Mathew Lynn Wendy drawing

Wendy Sharpe is one of Australia’s most well known figurative artists. She has won many prizes, awards and scholarships, including the Sulman Prize, the Portia Geach Memorial Prize (twice) and the Archibald Prize. In 1999 she was commissioned by the Australian War Memorial to record events in East Timor as a war artist. She currently exhibits at the Phillip Bacon Gallery in Brisbane, the Chapman Gallery in Canberra and the King Street on Burton Gallery in Sydney.

Mathew Lynn has been an admirer from afar for many years, describing her as one of his favourite figurative painters. “I’ve always seen her as a bit of an outsider, as someone with very strong visions of her own. She also has this wonderful Rubenesque, Oriental quality, accentuated by her thick and wild hair.”

She sits in her comfortable drawing pose on the floor of her studio, but Lynn has left out her drawing materials, so that what remains is only the essential.

Born in Sydney in 1963, Lynn has been exhibited in the Archibald prize on nine previous occasions. In 1997 he was a runner-up and was voted People’s Choice for his portrait of Jeanne Ryckmans and was also a runner-up in 1998 with his portrait of artist Guan Wei. He has been exhibited in the Wynne and Sulman Prizes.