Contemporary portraits on display at Glen Eira
The exhibition, Look, is a "celebration of portraiture and how dynamic it is in Australia today."
It is a special treat for Glen Eira that the council’s gallery is presenting the free exhibition Look – showcasing diverse contemporary Australian portraiture which opened on November 1 and closes on January 12, 2025.
Speaking to The AJN, curator Diane Soumilas described the exhibition as a “celebration of portraiture and how dynamic it is in Australia today.”
It features work by award-winning contemporary Australian artists Julie Dowling, Graeme Drendel, Prudence Flint, Lewis Miller, Michael Vale, Peter Wegner, Marcus Wills, as well as Archibald prize-winning Jewish artists Yvette Coppersmith and Julia Gutman.
Coppersmith provided six new portraits for the exhibition, which focus on a person’s interaction with cats, evoking warmth and timeless beauty.
On the inspiration behind these portraits, Coppersmith told The AJN she felt it was important to create new work that speaks to what is needed at this time – love and tenderness – “an antidote to the sense of trauma that we’re as a community feeling”.
Discussing what it has been like to be Jewish artist at this time of heightened antisemitism, after she experienced doxxing earlier this year, Coppersmith commented, “I have so much sadness for how the Jewish creative community has been suffering,” while noting that the broader community is also suffering.
Reflecting on her highlights, one might expect Coppersmith to point to winning the Archibald prize in 2018, but she said her most proud moment was winning the school talent quest in grade four at Sholem Aleichem for a skit she wrote and performed as different characters.
“I feel like this moment encapsulates my entire creative career right there, because I’m constantly changing and morphing style. I take on a character and then I take it off and I try something else. I’m also taking people on a journey with me.”
She would go on to complete a Bachelor of Fine Art (Painting) at the Victorian College of the Arts.
Coppersmith describes winning the Archibald as the fulfilment of a teenage dream. The prize went to her Self-portrait, after George Lambert, which referenced then New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Ardern did not take up Coppersmith’s request to paint her, but Ardern did call Coppersmith to congratulate her on the win. Coppersmith was the 10th woman to win the prize, and Julia Gutman was the 11th.
“I knew that winning that prize at the time is something I needed to sustain my practice,” Coppersmith said.
When she won the Archibald, Coppersmith was unrepresented and did not have a gallery showing her work. Following COVID, her career continues to blossom – she has held solo shows including at the Jewish Museum of Australia and in March will debut her work to an international audience in Hong Kong, with another solo show in Melbourne planned for August. Coppersmith said she is grateful for being a working artist.
“It is actually such a massive privilege that you have a skill set that people value and give you the space to express something that is so in alignment with your soul.”
Glen Eira City Council is hosting an Artist Floor Talk with Graeme Drendel on 11 December 12.30pm. To book visit trybooking.com/1323541
For more information visit gleneira.vic.gov.au/gallery
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