Ben Apfelbaum

PORTRAIT OF MASTER CHEF WINS PACKING ROOM PRIZE

 

Packing Room Prize (22)
George Calombaris
Packing Room Prize (35)
Bettina Fauvel-Ogden
Packing Room Prize (93)
The Packer Prize winning portrait of George Calombaris.
Packing Room Prize - George Calombaris, Steve Peters, Betina Fauvel-Ogden
Left to right – George Calombaris, Steve Peters and Betina Fauvel-Ogden

Featured image- George Calombaris and Bettina Fauvel-Ogden. All images (c) Ben Apfelbaum.

A huge media contingent turned up at the Art Gallery of New South Wales for the unveiling of the Packing Room prize valued at $1,500. It has become an Archibald Prize institution soon it was first awarded in 1988.

The Award  is judged by the Gallery’s unpacking staff who are the first to see the entrants, with 51% of the vote going to Steve Peters, the Head of the Packing room.

Peters stated that for this Prize there were three criteria as far as he was concerned. Firstly, the painting had to realistically look like the person portrayed, then the subject had to be in the public eye, and finally the painting had to be good.

Accordingly for Mr Peters and  the staff, the winner was ‘George Calombaris masterchef’ by Betina Fauvel-Ogden. George Calombaris praised the painting and the artist but said that  the hardest part was staying still for long periods of time which was contrary to his energetic personality.

 

Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborland. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, united states, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication.