Sally Robinson Tony Tan

‘Any painting is a struggle, but knowing someone well makes it easier,’ says Sally Robinson. She and Tony Tan have known each other for many years. ‘He’s not only a clever professional in his own field but he’s got a lot of life, the gift of the gab and he always looks as if he’s about to burst into laughter,’ says Robinson.

A chef, food writer, historian, teacher and television presenter, Tan learned to cook at his mother’s knee. Emigrating to Australia, he became one of the first to develop an Australian style of cuisine which combines Asian and European food techniques. ‘He is a food intellectual, most interested in the understanding of the cultural significance of food; the symbolism and poetry in a gesture or ingredient,’ says Robinson.

She remembers going to a class of Tan’s in which he talked about chillis, holding them up one by one – hence the chilli in the portrait. It is also significant in that as a small child growing up in Malaysia his family’s pet name for him was “Little Chilli”. It is now a favourite ingredient in the recipes he develops.

Born in England in 1952, Robinson emigrated to Australia in 1960. She studied at the National Art School in Sydney then spent some years as a lecturer at the City Art Institute of Sydney. Since the late 1980s, she has worked full-time as an artist and designer. Robinson is known primarily as a printmaker. This is only her third portrait and the first time she has entered the Archibald Prize.