Archibald-winning artist and Time Out Future Shaper Julia Gutman is set to unveil her largest artwork to date at the Art Gallery of Western Australia on October 5. Spanning an impressive 12 metres wide and three metres tall, ‘life in the third person’ makes a bold statement both in character and scale, occupying an entire gallery at The Art Gallery of Western Australia until February 2025.
In 2023, Gutman caught the nation’s attention when, at 29 years old, she became the second-youngest artist ever to win The Archibald Prize. The winning portrait of singer-songwriter Montaigne, titled ‘Head in the sky, feet on the ground’, also made her only the 11th woman to win the coveted prize since it began in 1921.
While she’s renowned for stitching together rescued and ‘gifted’ garments to create striking visual ‘patchwork’ narratives, Gutman’s latest piece marks her first time working with jacquard fabric.
Reflecting on her experience crafting the work on a three-metre loom in the Netherlands, Gutman said, “Collaborating with the Textiel Lab created an entirely new way of approaching my work. Watching strands of mohair and cotton twist together into an image is honestly mystifying. The more I learn about the various processes of textile production, the more they seduce my imagination.”
‘life in the third person’ isn’t a self-portrait in the traditional sense, but rather masquerades as one.
The Art Gallery of Western Australia commissioned writer and art historian Tai Mitsuji explains: “Gutman’s image is in every one of the scenes, yet because of this repetition the individual person also ceases to really be in any of them. The monumental textile is not a retreat into narcissism, but a push to understand the limits of our own image.”
‘life in the third person’ opens at The Art Gallery of Western Australia on Saturday, October 5. The exhibition will be on display until February 16, 2025, with free entry for all visitors. You can find out more here.
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