Thom Roberts is just as excited as any artist about reaching the finals of the Archibald Prize.
Roberts' work, Portriff of Adam, shows Shane Simpson, an arts lawyer and chair of Studio A in Sydney, where Roberts does his artwork. The two are friends, with Roberts known to imitate Simpson's clothing style and turn of phrase.
"He's like my big brother," Roberts says of Simpson. "Is that the man with the round glasses . . . he is very tall."
Studio A is a social enterprise in Sydney that supports professional artists with intellectual disability. Roberts, in his 40s, has autism.
In the work, the subject has two pairs of glasses, which is one of Roberts' artistic trademarks - four eyes.
Roberts likes working in multiples, he tells me during a Facetime interview with him and Studio A director Gabrielle Mordy. As Mordy interprets the discussion between Roberts and I, she says Roberts likes to make three noses, six ears and four eyes on his human subjects.
Roberts' work is one of 52 in the 2021 Archibald Prize finalists show now touring Australia. The show opens at Maitland Regional Art Gallery on January 21, and runs to March 6.
The open competition organised by the Art Gallery of NSW has been awarded annually to the best portrait, "preferentially of some man or woman distinguished in arts, letters, science or politics, painted by any artist resident in Australasia".
The Archibald marked its centenary last year.
Thom Roberts is hoping to attend the show at Maitland - his mum moved to the Hunter Valley last year and hopes to attend as well.
He hopes to meet me at the Archibald show in Maitland (he's named me 'Jail' - everybody gets a name when they talk to Thom Roberts).
"Let's have a great big feast," he says. "Meet me for a juicy beer and play hide and seek."
Roberts is a successful and prolific artist. He has work in two other shows currently - the Magic Putt Putt show by Studio A at Cement Fondu in Paddington, where he has his own room featuring a tennis court and a courthouse. "There are tennis games, you can play table tennis," Mordy describes. "Animation all the way around the room, by cops, lawyers, judges, and they are playing tennis games. Between the courthouse and tennis match. The judge is inspired by Gladys Berejiklian (who Roberts calls 'Mrs Wrinkles')."
He's also in a show, Mental, in Melbourne at the Science Gallery, where he's created an augmented reality map of Melbourne trams. Roberts loves trains and trams - often identifying people by the names of trains or tall buildings.
The 2021 prize was won by Peter Wegner, for his portrait of artist Guy Warren. Guy Warren turned 100 last year.
"I have been working on a series of drawings of people who have turned 100 and this was initially the reason l approached Guy," Wegner says in notes on the Archibald Prize website.
"I have been aware of his work for many years, especially the portrait that won the 1985 Archibald. I chose to paint him because he is one of the most remarkable centenarians l have ever met. He still finds purpose in working in his studio daily, one of the traits he attributes to his longevity."
Among the finalists are Ann Cape, for her portrait of Sam, Cam and Penguin Bloom; Kathrin Longhurst, for her portrait of Kate Ceberano; Julian Meagher, for his portrait of Craig Foster; James Powditch, for his portrait of Kerry O'Brien; and Mirra Whale, for her portrait of Ben Quilty.
