The science of portraiture brought to life

It’s been called the Archibalds of Wollongong, but with a scientific twist.

Science of Portraiture is an artist-led research project for National Science Week in Wollongong, NSW – the home of our ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES) headquarters – using cutting-edge scientific methods to explore likeness in portraiture. And in 2018, you might just recognise one of the models!

This year’s theme is Portraits of Gordon², where 10 local artists were asked to create a portrait likeness of two locally and internationally renowned Gordons from the Wollongong region – Lord Mayor of Wollongong, Gordon Bradbery OAM, and our very own ACES Director Gordon Wallace AO!

Now in its second year, the initiative examines how people’s judgements of the likeness of artistic portraits to the subject are related to the accuracy in the depiction.

The inaugural Science of Portraiture exhibition in 2017 resulted in a scientific paper titled ‘Variation and Likeness in Ambient Artistic Portraiture, in leading international scientific journal, Perception. The paper marks the first time a science project was led by artists.

Members of the public are again invited to be part of this year’s Science of Portraiture experiment. Come along and cast your vote by judging the likeness of the portraits.

The exhibition will be held from 11-19 August at the Red Point Artists Association at 100 Wentworth St, Port Kembla NSW. For more information, visit the event page.