There's a Japanese word and it's called ikigai
and it means to have purpose and meaning.
I've always thought if I do a drawing for the day
then I've acknowledged that day.
Today, I've acknowledged it.
And on this earth,
I've acknowledged this day with this drawing.
And if I do it tomorrow, I'll acknowledge it again.
And I'm tracing my own life
by the moments that I do a drawing.
I've always drawn.
Ever since I was a kid
I always draw.
Drawing for me was always that beginning.
It's like a documenting life.
That's how I've always thought about it.
It's a description of who you are.
It's like a diary.
Drawing is such an immediate thing.
It's an instant reaction to what's there with you.
You've got something in front of you and you can draw it.
When I go anywhere, I always take my sketchbook with me.
In today's world of the digital image and Instagram
and everything else that exists,
that you can have a 2B pencil and a piece of paper
and you can say, I will be here for five hours
just with a pencil and a piece of paper.
It's just such a beautiful thing
that doesn't need anything else.
It doesn't need anything else.
I've always drawn people around me:
friends, acquaintances, a good face.
About seven years ago when my Aunty Rita was 100,
at the time I thought would be good to draw Rita at 100.
So I'd go down to her place in Elsternwick and we'd set up.
She was the sort of person that would say,
"Well, you sit down Peter and I'll make you a cup of tea."
(chuckling)
I was supposed to make her a cup of tea.
She's 100!
"Rita, you're 100!"
After I did the first couple, I realised, you know,
there must be a lot of other people
in Australia or in Victoria
who are living independent lives,
are living in their own house or low care residential,
who are 100.
I put the feelers out to see if there was any others around,
and to my surprise, I started doing maybe one a week.
One centenarian a week.
In an odd sort of way, if Rita hadn't been 100,
would I be sitting here today?
I don't know.
You know, it was just a lovely connection.
I rang up Guy, who I'd never met before,
but I knew his work.
And he said, "Oh no, no, I haven't got time.
I've got three exhibitions this year."
(chuckling)
Three exhibitions!
He's 100, right?
He found time for me to sit.
And that strange moment where it all collided
that Guy turns 100,
by seven years later,
the 100th anniversary comes along for the Archibald.
But I didn't paint Guy for the Archibald.
I just said, "Look, he's great.
This is fantastic, I've got an artist."
I did Inge King, who was another sculptor.
So I was just building up the centenarians
and including people who have purpose.
Well, you know, you spend three hours with someone
who's been on this earth for a 100 years,
and they tell you their life story.
They tell you about their life, what's happened,
what they've done, what they haven't done.
I always ask the question,
"Well, why do you think you've lived for so long?"
And a lot of them say that there's no secret.
Guy's was good genes and a shot of whiskey every night.
But it was just a fascinating thing
to have that time with somebody.
And it's a rare privilege to be able to do that.
I never say, "Would you pose or sit for me?"
because it's like having this conversation.
I wanna know about them.
I wanna know the story.
I had an instant connection with Guy.
It was that moment where
you know somebody but you don't know them.
What Guy and I had together was
that mutual understanding of art.
And we just talked and talked and talked.
I was in his studio and Guy said, you know,
"It's a bit cold, I'll grab a jumper."
And he put that red jumper over his shoulders.
And I can tell you,
as soon as that moment he put that red jumper [on],
I just thought, "Oh my goodness, that's it.
I've got him."
It was just a little tingle went down my back
and I thought, "Isn't that fantastic?"
Then that was that moment where I thought,
yes, I think this might work, I think this might work.
It's a dream to win the Archibald Prize, really.
I mean, it's a great thing to happen.
I really didn't believe that I had a chance of winning,
and I've entered seven times before,
but this is probably the first painting that
I had someone like Guy who had a presence himself
as an Archibald winner.
I mean, I was just so happy I got him, it was amazing,
because of COVID and the way it worked out.
I just loved Guy when he got up there and said,
"You know, I think I'm enjoying this
as if I'd won it myself."
Which was a lovely moment for him
representing me at that moment too.
I thought that was great.
He's almost like a role model, really, for artists.
I really wanna do a self-portrait at a 100.
(chuckling)
I think that'd be a nice thing to do.
And then I could become part of my own series.
Every portrait you ever do or every portrait you look at,
is in retrospect.
I think even if you look at a Rembrandt,
I love the idea that 400 years later
I can look straight into his eyes
without him knowing that I'm gonna look back
400 years later.
I've painted a lot of famous people.
I've painted a lot of interesting people.
I've painted people who think they've had no life
but I can tell you, they're so interesting.
Everybody has a story.
Everybody's got a story.
They don't know it though.
I've got to almost about 97 centenarians.
And my idea was to have 100, but hey, I can't stop now.
This is crazy.
I've got so many people I wanna meet,
so many people who don't know that they're gonna meet me.
(chuckling)
And yeah, it is a great project.
And I'll just keep painting, if I get to 200, I don't care.
Well, I'm documenting history.
That's what I'm doing.
I'm documenting people.
I'm documenting their lives.
It's what I'd call a very nice moment.
A very nice moment.
When people sit down,
like, I never ask them to sit in a pose.
I want that person to find their own weight
and how they sit.
If they move their hand, I think,
"Well, that's really good, that's a better pose."
And I'll rub that out and I'll try again.
But sooner or later,
they'll come back to that same position.
The drawings represent something of a moment.
And there I am, I've captured this time capsule,
I've got them.
When I paint, I paint with tone and not line.
A lot of people when they do a painting
will draw a beautiful drawing on the canvas
and then they'll fill it in with paint.
I always find that that technique for me is that
you are then controlled by the line you make
which means you can't go over that line.
But if I work in tone, then I can put a mass on
and work back in again,
put a mass on and work back in again.
I just love the idea of paint,
because the paint becomes the flesh
and the flesh becomes the paint.
It's that beautiful feeling of layering paint on
and mixing it up.
It's quite seductive for an artist to mix up paint,
and you've got all that beautiful nuances of colour,
purples and greens, that exist in the flesh colour.
And I see that in people's faces too.
I see the colour in the face.
I see...
It's just such a delight to paint.
I just love painting.
You always think that the best painting you do
is the next one.
That's what I always think.
I look at this, and it's like so much potential.
I just love the surface.
I just wanna work on it.
Yeah.
The next painting you do
you always think it's gonna be your best.