Эверт Плог: Австралийский портретист тонального реализма

Australian portrait painter

Evert Ploeg (pronounced Ay vert Plough; born 1963 in Sydney, New South Wales) is one of Australia's most highly regarded portrait painters, who has won a range of painting prizes, such as the 1999 and 2007 Archibald Prize (Category: People's Choice) and was awarded the highly coveted 'Signature Status' of The Portrait Society of America.

Born and raised in Sydney in a family of Dutch heritage, Ploeg works from his self designed studio on the city's Northern Beaches, which was featured on Nine Network's 'Our House' programme in 2001. He lives with his partner, film and television costumier, Ivana Daniele and their two daughters Aurora and Paloma.

Working in a tonal realist style (mostly in oil), Ploeg's pictures bespeak an approach to portraiture that is inspired by documentary methods. Putting emphasis on visually encoding a personal narrative in any given portrait, he builds connection to his subjects through conversation and extended observation both during their sitting as well as in their engagements outside of the atelier. In his early work, he explored alternative textures and surfaces, while today his direct and sculptural approach sees him coming back to and revisiting passages, building up character and emotion through tonal layering. Rhythmical application delivers a dynamic sense of movement while maintaining a harmonious and expressive style. A dominant feature in Ploeg's work is thereby the aesthetic rendition of hands, with their shape and posture rounding compositions and giving them their signature look. Over the past decade, Ploeg has begun engaging more and more in plein air painting, affording unique scenarios that lend his current style an 'Alla Prima' element.

Ploeg mainly works on a commission basis, with his work having been recognised with numerous (inter)national prizes and awards. It is held in many of Australia's major public and private collections as well as having received sustained international coverage, especially in the USA. Aside from direct commissions, he has also participated in a plethora of special events, for example engaging in live painting on stage for acclaimed theatre projects, judging in art prize panels or lending his time as well as painting and sculptural skill to charity causes. He also guest lectures and conducts workshops and classes across the country.

Amid the most significant recognition of Ploeg's achievements are his three time wins at Australia's most prestigious and often controversial Archibald Portrait Prize held at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Having first entered the competition in 1997 with a controversial (and ultimately ruled out) submission of a portrait of the ABC's cherished cartoon characters Bananas in Pyjamas, Ploeg has since won the coveted Archibald People's Choice Award in 1999 (subject: Australian Indigenous actress Deborah Mailman) and in 2007 (subject: Australian conductor and musical director George Ellis), as well as its Packing Room Prize in 2004 (subject: Australian journalist Jana Wendt). Furthermore, Ploeg has been selected to the Salon des Refuses of Sydney's S. H. Ervin Gallery, termed the Alternative Archibald, three times with a People's Choice win there in 2000 (subject: Australian actor Richard Roxburgh) ¬– concurrent to having had his portrait of Paralympian athlete Louise Sauvage competing in the 'Sporting' Archibald held in conjunction with the 2000 Sydney Olympics. He has also entered paintings to the Archibald Prize of singer Ben Lee, fashion identity Peter Morrissey, actor Richard Roxburgh and art collector and philanthropist John Schaeffer AO (in 2014).

Ploeg has painted portraits of clients with international renown, such as pop star Ben Lee, fashion identity Peter Morrissey, film actor Richard Roxburgh, art collector & philanthropist John Schaeffer AO, the late 'Mr Movies' Bill Collins OAM and Dr Paul Scully Power Australia's first astronaut in space. The lion's share of his assignments originates from commercial and corporate institutions, which saw him paint, for example, Mrs Tamie Fraser AO for the Australiana Fund in 2018 and Prof. Fred Hilmer AO, eighth Vice Chancellor of The University of New South Wales and Deputy Chairman of the Westfield Group, with the work included in the 20/20 exhibition at the Australian National Portrait Gallery (2018). Before committing his entire career to portraiture, Ploeg worked as a trained illustrator for 13 years, having graduated East Sydney's Design College (now: National Art School) in 1984. His work was commissioned by prestigious department stores, international cosmetic companies, leading advertising agencies and major publishing houses and was regularly featured in editorial and advertisement spreads in fashion magazines of the day. For example, he was commissioned to illustrate the re publications of Australian classic children's stories, such as We of the Never, Never and Clancy of the Overflow by Australian poet Banjo Patterson (Angus & Robertson (1987, 1989 & 1990). For this kind of work, he received a coveted award from publisher Random House for Outstanding Cover in 1999. Following this success, publisher Hodder Headline enlisted Ploeg to illustrate the cover jackets for seven books of Geoffrey McSkimming's children's adventure series Cairo Jim (1996).

In addition to his regular portraiture commissions, Ploeg has for the past decade been involved with Australian arts and social change company Big hART Inc., which conducts large scale, long term community development projects. In September 2010, he joined the cast of their highly acclaimed Namatjira production at Sydney's premier Belvoir Street Theatre, which relates the biographical story of late Western Aranda watercolor painter Albert (Elea) Namatjira (1902–59). Ploeg was painting lead actor Trevor Jamieson's portrait while he was performing his role live on stage, retelling the story of one of Australia's most famous Indigenous artists. Over the season and its subsequent national tour (2012), Ploeg completed eight paintings, which were exhibited and sold at the Adelaide State Gallery & Museum together with other visual art created in the context of Big hART's project. Ploeg's association with the company has continued beyond the Namatjira Project, with him participating also in creative developments of their Yijala Yala Project in the Pilbara communities of Western Australia (since 2011) and in their seafaring project Blue Angel, which saw him spent a seven day residency on board the oil tanker British Loyalty in 2014, painting crew members on their way from Sydney to Brisbane. Those works were first exhibited in the 2015 Tasmanian 10 Days on the Island Festival as part of a site specific theatre production in Hobart's Astor Hotel, with a subsequent presentation having occurred at the Wooden Boat Festival at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney on board the tall ship James Craig in 2016. In between these engagements with Big hART, Ploeg was also invited to sketch a live portrait of actor Kurt Sutton while performing in the play An Evening with Mark Twain at Elm Street Theatre in Woodstock (Atlanta, USA) in 2013.

Internationally, Ploeg has had a long involvement with the Portrait Society of America. First awarded in their 2005 International Competition, he has gone on to garner further awards including Best of Show (2011) and Certificate of Excellence (2017 & 2019). In the Society's Membership Only competition, he received Honourable Mentions and Merit Awards in 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015 and twice First Place in the highly contested Commissioned category (2016 & 2018). In 2018, the Society granted Ploeg the highly prized lifelong Signature Status. In 2015, Ploeg was selected as one of 10 artists worldwide to compete in the New York Grand Central Academy's Alla Prima Portrait Competition, whose works were exhibited in a month long show at Eleventh St Arts in Long Island. Earlier (in 2014 & 2005), he had participated in the Macquarie Bank sponsored Portrait Artists Australia exhibition held in the Australian Embassy in Washington DC. Other international accolades include long listed works in the BP Portrait Award in London, UK (2015 & 2016). Nationally, in addition to his Archibald awards, he also won the Shirley Hannan National Portrait Prize (2005), has been a multiple finalist in the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize, six time finalist in the Black Swan Portrait Prize (Western Australia) and has three works in St John Ambulance, with the last one having been unveiled at Government House in Canberra in 2019.