Taika Waititi Portrait Wins Packing Room Prize

Sydney-based artist Claus Stangl has taken out one of Australia’s top art honours with his portrait of Academy Award-winning director Taika Waititi, The Guardian reports.

Stangl won the packing room prize, a sub-category of the Archibald prize for portraiture, decided by the staff at the Art Gallery of New South Wales who receive, unpack and hang the portraits for the annual exhibition.

“I really couldn’t believe it when he said that I could do it and I could paint him,” Stangl said of Waititi. “He’s a guy who’s completely comfortable in front of the camera, as well as working behind the lens.”

Original article by Sian Cain, The Guardian, May 5, 2022.