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(rain pattering)
(wind rushing)

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(wooden thump)

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(gentle music)

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<v ->It's best I don't come out here at night and drink wine</v>

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and then come back the next day and say, what have I done?

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But this is the part I really enjoy,

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it's just I don't think too much, just like play around.

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Thinking back to when I was young and trying to establish

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when I decided I would become an artist

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is probably different to when I thought about

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wanting to become an artist.

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So, I always wanted to become an artist

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I just didn't think it was possible.

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I grew up not having much

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and all I wanted to do is make some money

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and get out of where I was.

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I opened up a dry cleaners for some reason

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and I thought that would be a business.

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It was terrible.

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But while I was in that shop I was drawing every day

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and people would come in and see my drawings

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and say, why aren't you an artist?

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And I started to get

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a few little commissions from customers,

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which ended up making more money than the dry cleaners.

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Eventually I realised

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I wasn't great at doing a whole lot of other things

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and it, even though it was the life of destined poverty,

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I thought it was still my best chance to be successful.

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(rain pattering)
(gentle piano music)

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You know, I'm highly dyslexic and struggle reading

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and left school very young and my way of learning

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was to directly interact with people.

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And when you get to know people you learn so much from them

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and if I was a journalist it would be interviewing them

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and I'd be learning but, for me, it's painting a portrait.

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(gentle music)

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It's a tricky thing

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because some people may have very interesting faces

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and they might not be interesting

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and someone might be very interesting and their face isn't.

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So, I think you have to look

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beyond the physical interesting aspects of a face

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and try and paint an essence of the person.

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I think a big part of the portrait is someone trusting you

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and, if they trust you and you do the right thing,

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people open up

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and there's moments where someone speaks about their life

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and what they're passionate about, could be their children,

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or their partner, or an experience they've had.

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And there's a look in their eyes

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and their mouth might move in a certain way

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or they look across, it's something,

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you know when it's hitting them emotionally, they do this

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and it's that kind of moment,

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that's the image I want to paint.

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(uplifting music)

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Every time I do a painting, everything changes.

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So my palette changes,

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I don't have any rules about how it's constructed

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or how I have someone sit for a portrait

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and I probably wouldn't be able to remember them

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with my dyslexia, anyway.

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Every time I paint, it's a new way of painting

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and I think it's the same way with my work ethic.

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I've never really had,

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you know, people get a painter's block

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or that kind of thing.

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I have so many ideas and so much I want to do,

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the only thing stopping me is the hours in a day

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where I want to hang out with my family,

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drop the kids off at school.

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Any other part of my day, if I can,

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I'd be in front of the painting and the days just fly away.

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There's nothing I'd want to do more.

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(gentle music)

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There's certain portraits that really stand out

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because they changed my life.

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Obviously, the portrait of Heath Ledger.

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He already meant a lot

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and he was someone that I looked up to.

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I learned so much about painting a portrait

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by just observing him, there was no direction necessary.

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We had a conversation, or a few conversations

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and a real thought collaboration and then I just stood back

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and watched him perform and every time I think about it,

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it gives me goosebumps.

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He could explode and then he'll go quiet

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and the quietness is so loud

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and it's so hard to capture in a image,

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so I did my best with that

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and it turned out to be quite timely.

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And now the painting means even more to me

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and it means a lot to his family as well

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and I think it would have meant a lot to him.

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The last thing he ever said to me is,

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this painting is going to change our lives

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and it really did.

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(gentle music)

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I try to go into meeting someone with an open mind.

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A lot of people I paint are already my friends,

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but, for example, Julia Gillard, I'm not into politics,

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I didn't even know what party she was with, I had no idea

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and I thought, okay, I'm painting a politician

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and everyone says politicians are boring.

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It turns out Julia was incredible

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and she's very smart and witty, and so open.

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If I had friends, or my brother,

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or someone coming to the studio, she was so engaged

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and I just thought what a special person I've met.

