Latest news with #LoribelleSpirovski
ABC News
01-08-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Archibald Prize People's Choice Award won by Loribelle Spirovski
4 time Archibald finalist Loribelle Spirovski has been announced as the winner of the 2025 People's Choice Prize for her portrait of didgeridoo virtuoso player, William Barton. The portrait was inspired by William's composition Birdsong at Dusk, and in a radical departure for Loribelle it was painted entirely with her fingers. The Archibald prize is Australia's most prestigious portraiture competition held every year at the Art Gallery of NSW and this painting was the clear favourite of the 40, 842 visitors to the Archibald who lodged a vote this year. Guest: Loribelle Spirovski, Archibald Prize People's Choice Award 2025 winner Producer: David Cook
Yahoo
31-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Finger painting by artist with nerve injury wins Australian art award
Filipina-Australian artist Loribelle Spirovski has won the People's Choice Award for the Archibald Prize - Australia's most prestigious portrait art prize. Her winning work is a portrait of Aboriginal Australian musician William Barton, which she painted with her fingers as a nerve injury made painting difficult for her. Ms Spirovski, who has been an Archibald Prize finalist several times, said she was "overjoyed" that the public selected her work for the People's Choice. "It has been a difficult few years and this whole experience is the most beautiful reprieve and reward," she said, as quoted in a press release from the Art Gallery of New South Wales. "I am infinitely grateful to William for allowing me to paint him and so humbled by everyone's responses to the work." When Ms Spirovski first met Mr Barton last October, she was recovering from a nerve injury that had impaired her painting ability. She played Mr Barton's music while working on his portrait. "As the music began, my hand set the brush aside and I dipped my finger into the soft, pliant paint," she said. "Without a brush, painting was almost painless. As the portrait painted itself, I felt alive in a way I hadn't for a very long time." Born in Philippines in 1990 to a Filipino Mother and a Serbian father, Ms Spirovski resettled in Australia in 1999. She graduated from the College of Fine Arts in Sydney in 2012. On her website, she describes her work as being "influenced by the contrasting images of both countries, as well as her parent's mixed European-Asian ethnicities". The Archibald People's Choice Award is based on votes collected from members of the public who have viewed the finalists of the main Archibald Prize. The A$100,000 ($64,600; £48,700) Archibald Prize this year went to Julie Fragar, the 13th woman to win the award in its 104-year-old history. The Archibald Packing Room Prize, which is based on votes from the staff who receive the portraits and install them in the gallery, went to Abdul Abdullah for his portrait of fellow artist Jason Phu.
BBC News
31-07-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Australia: Finger painting by artist with nerve injury wins art award
Filipina-Australian artist Loribelle Spirovski has won the People's Choice Award for the Archibald Prize - Australia's most prestigious portrait art winning work is a portrait of Aboriginal Australian musician William Barton, which she painted with her fingers as a nerve injury made painting difficult for Spirovski, who has been an Archibald Prize finalist several times, said she was "overjoyed" that the public selected her work for the People's Choice."It has been a difficult few years and this whole experience is the most beautiful reprieve and reward," she said, as quoted in a press release from the Art Gallery of New South Wales. "I am infinitely grateful to William for allowing me to paint him and so humbled by everyone's responses to the work."When Ms Spirovski first met Mr Barton last October, she was recovering from a nerve injury that had impaired her painting played Mr Barton's music while working on his portrait. "As the music began, my hand set the brush aside and I dipped my finger into the soft, pliant paint," she said."Without a brush, painting was almost painless. As the portrait painted itself, I felt alive in a way I hadn't for a very long time."Born in Philippines in 1990 to a Filipino Mother and a Serbian father, Ms Spirovski resettled in Australia in 1999. She graduated from the College of Fine Arts in Sydney in her website, she describes her work as being "influenced by the contrasting images of both countries, as well as her parent's mixed European-Asian ethnicities".The Archibald People's Choice Award is based on votes collected from members of the public who have viewed the finalists of the main Archibald A$100,000 ($64,600; £48,700) Archibald Prize this year went to Julie Fragar, the 13th woman to win the award in its 104-year-old history. The Archibald Packing Room Prize, which is based on votes from the staff who receive the portraits and install them in the gallery, went to Abdul Abdullah for his portrait of fellow artist Jason Phu.
