The Herald Sun reports:
A Syrian-born artist who says he loves John Howard has entered a portrait of the former prime minister dressed as an Arab into the Archibald prize.
But gallery officials say it won’t be eligible unless the former prime minister signs a consent form.
The portrait titled Johnny of Arabia was among hundreds of entries dropped off at the Art Gallery of NSW today – the last day for entries into the country’s most prestigious art prize, which will be announced on March 7.
The portrait shows Mr Howard wearing a white Lawrence of Arabia-style headdress with a black band.
A spokeswoman for the Art Gallery of NSW described the painting as “quite good” but said it hadn’t been delivered with the required signature and therefore wouldn’t be eligible for shortlisting.
She said Mr Howard had until Sunday to sign the form.
The artist, Abdul Elyoughun, said he was confident Mr Howard would sign the form.
Mr Elyoughun said he met Mr Howard in 2006 and the former prime minister had signed off on a similar portrait he’d done, which was auctioned at a federal government fundraiser.
“He signed the first one, he’ll sign the second one, no problem,” Mr Elyoughun told AAP.
“He’s a very nice man, his kids are very nice, he handled everything in the country very good.
“I love this man, I love this country.”
Mr Elyoughun, who is suffering a number of health problems, said he had made the final decision to enter the Archibald competition today after being released from hospital yesterday following an operation.
After finding the application, he sent the painting off to get framed for $480 and then sent it to the art gallery, he said.
Mr Elyoughun has been producing portraits for almost three decades, and said he had done portraits of prime ministers such as Bob Hawke and Paul Keating.
“I am sick and I wanted to do something big before I die,” he said.
And speaking of sick (but in the other sense of the word)…
Another gaining attention is a self portrait which has been painted with a penis instead of a brush.
It’s by Australian artist Tim Patch who calls himself Pricasso and usually shows his work at sex fairs.
