What are you doing with that win?
Tasha Rogoff has won the Young Archies for her age category with her cheeky portrait of grandfather Harry.
Tasha Rogoff has a family full of art inspiration. Her grandmother is an artist, as is her aunt, and Tasha has well and truly joined the ranks with her Young Archies win for her portrait of her grandfather, Harry. She credits her mum though for first inspiring her love of art.
“There’s a lot of art in the family, I’ve always had that push. There’s a lot of my family’s art around my house,” she told The AJN. “So there has always been something that I can work towards.”
Rogoff first entered the Young Archies in 2020, because, she explained laughing, “my aunt told me to.” The young artist said it gives her a purpose each year.
“I don’t really do art that often, so it’s an annual thing that I work towards,” she said. She’s working her way around the family and those who inspire her – her grandmother, her dance teacher, her grandfather. One must wonder, who’s next?
The portrait shows Harry both “shocked and surprised”, Rogoff described, saying the fact that he has lots of character made him easier to paint. “There are a lot of expressions in his eyes,” she said.
In her portrait, titled What are you doing with that box?, Harry is surrounded by boxes which is a running joke in the family. The boxes include Nutrigrain and OsmoLax, something that Rogoff explained Harry was quite embarrassed about, but something that makes the portrait all the more authentic.
Rogoff described Harry as a bit of a hoarder, but said it was her aunt who said she has turned the hoarder into a recycler. “She said I should go into marketing,” Rogoff laughed.
In the explanation of the portrait, Rogoff wrote, “There’s something special about a box – the treasures inside, the possibilities it holds and the people who find magic in them. Whenever my grandpa visits, we struggle to throw anything away. ‘You know what that’s good for?’ he’ll ask, turning a pill jar or cookie tin in his hands like a treasure. Cereal boxes, shoe boxes, chewing gum containers – each one has a purpose. But maybe it’s not about the boxes at all. Maybe it’s about the love of saving them and the environment – a quiet reminder that even the smallest things are worth holding onto.”
Winning the Young Archie is certainly a memory that Rogoff will hold onto. She described the win as incredible.
“I can’t even comprehend it fully yet, it’s massive,” she said. “I don’t know what to do with myself.” Plus, she said, the family is very proud.
So will she continue to pursue art? Rogoff said she’ll definitely study the subject for her HSC because it’s one of her favourites, and she’s going to try to create a bit more throughout the year, despite her busy schedule. And while she’d love to find a career that incorporates her artistic side, she acknowledged that she still needs to be able to support herself.
“I’ve got to try and find the balance,” she laughed, saying if nothing else, it’s a beautiful hobby to enjoy.
Give it time, soon it will be Rogoff’s art joining the artwork of the other family members on the walls of their homes.
The Young Archies is exhibited at the Art Gallery of NSW alongside The Archibald Prize exhibition. Open until August 17.
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