HIDDEN FACES
The 2025 Victorian Salon des Refusés
This portrait was submitted to the 2025 Archibald Prize.
click on artwork to enlarge
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Cat#11 John Mandich
LOST PAGES - MARIJA PERICIC Oil on Canvas 137 cm w x 183 cm h $16,200 Artist’s Statement This portrait depicts Marija Pericic, an Australian novelist, born to German and Croation parents. She has written three novels to date, and is working on her fourth. Her most recent, 2023’s Exquisite Corpse was shortlisted for the Devitt Award from the Sisters of Crime Association in Australia. Her first novel, 2018's The Lost Pages, won the prestigious The Australian/ Vogel’s literary award as well as being shortlisted for the Readings Prize, and she was also named a Sydney Morning Herald Best Young novelist She has been published in various journals and magazines such as Meanjin and The Big Issue Fiction Edition. The artist, John Mandich, was born in Croatia, migrating to Australia with his Family in 1967. He has known Pericic for over a decade through the family of one of his dear friends. A regular entrant into the Archibald Prize, he never has a problem finding his new annual subjects. “Every year”, he says, “as soon as I start looking for my subject, he or she just appears. For instance this year as soon as I started wondering who to paint, Marija wandered into the Evelyn Hotel. Problem solved.” |