Fiona Lowry Matthys

Fiona Lowry’s subject is Matthys Gerber, a Sydney-based artist who works primarily in painting and photography. Gerber’s career spans more than three decades. He was an Archibald finalist in 1978 and his work is held in the collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

‘Having had my own portrait painted recently, I learnt that it can be an uncomfortable and revealing process. The subject in the work has to relinquish a certain amount of control over which aspects of themselves are seen,’ says Lowry.

‘Matthys is an important and interesting artist who showed faith in me when I was one of his students at Sydney College of the Arts. With this portrait, I wanted to show him outside of those guises in a moment of vulnerability.’

Lowry’s paintings are made using an airbrush and a limited palette of soft, pastel colours. She won the 2014 Archibald Prize with a portrait of architect Penelope Seidler, which is included in the Archie 100 exhibition.