Adelaide Man Wins Archibald Prize with Portrait of His Thumb

Adelaide individual Paul Jackson (He/Him) has taken out the 2022 Archibald Prize with a 3.4 metre tall painting of a thumb. His winning portrait adds him to the distinguished list of Archibald Prize winners. The portrait prize was first awarded in 1921 by the Art Gallery of NSW.

Importantly Mr. Jackson's self portrait entitled 'Man with Thumb' is the first time in the competition's history that a winning portrait has won both the $3,000 Packing Room Prize and the $100,000 Archibald Prize. The Packing Room Prize is usually known as 'The Kiss Of Death' because the winner of that prize has never gone on to win the main Archibald Prize in the competition's history. The People's Choice Award was awarded to Ms Smith with her picture of a cat.

'I'm stoked' he said. 'It was a last minute decision to enter'.

Mr Jackson was one of 100 wild card entries into the Archibald Prize.

The wildcard entries all entered a Lotto-style draw with a painting idea, and a draft. The wildcard idea was designed to reduce discrimination and open up the Archibald Prize to more people instead of limiting the competition to people who can actually paint. 

'I got the idea while looking at my thumb one day' said Mr Jackson. 'I was wondering why artists always hold their thumbs up, and learned that it was for perspective and measurement. Then I just kept looking at my thumb, and wondered why I couldn't just paint a picture of my thumb'.

The challenge was to ensure that 'Man with Thumb' followed the rules of the Archibald Prize competition.

All Archibald paintings must adhere to the same rules including that every Archibald Prize Entry submitted must:

1. Be a portrait painted from life, and

2. With the subject known to the artist, and

3. Aware of the artist's intention, and

4. Having at least one live sitting with the artist

'Man with Thumb' satisfied all the criteria' said Mr Jackson. 'It was from real life, I knew my thumb, I was aware of my intention with my thumb, and I had at least one sitting with my thumb'.

Photo credit: The artist - and ArcSoft PhotoStudio 2000