Why this Archibald finalist had to ditch brushes for Daniel Johns portrait

EXCLUSIVE -- Daniel Johns is yet to view his Archibald Prize portrait in person.

But his phone has been ringing off the hook since the painting by Sydney artist Loribelle Spirovski was named as one of this year's finalists in the prestigious awards.

"I spoke to him a few days ago," Spirovski told nine.com.au on the eve of the winner being announced on May 8.

"He was like, 'I'm getting the most random people calling and messaging me, congratulating me for the Archibald portrait. And I have to keep telling them I didn't do anything. I just sat there.'

"Humility all the way. He's one of the most humble people I have ever met."

This is Spirovski's fifth time as a finalist, and she has been entering since 2014.

Previous entries have included portraits of John Bell from Bell Shakespeare, actor Nicholas Pope, and indigenous musician William Barton, which won the 2025 ANZ Archibald People's Choice Award.

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"Everything that goes into the making of an artwork is a strange, mysterious, often hilarious, inexplicable process," Spirovski said.

Her first meeting with Daniel Johns

It seems Spirovski and Silverchair frontman Daniel Johns were destined to collaborate on this piece.

The pair first met in 2023 when they were both involved in a documentary called The Musical Mind, A Portrait in Progress, by director Scott Hicks.

"I painted the subjects during the course of the documentary. I'm kind of like the thread that ties all the musicians together."

She knew early on that she wanted to paint Johns for the Archibald, and asked him to sit for her.

Johns could give her only three hours, but it was enough time for her to further absorb his intensity, creativity, and his fragility.

"He chose the pose. He just sat down like that. I don't necessarily like to direct the subjects that I paint. I really just want them to be as unguarded as possible."

'Then I tried and tried and tried over the years'

That sitting happened three years ago, but repetitive stress injury carpal tunnel meant Spirovski had figure out a new way to paint that didn't involve holding paintbrushes, which had become unbearably painful.

"Because of my injury I just wasn't able to execute the painting to the sort of to the standard that I wanted it to be three years ago," she added.

"Then I tried and tried and tried over the years. Something just clicked in December last year.

"The finger painting technique is really generous when it comes to painting things from memory, because it doesn't have to be perfect.

"The lines can be blurry."

She continued to work on it "on and off for three months", using sketches and several photographs as references, as well as a good dose of Silverchair music.

The moment everything 'clicked'

When she looks at her painting today, the song that plays in her head the most is The Greatest View from Silverchair's 2002 album Diorama., perhaps with a sprinkle of Ana's Song, and a good dash of John's second solo album FutureNever.

"I heard his voice and everything just clicked. I literally threw the brush away I was ready to make mark. I just stopped calculating at that point. I just put a glove on my hand and just painted.

"While it was happening, it was like an out-of-body experience and I laughed at myself because I was like, 'Oh my God, this makes so much sense!'

"Why hadn't I thought about this years ago, to paint with my hands? Because I grew up in the Philippines. There was no finger painting happening in the Philippines for children. So I never had that experience of just being messy with it and playing with it.

"With my painting practice up to that point, everything was so tightly controlled. And it was all about technique. It was all about precision. And I almost was searching for a way to take the control away from myself."

A closer look

While Johns' pose and presence in the piece, at first glance, appears to be confident, strong, intense, and unapologetic, upon closer inspection, his eyes are filling with tears.

Johns wasn't on the verge of tears that day, but that was how Spirovski chose to portray him, for a number of reasons.

"It's a really rare kind of quality to encounter in a person who's alive and who is in his 40s, that it is like he is – eons old," she said.

"I can see how his whole life just beneath the surface, struggling to contain all of this.

"Up until William's portrait and discovering finger painting, even if I'd won it just on the off chance prior to that, I don't think I felt I would have deserved.

"Until finger painting came along, I didn't have that synthesis of everything.

"And you want something unique, that's just you, a signature style, basically. Something that's accessible to people, but also shows your reverence for art history."

Her hope for the future of the portrait, regardless of the outcome, is that it will be added to the National Portrait Gallery.

The Archibald Prize winner will be announced at midday on May 8.

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