prize was awarded to Louise Hearman for her portrait of Barry Humphries.

Topics: visual-art, arts-and-entertainment, sydney-2000, nsw

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