AU Financial Review
31-07-2025
- Entertainment
- AU Financial Review
The pain behind the Archibald people's favourite
A portrait of didgeridoo virtuoso William Barton, painted by finger after artist Loribelle Spirovski found it less painful than holding a brush, has been voted by visitors to 2025's Archibald Prize as their favourite of the 57 finalists. Sydney-based Spirovski has taken out the Archibald Prize People's Choice award, worth $5000, after meeting Barton last October at a concert also featuring her spouse, pianist Simon Tedeschi.
The Guardian
31-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Archibald prize 2025: finger-painted portrait of musician William Barton wins people's choice award
Artist Loribelle Spirovski has won the 2025 Archibald prize people's choice category for her portrait of didgeridoo player William Barton, painted entirely with her fingers. Spirovski, a four-time finalist at the Archibald prize, Australia's most prestigious portraiture award, won the $5,000 people's choice category, picked from the Archibald prize finalists each year by the public. This year 40,842 votes were cast for the people's choice category, the highest number of votes ever received. Spirovski said she was 'overjoyed' to win the category. 'I am infinitely grateful to William for allowing me to paint him and so humbled by everyone's responses to the work,' she said. 'It has been a difficult few years and this whole experience is the most beautiful reprieve and reward.' Barton is a Kalkadunga man and acclaimed composer who is regarded as a virtuoso in the yidaki, playing the Indigenous instrument with classical orchestras around the world. In the past he has said it is his wish 'to take the oldest culture in the world and blend it with Europe's rich musical legacy'. Spirovski and Barton met last year at a concert at which Spirovski's partner, the concert pianist Simon Tedeschi, and Barton both performed. When Barton came to sit for her, Spirovski was still recovering from a nerve injury that had affected her ability to paint – but she was spontaneously inspired to use her fingers. 'When it came time to work on William's portrait, I played his composition Birdsong at dusk,' she said. 'As the music began, my hand set the brush aside and I dipped my finger into the soft, pliant paint. I turned the volume up, the music guiding me. Without a brush, painting was almost painless. As the portrait painted itself, I felt alive in a way I hadn't for a very long time.' Spirovski was born in 1990 in the Philippines, to Filipino and Serbian parents, and immigrated to Australia when she was eight years old. Mostly self-taught, Spirovski was previously an Archibald finalist in 2017, 2018 2019. The Art Gallery of New South Wales hosts the Archibald each year. On Thursday the AGNSW director, Maud Page, congratulated Spirovski for her 'well-deserved win and for her magnetic portrait of William Barton, rendered with expressive paint strokes and lit by Barton's radiant smile'. The $100,000 Archibald prize was won by Julie Fragar in May, for her portrait of fellow artist Justene Williams. The 104-year-old prize is awarded to the best portrait of a person 'distinguished in art, letters, science or politics' painted by an Australian resident. Abdul Abdullah's Archibald portrait of his friend and fellow artist Jason Phu won him the $3,000 packing room prize, which is decided by the AGNSW staff who hang the paintings each year. The Wynne prize for landscape painting and figurative sculpture, and the Sulman prize for genre, subject and mural painting are also awarded alongside the Archibald each year. This year the $50,000 Wynne prize went to Jude Rae for her painting Pre-dawn Sky over Port Botany Container Terminal, while the $40,000 Sulman prize went to Gene A'Hern for his work Sky Painting. A record 2,394 entries were received across the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes this year, with more than 70% of finalists across the three awards being female artists. All finalists in Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes 2024 will be exhibited at AGNSW until 17 August. The Archibald finalists will then tour to Geelong, Gosford, Muswellbrook, Mudgee, Shoalhaven and Coffs Harbour later this year and in 2026.
