When the Salon des Refusés was first staged in 1992 some of the artists chosen were reportedly irked to have work included in the Archibald Prize “reject” show.
In fact, tongue only partly in her cheek, Watters contends that being selected for the Salon is actually“There are 57 works selected out of 1005 this year for the Archibald,” she says. “Our Archibald selection only got 38 out of 948 works. It’s actually harder to get in the Salon than it is to get in the Archibald.”
A detail from Wendy Sharpe’s ‘Self-Portrait With Improbable Beings’, which is hung in this year’s Salon des Refuses.“I am the one that rings them up to tell them they’ve been picked for the Salon, and then they go, ‘So you mean I’m not in the Archibald?’” she says. “I’ve been on the end of a few rants.
“I said, ‘I don’t think it works like that. I think you’ve actually got to be seen first and then come to us.’ ”