Art, Life and The Other Thing was awarded the Archibald Prize in 1978. It is composed of three panels. Media used includes: oil, glass eye, hair, pen, ink, plaster, photography, cigarette butts, and a hypodermic syringe.

I relish this artwork. I could look watch it for hours and still find new aspects which I had only skimmed past previous times I had seen the painting. Art, Life is secretive and suspiciously ersatz, feigning innocence. This confuses me, because the imagery is so confronting and seemingly genuine, yet I know that it is hiding something from me. Perhaps it is the look on Whiteley’s face in the third image of the triptych that gives the artwork this quality. What is he thinking? But his ambiguous face is serous. He looks cunning and self-assured; he looks lost and helpless.

The second panel does not evoke such a personal reaction from me. This panel is not for me, anyway. It belongs to Brett. He has asserted his authority in this artwork by placing his photograph in the corner. This panel belongs to Brett, but it wants to be separate from him; I can see that. The angle of the face and the shape of the eye communicate independently. They whisper to me and he turns a blind eye. It wants to be free from him…but it is not mine to claim. This panel belongs to Brett. Read more »