Nick Stathopoulos The white shirt – portrait of Tané Andrews

‘If you paint portraits, inevitably you find yourself staring at random people’s faces. Occasionally you see one that is so compelling, the urge to paint them is overwhelming,’ says Nick Stathopoulos.

And so it was when he saw Tané Andrews, a Sydney-based artist who works in a local gallery near Stathopoulos’s home.

‘With that Bowie-esque swept-forward hair, there was something otherworldly and ethereal about him. Every time we visited, I would say to my partner Adrian that he’d make a great portrait subject. This went on for so long that, after our last visit, an exasperated Adrian turned me around, pushed me back in, and blurted out, “Just ask him!”’

Stathopoulos was further inspired by the self-portrait of a young Félix Edouard Vallotton from 1885. ‘I had carried the idea of my portrait of Tané around in my head for ages. I sought to capture the disquiet in Vallotton’s work. It was the mood that intrigued me.’

This is the seventh time Stathopoulos has been an Archibald finalist. He won the People’s Choice in 2016 with a portrait of Sudanese refugee and lawyer Deng Adut.