Blue Indea (Blue Field, Pickaback)
Bill Platz
- Sitter: Indea-Rose Sekula
- Medium: Iron gall ink, Gouache, Chalk and Pastel Primer on cast carbon fibre/aramid fibre(kevlar) panel in laser-cut felt frame
- Dimensions: 134cm x 140cm
- Representation: This artist represents themselves
2024 Packer's Prize
Proudly supported by
Howard Smith Wharves
About the artwork
Indea-Rose Sekula is a musical theatre performer and artist’s model who owns and operates the largest and longest-running artists’ model agency in Queensland, Brisbane Artist Models.
In this dramatic double portrait, the image of Indea is repeated with her both standing, and supporting another version of herself on her shoulders.
The brilliant blue background is stage-like and the white highlights make the figures glow. The entwined limbs, the faces looking in various directions and the enlarged feet add to theatricality of the work. The portrait conjures up ideas of multiple identities and the performance of those identities.
Indea-Rose Sekula is a performer. A musical theatre graduate from Queensland Conservatorium of Music, Griffith University, she performs as a singer in a variety of productions, in addition to her work as a model. “Indea and I have worked together extensively. For this work, I chose to do a double portrait with Indea sitting on her own shoulders (pickaback).
“The work uses a tough, flexible and innovative (perfect for Indea) substrate I have developed over the past few years — cast carbon fibre/aramid fibre (kevlar) with a primer I have formulated that makes it receptive to inks, gouaches and friable materials such as chalk and charcoal.
“I approached this drawing as I would a life drawing session, with rapid darks applied in ink and gouache heightening on a toned ground.”
About the artist
Bill Platz is a teacher and researcher with a disciplinary focus on drawing and research concentrations in life drawing, portraiture and pedagogies of drawing. Head of Drawing at QCAD, Griffith University, Bill Platz exhibits and publishes regularly in the Australia and internationally. Born and educated in New York, he received his BFA from Pratt Institute and his MA from Regents College (Excelsior). In 2012, he completed a PhD in Fine Art at Griffith University. He has been teaching studio art, art history and art theory for over twenty years. His recent work investigates the use of puppets in life drawing and portraiture, where the puppets become the artists.
Judge's Notes
It’s a portrait of musical theatre performer and owner of Brisbane Artists Models, Indea Rose Sekula … The packers and handlers who chose this prize consist of the slq hanging, conservation, engagement and curatorial staff, and the BPP staff from Bright Humans. And this was a very popular work.
