900 eyes 1

900 Eyes / Domestic Lives

Elizabeth Butel & Susan O'Doherty

ETT Imprint & Manly Regional Art Gallery

ISBN: 978-1-975892-21-1

32pp, illustrated, $30 Post-free

from the artist's statement

"Robert Hughes said to me: “I don’t believe you can paint portraits from photographs …. You need sittings and time to establish a relationship with your subject.” This was said in the foyer of Mosman Art Gallery minutes before he was to give a talk in conjunction with the release of his latest book. I was standing with my digital camera in hand, hoping to take his photograph to include him in my show of painted faces. At that stage I had photographed and painted over two hundred people involved in the visual arts so I was surprised by his attitude.

"The project is not about conventional portraiture, nor is it the culmination of a personal relationship between artist and subject. It is meant to be viewed as a total: a sea of faces which themselves make up a whole portrait. It is also an arbitrary archive, partially documenting the visual arts world centred around Sydney. I wanted my subjects to be recognizable, to come together like a large silent gathering of the arts community, all clustered in one room. Each face is staring out from the canvas, unsmiling, eyes fixed on the viewer; a reversal, especially for the artists, looking back at their audience."