Tom Carment John Gaden - summer portrait

John Gaden is one of Australia’s leading actors, with an impressive national career spanning three decades, including in the highly acclaimed Company B / Black Swan production of Tim Winton’s novel Cloudstreet. He was also artistic director of the State Theatre Company of South Australia from 1986 to 1989.

Carment is not a theatre buff but saw Cloudstreet and loved it. He also worked as an extra in the short film Bartleby which starred Gaden. They got chatting, and when they subsequently met up on a train, Carment asked if he could paint Gaden’s portrait.

For several weeks they met every Thursday morning for sittings. Carment painted five portraits of Gaden, each different, this being the third. It was painted on a sultry summer morning in just three hours: Carment works from life straight onto the canvas so it is spontaneous. Though small by comparison with other portraits in the Archibald, it is large by Carment’s standards. ‘John has a classic Australian face with that nose,’ says Carment. ‘He has a little wry smile but also, I think, a hint of melancholy in his eyes.’

Born in 1954, Carment studied at the Julian Ashton Art School in Sydney. He has been hung in the Archibald four times and in the Wynne Prize on four occasions.