The Archibald Packing Room Prize for 2016, chosen by the gallery staff who receive, unpack and hang the entries, has been awarded to artist Betina Fauvel-Ogden for her portrait of George Calombaris.
“I’m just a cook, and when Betina asked us, I was slightly reluctant but then we did it and I had three sessions and I have never stood there for one hour without moving in my life,” the MasterChef judge and restaurateur said.
“Creativity is so beautiful and it was just an absolute blessing to stand there and watch this incredible artist, [who] loves her craft so much, produce something like that.
“I just can’t believe it, yesterday I’m piping caramelised chocolate mousse on a dessert and here we are standing in this incredible place,” he enthused.
Fauvel-Ogden, on the other hand, told the ABC she had “chased” Calombaris for eight to 10 months.
“I’m a great fan of MasterChef, [I] always have been so I’ve been watching him a long time and I was lucky enough to get him, so I was very happy, he was very generous.
“This one painting went as I saw it, which often doesn’t happen, so I was pretty lucky, maybe a little bit of magic came into it.”
The oil on linen portrait, which took the artist six weeks to paint, was among 51 Archibald finalists, selected from 830 entries.
Artist Louise Hearman was awarded the Archibald Prize for a portrait of Barry Humphries.
Announced on Friday, other finalists included portraits of Wendy Whitely, Ken Done, and designer duo Pamela Easton and Lydia Pearson.
Indigenous Australian model Sam Harris was a subject, as was criminal lawyer and former child solider Deng Adut, who came to Australia in 1998 as a refugee after fleeing South Sudan.