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(gentle music)

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I'm really, genuinely interested in learning

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from anyone I can

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and I think if you have a passion for people

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and you really want to get to know them with an open mind

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and without judgement .

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I like people to know that a great portrait

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isn't an accurate portrait.

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Speaking of portraits and connecting

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and that experience it says a lot

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that that's how I met my wife and a lot of my close friends,

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people that I painted.

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I do lots of transparent layers over and over again,

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push that back, push that around

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and I also went a bit hard on some of the lines

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so that it looks a bit graphic looking.

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It's even just a tiny bit of white,

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suffering back that harsh, these harsh lines.

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So, with my portrait of Hugh Jackman,

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we actually share a lot of mutual friends,

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friends that have worked together

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and friends that I'm very close with.

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And I remember Baz Luhrmann, who's a mate,

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saying, you have to meet Hugh,

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I know you'll get along with him and a few other people

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said the same thing, but you never know.

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It's like going on a blind date with someone

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and you meet up with them and someone got it right

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you actually have a real great connection.

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(joyous piano music)

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I got a call from the National Portrait Gallery

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and I actually, I just thought why are they calling me?

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And it was to do a commission.

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And to me, photography is a big part of the portrait

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and I normally film people and photograph them

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and work, base my portrait,

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just base the portrait on all my images and film,

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so I can see that, those moments.

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Hugh's son is very into art and quite creative

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and he wanted to bring his son along for the photo shoot

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so I had a plan up my sleeve

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that I was going to ask his son, during the photo shoot,

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to talk to his dad and pull the trigger on the camera.

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Another friend of mine, Michael Gracey,

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an Australian film director who's very close with Hugh.

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Michael and I had this idea

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of doing a kind of interactive portrait with holograms

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and told Hugh about it and he loved the idea

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and we spent most of our meetings discussing these big ideas

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about holograms, and paintings, and moving image,

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and music, and dance.

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And then it's kind of what's happening now in the world,

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you just never know what's going to happen next

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and that's what happened.

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The virus hit so all these plans we had

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to do these big projects,

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and the reason I wasn't taking photos all the time,

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is because it was getting bigger and bigger.

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And then Hugh called me up

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the night before he was coming to do photographs at my house

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and said, if I don't jump on a plane tonight

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then I'm going to get shut out of the U S

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and his family was there.

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So, he had to jump on a plane and I was like,

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are you sure you can't just come now for it

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and he's like, no, I can't.

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So, we had to go to plan B which I think is,

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I think it's worked out.

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I let them settle back in the U S

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and then I made a video for Deb, Hugh's wife,

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on how to shoot the portrait.

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I'm walking around my house,

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talking about my portraits that I've done,

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telling them how easy it is and what I want them to do.

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I think you think one thing,

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and it's nothing wrong with what they did,

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it's just a translation thing.

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Like you say something and someone gets it,

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but what they're getting

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is different to what you're thinking.

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And Hugh sent this funny video

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where he had a dumpling basket on his head

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and, 'cause I said just relax, do whatever you want,

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make it funny, so he had this dumpling basket on his head

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and he's trying to balance it

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and then he just bursts out laughing.

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And that was shot on a phone so it was low res

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and here I am wanting to do this big portrait

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for the National Portrait Gallery.

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I want these high res images

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and Hugh's got a dumping basket on his head.

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So I had to just laugh my head off myself

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but I thought how am I going to use this?

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I went back and said, oh, that's great

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but can you send some clear images through as well?

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There's also so much happening in New York,

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this is when the virus was hitting New York

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and, you know, so many important things

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like the Black Lives Matters

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and Hugh's very socially engaged

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and everything matters to him

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and, so Hugh's obviously absorbed with what's going on

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and here I am saying take off the dumping basket

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and send me some more pictures.

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Anyway, they did send more pictures

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and Deb, obviously, took them.

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Recently I did a photo shoot of Asher

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during the COVID lockdown time

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for the cover of Marie Claire and we did a few photos inside

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and they said, oh, you know, you've done such a great job

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and I was like, yeah, you weren't there for the shoot.

