Lawson artist Ross Roorda copped some criticism as well as praise when his painting of disgraced former police detective Roger Rogerson was announced last week as a semi-finalist in the $150,000 2014 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize - but he is embracing it all.
Perhaps the most scathing comment was posted on a Sydney newspaper's webpage on September 3 by a reader called Mark: "As a former police officer I cringe at anything that glorifies people like Rogerson - this artwork is not even fit enough to be hung on the wall of an outside dunny."
Mr Roorda told the Gazette on Thursday he welcomes the painting being interpreted in very different ways.
"It's got a mixed reaction already from people, which is a really good thing because that's what art should be about - to make people think and feel," he said.
"On the same day one person told me I'd captured 'the mongrel' really well, another said there's a certain strength about him [Rogerson] in the painting and somebody else said he looks like a frail old man in it."
Mr Rogerson and his former police colleague Glen McNamara are accused of murdering 20-year-old drug dealer Jamie Gao in a south-western Sydney storage unit on May 20 this year.
But Mr Roorda said he sketched Mr Rogerson in January on a friend of a friend's recommendation and finished the painting "well before May".
"It's a controversial subject now but it wasn't intended that way.
"I got a bit of criticism about it but the way I approached it was that he [Rogerson] was just another interesting character to paint.
"I didn't really know much about his background before I met him and then I read his book [The Dark Side] and watched the movie [Blue Murder].
"When I met him he said he was waiting for an operation, so physically he was very frail but when he sat in the chair he had a sense of strength, of arrogance."
Mr Roorda, principal of Casuarina School in Riverstone, fits his art career into his spare time and has no intention of slowing down.
"I'm doing some sculptures at the moment, I'm the drummer in a few bands and I'm about to start a PhD composition study that looks at facial expressions in art."
The winner of the portrait prize will be announced on October 28.
and an exhibition of 30 selected finalists will open on October 29 at Juniper Hall in Paddington.
and has no intention of slowing down."He put himself in that pose on the chair while I was talking to him and he was just looking back at me, slightly down.
"I wanted it to be as natural looking as possible and for somebody looking at the painting to see the subject as a normal human being.
"I didn't want to put anything in the background to suggest or say anything about him - I want the viewers to make their own minds up."
Mr Roorda, principal of Casuarina School in Riverstone, fits his art career into his spare time and has no intention of slowing down.
"I'm doing some sculptures at the moment, I'm the drummer in a few bands and I'm about to start a PhD composition study that looks at facial expressions in art, especially in works by Rembrandt and how that can be translated into portraiture of animals.
"I try and keep myself busy."
The winner of the 2014 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize will be announced on October 28 and an exhibition of 30 selected finalists will open on October 29 at Juniper Hall in Paddington.
