Briefly About the Subject of the Winning Archibald Entry for 2010

Tim Minchin,the subject of the winning portrait for Archibald 2010 in his statement to the media from London said he was, “honoured by Sam Leach to be chosen as the subject.His mum will be happy to see his floor so clean, which isn’t really the case.” Leach exhibited in a group show in London last year at the Bedfordbury Gallery, Convent Garden and had arranged for Minchin to sit for him, while he was in London for the opening.

Tim Minchin is a musical performer, whose style is musical comedy. In his songs Minchin writes about his life and the world around him in RocknRoll style. I knew Tim Minchin was a London based comedian and assumed he was English. Coincidentally, I rented a documentary the next day after the Archibald winner was announced at my local Blockbuster Video store titled RocknRoll Nerd. It shows in revealing detail, Tim Minchin’s painstaking rise to fame. Minchin is from Melbourne and has been living in London only for the last few years. (www.rocknrollnerd.com; YouTube has songs from this dvd as well)

Tim Minchin’s rise to fame began when he was offered to perform in Edinburgh Festival after successful performances at the Melbourne Comedy Festival. When he won the New Comer Award at the Edinburgh Festival, he was invited to be represented by a reputable agent based in London.

During the Archibald announcement Sam Leach shared with the media gathered the reasons for choosing Tim Minchin as his subject. Sam Leach’s inspiration to choose Tim Minchin as his subject for the Archibald shows parallels between Tim’s life and career journey and his own. Sam Leach told the media at the Archibald announcement he loves Tim Minchin’s music and the topics he explores in his material. The artist and subject are similar in age, both come from Melbourne, had children around the same time. Minchin is a talented pianist, hilarious comedian, who put everything he had at stake, to get where he is today.

Both subject and artist are striving for recognition in the ‘Arts’, as a performer and as a visual artist, industries which are tough and unforgiving. After much effort both have seen an admirable level of success in their chosen paths. The two relate to one another, because the have similar beginnings and are both humble about their successes.