Paul Jackson Self and Tui

Paul Jackson was born in New Zealand in 1950 and has been working in Australia since 1976. Jackson has exhibited widely both exclusively and in groups, and continues to exhibit in his home country. He also had a work exhibited in the Archibald Prize in 1983 and he was the winner of the Australian Maritime Art Award in 1985 and a finalist in the Royal Blind Society National Sculpture Award Exhibitions of 1985 and 1988.

This 1996 portrait represents artist and alter-ego (in the form of a fish in the manner of Archimboldo). Jackson chose self-portraiture because he was to have a semi-autobiographical exhibition in 1997. He has used fish in much of his work as a vehicle to convey meaning. In this depiction, the fish acts as a swansong for fish. Tui, the name of a New Zealand bird, is Jackson’s dog who usually sleeps under the table on which the artist has his palette when he paints and 'is there all the time so I felt I should include him’.