Picking A Fight Over Pencils and Paints

Sydney artist Craig Ruddy was awarded Australia’s prestigious Archibald Prize earlier this year. But the award has sparked a vicious court fight and is drawing a lot of attention from the media, after painter Tony Johansen took the Art Gallery of New South Wales Trust to court over a technicality. Specifically, Johansen claims that Ruddy’s winning portrait is a mixed-media drawing, which should make it ineligible for a painting award. Nit-picking? Sure. But Ruddy is garnering a great deal of support from some interesting corners…