Macedon musician Amalie will draw inspiration from the Australian music industry for her Archibald Prize entry.
The 20-year-old has spent the past two months painting the portrait titled, Can You Hear Me, which features emerging musicians from around the country.
“I wanted to make a statement and bring attention back to the Aussie music industry and specifically some really talented upcoming Aussie Artists,” Amalie said.
Some of the emerging music artists to be featured include 2024 The Voice finalist Annie Jones, upcoming Sydney-based pop RnB artist Ben Swissa, Perth-based Cebuana indie pop artist Mariae Cassandra (winner of Triple J’s Unearthed High 2024) Byron Bay-based garage rock duo and 2024 Youth Rock Competition Wild Rocket, and Amalie herself, an alternative pop artist.
At the age of 14, Amalie left formal education to pursue music full time, teaching herself to write and produce music. She used her love of painting to sell commissioned portraits to afford musical instruments and recording equipment.
Amalie has since produced and released four singles and featured in a song by OMNIVI3E. Amalie has also painted artworks for her songs, her latest being So Please, with her new single Alien set to release this May.
Amalie has been a participant in the Archibald Prize for the past few years. Her entry from last year, a portrait of Australian Neighours star Ian Smith, was recently short-listed for the HSF Portrait Award in London.
Amalie is the niece of renowned artist and four-time winner of the Archibald Prize Peoples Choice, Vincent Fantauzzo.
Her choice to feature Australian musicians was a personal one.
“I asked myself what’s important to me and the answer was music,” she said.
“As a musician I feel the internal struggle, the struggle to be heard, to try to keep up with an industry that is constantly changing and really hard to navigate in Australia.
“I wanted to represent the music scene with a portrait that has lots of the young artists I look up to, and I feel others can relate to as well, and hopefully lift them up as artists in the process.”
The portrait will depict the artists in their element performing live. It will be entered into the esteemed competition as a self-portrait to represent the individualism of musicians, but also to reflect that all are connected through love of music.
“The live thing is special and it’s really cool that [this portrait] is trying to capture that, because I feel like it’s the most intimate and personal experience as an artist,” musician Ben Swissa said.
Amalie delivered her painting to the Art Gallery of NSW for judging last month.
Finalists for the Archibald Prize will be announced on May 1.
