00:02Dark, brooding and in character, this self-taught artist was watching actor Jacob Collins in
00:09a Melbourne play when he decided to paint his portrait.
00:13The idea occurred to me to contact him and see if he would want to reprise his role as
00:19Hamlet for my painting.
00:21It's now the 2026 Packing Room Prize winner.
00:25I came to professional painting quite late in my late 30s and so I didn't really have
00:33the opportunity to go and have a technical painting education.
00:37The award is decided by gallery staff who unpack and hang the works of finalists in the Archibald
00:44Prize.
00:45It's much more of an intimate process where you get to actually look and hear the stories
00:49that come through the Packing Room doors.
00:52Almost half of the entries in this year's Archibald Prize are first time finalists just like
00:58Packing Room Prize winner Sean Laid.
01:00Now the judges have just over a week to decide on the winners of the Archibald, Sulman and
01:06Wynn Prizes.
01:07It is a really important moment to think about what's going on in contemporary Australian painting.
01:13The countdown now on for Australia's most prestigious art honour.
01:22The countdown now on for Australia is the summer.
01:22The audience in 2019 has been a tour of the UK to the UK to the UK to the UK
01:22to the UK.
01:22The freue of the UK has been a tour of the UK which is a tour of the UK of
01:22the UK.
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