Now in its 29th year, the Bald Archy Prize has selected its 2025 finalists. Inviting artists to submit works of satire, the Prize is a deliberate parody of the Archibald Prize. This year the Olympic breakdancer Raygun is the most common subject among those selected.
As always, Professor Maude, the pet cockatoo of the Prize’s late founder, Peter Batey, will judge the winner by squawking in front of the painting she likes best. “It takes 11 galahs to judge the Archibald, but only one cockatoo to judge the Bald Archy,” said Peter Batey in 2016.
The Bald Archy is open to any artist of any age. The almost 40 finalists are currently on display at the Canberra Potters and Watson Arts Centre and the winner will be announced in March. The works will then enjoy a nearly year-long tour around the country through metropolitan and regional areas.
Other standard inclusions in this year’s finalists include Peter Dutton, King Charles and Gina Rinehart, who famously loathed her inclusion in the National Gallery of Victoria’s portrait exhibition last year.
In her Bald Archy finalist portrait, Rinehart is floating on an inflatable kangaroo in a pool underneath the Eiffel Tower.
That painting and other finalists will be exhibited at the Canberra Potters and Watson Arts Centre until 23 March.