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Like, you know, you have really heightened, amazing moments

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and you have intimate moments, and then you have moments

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where your wife's saying, you done?

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I saw those moments in their photographs as well,

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so I saw the laughing shot, the intimate shot,

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the love shot, and the, are we done yet shot.

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So, I think I understood it quite well

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and I chose the one that I thought I understood

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from working with my own partner.

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The painting's quite different to the photograph

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because I made it black and white

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and added my own touch to it.

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But there's a look in Hugh's eyes and there's a relaxed,

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you know, he's touching his face and his neck

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but it's not one of those, in front of the camera

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it's more of a moment in a conversation

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and you can tell it's a conversation

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with someone that he knows and trust.

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It's not a GQ photo shoot,

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which is probably great images as well,

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but I didn't want that,

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I wanted that intimacy we spoke about.

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So, I think there's a love and intimacy

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that I think I've got.

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The side of Hugh that's not "The Showman"

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it's not "Wolverine" it's something more personable.

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Being asked to have a portrait

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in the National Portrait Gallery

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is bigger than winning any art prize.

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It's bigger than an Archibald Prize,

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it's bigger than a Doug Moran,

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more important than any of the money

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or what they could pay me to paint a portrait.

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I'm just, it's like my dream come true.

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I think as a portrait artist

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it doesn't get any more important to me.

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There's so many incredible works

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in the National Portrait Gallery, I don't know how,

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I think it would be arrogant to say

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mine's going to stand out amongst all the incredible works

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but, hopefully, there's some young artists like myself

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and they'll know my story and they'll know Hugh's

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and it'll make them dream and think big

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that they can do the same thing

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because technique's not important.

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The finish is not important,

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it's a connection with the person

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so, hopefully, I can translate that a little to people.

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I feel like I get to a point

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and the painting starts to go backwards

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and then I realise I should stop.

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As soon as I've got enough, I try and walk away from it

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because I think it's easy, again,

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to overdo a painting as well.

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And it's hard when it's your own work.

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Sometimes I look at other people's paintings...

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You know I struggled with dyslexia

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but now I know dyslexia is actually my greatest gift

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so, if I didn't have dyslexia,

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I wouldn't have the same creative mind I might have,

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or I might've been better at something else

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and not become an artist.

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So I think, if you have a learning disability,

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if you have dyslexia, if you have a disability in general

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or just a challenge in life, all these life experiences,

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I think, you can turn around

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and use them to make yourself a great artist.

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Dyslexics in particular, I think, most that I know

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have great problem solving skills, creative,

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real empathy and understanding of people.

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It's just about finding your confidence

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and also knowing that any art you make,

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there's no wrong art-making.

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I think Baz Luhrmann said to me, once,

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don't paint for the audience

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make your artwork that you believe in

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and it will find its audience

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and I've always thought about that when I paint.

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I'm not painting to sell a painting or to please someone,

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I'm painting my truth

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and hopefully there's a whole lot of people

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that can connect to that.

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So, just stay true and believe in yourself,

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paint what you love or, not necessarily paint,

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do whatever you like to make art.

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Collage, trace, paint, you know, use your hands,

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use your feet, there's no rules.

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Eventually I'll puff paint and stuff.

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That's why kids get put off becoming artists

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because they feel like

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they're not able to paint something accurately.

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It's like my 10 year old son says,

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oh dad, I'm no good at art, I can't paint like you.

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And I'm like, I wish I could,

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I'm going to spend the rest of my life

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trying to go back to painting like you.

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I don't think I'll always paint realist paintings

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and I'm trying to reverse, slowly reverse backwards.

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Even a painting of Hugh,

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to most people it does look very detailed,

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but I could paint every little pore in his face

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and have it look exactly like a photograph

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but I think the illusion, the expression,

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the experimentation, all of those things

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make the painting more truthful and interesting

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and it becomes personal.

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(gentle music building)

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You know, I want people to walk in, see the portrait of Hugh

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and feel a real connection.

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(rain whooshing)