Benjamin Aitken Gareth Sansom

Benjamin Aitken’s subject is Victorian artist Gareth Sansom. An innovator in Australian art for over 50 years, Sansom is known for merging pop cultural references with expressive mark-marking in his vibrant paintings. He was head of painting at the Victorian College of the Arts for eight years then dean from 1986 until 1991. He has been the subject of three previous Archibald Prize portraits.

‘Gareth is an artist who has informed my practice. His approach to “organised chaos” within his painting is world class,’ says Aitken.

‘I wanted to continue to paint artists, as I have done in my previous four Archibald portraits, because without us the prize would not exist. Painting someone I know and respect is always going to give my painting something I could never describe or achieve otherwise. As usual, I don’t like to overexplain my paintings, but rather let the art inform the viewer.’

Aitken’s previous artist subjects in the Archibald have included Jon Cattapan (2016), Natasha Bieniek (2018), Fiona Lowry (2019) and a self-portrait (2020). Aitken is also the subject of a portrait by Shannon McCulloch in this year’s Archibald Prize.