A LOCAL artist has run afoul of officials at the Sculptures By the Sea exhibition in Sydney after setting up her easel and starting to paint a picture.
Well-known Port Macquarie artist Leanne Prussing was painting a ‘plein air’ – a form of painting capturing natural light and a natural scene – when she was asked to leave.
“I set up in a grassy spot overlooking the beach at Tamarama shortly after 8am and had been having a wonderful day with lots of people stopping by to look at what I was doing when the official walked past shortly after 2pm,” Leanne said.
“I explained I was painting a picture of the people looking at the sculptures, but she said there was an official selection process for the exhibition which I had not been a part of.
“While she loved my work, she said I was a distraction from the exhibition and not fair to the other artists, so I had to go.”
Leanne argued that she had been there most of the day without incident and had almost finished the painting, but the official could not be moved, telling her to pack up and leave within the next 10 minutes.
Leanne says she and her partner Greg, who was with her, are laughing the eviction off and in no way whinging about it.
“But it is a really funny story, an artist being evicted for painting a painting of other people’s art,” she said.
“We artists like to share, so I think they would have liked me painting a painting of people looking at their sculptures. I in no way intended taking the shine off their work.”
Leanne had almost finished the backdrop seascape for her work when she had to pack up, and took a photo of the scene so she can add the sculptures and people in the foreground of the painting back in her studio.
She plans to enter the finished work for the Sulman prize, which is a section of the Archibald for scenes from everyday life.
“I have been a finalist in the Sulman once before, so who knows the controversy surrounding this painting may bring me luck,” she said.
Leanne will be entering the main section of the Archibald with another painting of a well-known Port Macquarie man, whose identity will remain a closely guarded secret until the painting is unveiled for judging.
The Sculptures By the Sea exhibition along the Bondi to Tamarama coastal walk has since ended.
