Neil Evans Reflective self-portrait

Neil Evans doesn’t paint a lot of portraits – he specialises mostly in landscapes – but he enjoys tackling portraiture occasionally and has recently worked on several self-portraits. This one was painted especially for the Archibald Prize.

He calls it Reflective self portrait for two reasons: because it captures him in a reflective mood and because he has glazed the portrait so that it reflects back the light. The portrait was painted using a mirror. “The sitter was very difficult!” he quips. “I wanted to paint him with his eyes down and he was always looking at me. That was the real challenge.”

Evans started his career painting miniatures. “I’ve gotten bigger and bigger but I’ve always gone back to them,” he says. “I don’t believe size is indicative of worth but for the last 30 years there seems to have been a feeling that bigger is better. So this portrait feels a little bit like bucking the system.”

A picture framer for 25 years, he made the hand-crafted frame for this portrait.

Born in Sydney, Evans was a conceptual artist from 1969 to 1972. He was a finalist in the 2000 Sulman Prize.