Heath portrait draws crowds

2008-04-02 17:26

Sydney - A young Australian artist said on Wednesday he had turned down lucrative offers for his haunting portrait of the late actor Heath Ledger and would give the painting to the star's mother.

Vincent Fantauzzo said he had received bids of hundreds of thousands of dollars for the portrait of Ledger, who sat for the Melbourne-based artist weeks before he died of an accidental drug overdose in New York on January 22.

"The offers have literally been from all over the world, mainly international," Fantauzzo told AFP.

Fantauzzo, who says on his website he was "privileged and inspired" to have known the star, said he had not been tempted to sell.

He said he would give the painting, which has attracted record crowds to the Art Gallery of New South Wales, to the actor's mother as she had been involved in the sittings during Ledger's Christmas visit home.

"She was there when we were doing the sittings and she was really supportive and I thought she was part of the project," he said.

The artist has been overwhelmed by the public reaction to his work, which features three dark images of a bare-chested, tattooed Ledger and was a finalist in the 2008 Archibald Prize for portraits.

"People say they feel like the painting is a tribute, something to remember him by, because it was more like him than his movies," he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

People's choice prize

The paper said the artist initially thought the painting would not be accepted into the prestigious competition but was encouraged by Ledger, who was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of a gay cowboy in Brokeback Mountain.

"My confidence was a bit low so he kept trying to boost me a bit. He kept saying; 'It's going to be great, it'll win'."

The portrait, titled Heath, did not win the Archibald but a spokesperson for the Art Gallery of New South Wales said its popularity had helped double the number of visitors to the annual exhibition to 60 000.

"The painting is popular for two reasons: one, it's a very good painting and two, it's of Heath Ledger," she said.

Gallery visitors vote on a people's choice prize and the spokesperson said the Fantauzzo portrait had a "very high" chance of winning on May 8.

The 29-year-old artist played down the attention his portrait has attracted and the possibility of being named the "people's choice".

"Fingers crossed but you never know what people are going to choose," he said.

- AFP