Paul Jackson’s portrait of Flacco, an alter-ego of comedian Paul Livingston, has been named winner of the 2009 Packing Room Prize today, in the run up to the announcement of this year’s Archibald Prize.

The Packing Room Prize which is awarded by workers at the Art Gallery of New South Wales who receive entries for the annual Archibald Prize, is usually assessed slightly more subjectively, as chief packer Steve Peters, explains of last year’s award:

“It’s a very good picture and it’s very Neil Finn,” said the gallery’s head storeman, Steve Peters. “I have no idea [about art], but I know what I like, and I think this is a pretty good one.”

Update: finalists for the Archibald, Wynne, and Sulman prizes have also been named. Winners will be announced on Friday 6 March 2009.

Saw the Sidney Nolan Retrospective at the Art Gallery of New South Wales on a rather damp Sydney afternoon yesterday.

He considered himself, for various reasons, an “artist warrior”, but aside from the stunning artwork, the biggest thing I got a kick out of was seeing his hand written journal in one of the showcases. Sidney Nolan would have been the consummate blogger I think.

Also had a peep at Artexpress, which just opened yesterday. Standing room only, no pun intended, and it wasn’t hard to see why, Artexpress lived up to the usual very high standard. I’ll have to go back for another look on a slightly quieter day.