So I've had a look at all the stuff. Pretty good. My daughter's is best though, fair dinkum. OK, they're all the best (you nearly let me get away with that). You know, I reckon ARTEXPRESS is the best thing about the NSW Art Gallery. You seen the other stuff? Who painted that? (Only joking, Ed ... true.)
I come here every year for ARTEXPRESS and I'm always blown away by what it is you young Australian men and women think and feel about the world you live in. And always, I leave the Gallery excited and, I have to say, stimulated by the creative way in which you express those thoughts and feelings through your artwork. It's great ... really great.
As a past student though - long past - I still can't believe that what you've done here passes as a school subject. Do you know how good you had it? I had to do Latin. I mean I shouldn't complain; Latin's been good to me. I speak it all over the place.
Which brings me to the first time I ever entered an art gallery. It was Great Britain's National Gallery in Trafalgar Square in London and I was 25. I have to admit it didn't make a great impression. I couldn't relate to anything in there and I had no appreciation of the skill involved in being a painter. And so many of the paintings were so big. I find big a bit of a turnoff in most things, I guess. A few years later I made it to the Louvre in Paris, home of the Mona Lisa. It was late one afternoon and I thought, 'Oh, I'll duck in and take a squiz before closing'. But same problem; couldn't relate. Cheeky smile but, well, guess I didn't know the lady.
I am less of a complete philistine these days - must be or they wouldn't have asked me to speak tonight (or else they've just made the biggest mistake of their lives). Thanks to my wife, I've learnt to appreciate art a little better and have to admit to a certain pleasure when a new painting is hung in our home.
Art. The Art World. The World of the Arts. What a funny place it is. What a playful and creative place it is. What a frustrating place it can be. What an imaginative and exciting place it can also be. And how lucky are those of us who are able to spend our lives working in it.
I was working in an insurance company in Sydney when I came across the World of the Arts. I was at the AMP and they had a drama club. They invited staff to come down and audition for the end-of-year staff review, so I went down for something different. They gave me a piece of paper with a scene on it and asked me to read it. Funny thing happened when I did; I got this strange, overwhelming excitement that had only ever happened to me when I'd scored a try at football. True. I couldn't wait to go to work each day after that - for the first time, let me tell you - so that I could go to rehearsal after work. I couldn't explain it, but I wanted more of it. That day led to me becoming an actor, which I've been for the past 32 years.
I've done about 60 movies, probably half of them Australian. I've shot all over our country, worked on stage in most of our capital cities, and I spent a year as a young man with the National Theatre in Great Britain. I've filmed in over 25 countries. Lived in China for four months, hung out with the Mountain Gorillas in Rwanda for a month, tossed bottles with Tom Cruise, beaten up Heath Ledger, worked all over the USA, Canada, Europe India and Asia, and spent time in many wonderful African countries. I'm bloody glad I went down and auditioned for that end-of-year review at the AMP. I'm a lucky bloke.
Some people will tell you the Arts is a wank. It's not. You kids know that. I'd reckon for most of you, this would have been your favourite subject. And if it wasn't before, it is now, right? Now that you're hanging in the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Am I right? Was this your favourite subject?
The big question though is, 'What is this stuff hanging on the walls of the Gallery? What is it you kids have done?' Tell you what I reckon you've done - you've stopped and you've thought and most importantly you've felt. You've taken an idea, played with it, explored it, added your own individual talent, that you're fairly unaware of, and created a work of art. To have been selected for ARTEXPRESS, you've all had to dig deep, overcome frustration, wrestle with what you thought you were trying to do and finally connect with your original idea, and in so doing you found enormous satisfaction. Congratulations.
You've been involved in the creative process and you've found a depth to your work that you probably never thought it could have.
But what does it do for us? All your play and exploration and frustration and imagination? Well, in the impatient world in which we live, you get us to stop for a moment and to consider. And when we do this, as often as not, we connect and we are given an insight that we may never have considered, and that becomes satisfying for us.
We live in a very materialistic world and that's why art is important, be it a painting or dance or theatre or film or literature or music or poetry. It provides a balance in our lives. It feeds our spirit. It feeds our souls.
So now, words of advice, words of wisdom. Yeah, sure, whatever, I'm a parent. So what chance and anyway what the hell do I know? And you're right; you've got to work it out for yourselves. That's what I had to do and what your parents had to do and what you had to do with your artwork hanging here at the Art Gallery of New South Wales tonight.
But, just in case ... Stay creative. Take what you've learnt from this episode in your life into whatever you end up doing.
Don't be result-oriented. Play and imagine in your work. Doesn't mean you won't have to work hard, but trust in the creative process. You've already made it work once.
Don't copy but be influenced. The world wants to know what you reckon. Each of you is original. Your background, family, neighbourhood, school, personality make each of you different. Recognise that what has shaped you gives you your advantage. That is your strength. It's your voice we're after.
And use your talent not just for your own advancement but to make richer the country that has given you the opportunity to be here tonight in ARTEXPRESS.
Good luck in anything you do and everything you do. We parents are all very proud of you. | 
