A grandfather turns his head towards the television, a portrait of seriousness as his grandson quietly snaps a photo of his pensive face.

The candid image, rendered in brushstrokes of warm brown touched with vivid blues and greens, now hangs at The Art Gallery of NSW where it has a very good chance of winning this year’s Young Archie Prize.

Steven Puwadi, a Year 12 student at Corpus Christi College Maroubra, is the artist behind the work.

Titled My Kung Kung, the portrait is a sweet and vibrant sequel to a painting of his grandmother which won the Sydney Catholic Schools’ annual portrait prize in 2023.

“To have a prestigious event specifically recognise younger people and put their work on that same plane as professional artists is inspiring.” – Steven Purwadi

In the year since then, Steven has worked with professional artists at a multi-day intensive workshop with the National Art School in Darlinghurst to take his painting to a new level.

“For my grandmother’s portrait, I took a very staged photo, bought a hat for her to wear specifically for the portrait, edited it in photoshop and aimed to copy it as closely as I could,” he said.

“This time I was more confident and experimental with my form. I wanted to be more spontaneous.”

Steven said it felt great to be a finalist in the respected Young Archie prize.

“To have a prestigious event specifically recognise younger people and put their work on that same plane as professional artists is inspiring,” he said.

Steven said his grandfather first saw his portrait on the Art Gallery of NSW …