Sean Layh's portrait of actor Jacob Collins has won the Packing Room prize, awarded by the Art Gallery of New South Wales staff who unpack and hang the Archibald prize finalists. The announcement was made on Thursday, ahead of the main Archibald prize announcement scheduled for 8 May.
Sean Layh's Winning Portrait
Layh, a self-taught painter, created an oil painting titled The tragicall historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke. The work depicts Collins as the tormented Shakespearean character. Senior installation officer William Newell described the entry as an instant standout for the packing room crew, calling it a dark, complex and beautiful double portrait. He noted that the painting feels alive, as if the exchange between artist, character and actor continues to unfold.
Layh expressed that winning the prize is one of the great honours of his professional life. This is his first time as a finalist in the Archibald prize. The portrait was inspired by Collins's performance as Hamlet in a 2024 production for the Melbourne Shakespeare Company. The pair jointly agreed on the title, which retains the Elizabethan spelling from the earliest printed editions of the play.
Layh's Artistic Journey
Layh has been painting full-time for only five years. The Covid-19 pandemic served as a catalyst, prompting him to leave his career in biological science at Monash University to pursue his craft. Although he learned foundational skills from high school art teachers, a formal art education was not for him. He completed a year at the Victorian College of the Arts but left painting at that point. He pursued science before returning to the easel 15 years later.
While drawing came back easily, mastering oil paint required study. He spent lunch breaks painting in Melbourne's Nicholas Building and closely examined works from the National Gallery of Victoria's permanent collection. He studied paintings from the 19th-century salon to understand how those painters worked, which his own painting tries to emulate.
The Archibald Prize Exhibition
The $3,000 Packing Room prize is chosen by the AGNSW staff who unpack and hang the Archibald prize exhibition. This year, over 1,000 entries were submitted, with 59 finalists selected. Among the finalists are portraits of Bondi shooting hero Ahmed al-Ahmed, journalists Virginia Trioli and Jan Fran, surfer Layne Beachley, and artist Khaled Sabsabi. Other notable finalists include works by Kaylene Whiskey, Richard Lewer, Vincent Namatjira, Tsering Hannaford, and Michael Zavros.
The main Archibald prize, worth $100,000, will be awarded on 8 May to the best portrait of a distinguished man or woman in art, letters, science, or politics, painted by an artist resident in Australasia. The $50,000 Wynne prize for landscape painting and the $40,000 Sulman prize for subject painting, genre painting, or mural project will also be announced on the same day. All finalists will be on display from 9 May at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
