The Lost Portrait of Michael Hutchence

Next week, I’ll be launching Incandescence, my first EP and solo art exhibition* at Australian Bronze Sculpture House, North Head Reserve in Manly.

It will be something of a Creative Rebirth Party for me: I’m performing songs from the EP, two of which won the Lyrics Only Category of the UK Songwriting Contest in 2012 and 2013, and gathering together paintings, sculptures and drawings from more than 20 years of art practise. I’ll also be singing my latest single Amen Amen (So Be It My Love)** and showcasing the film clip for UnConquered Sun. Rather cheekily though, I’ve taken to calling the exhibition a Retrospective (because I’m not dead yet lol), and smiling at the notion that, in artistic terms at least, I get to attend my own “funeral” … or find out what people really think of my work. And me. Oh dear. But there is a serious side to this too – and one which relates to a particularly brilliant and curious piece of mosaic from my past.

When I was a young traveller writing a music column for an Australian magazine in London, I crossed paths with INXS frontman Michael Hutchence. I interviewed him for the mag and we hit it off instantly. Of course, Michael never met a woman he didn’t get along with I’m sure lol – he was a truly gorgeous man with a genuine heart and amazing charisma – but we bonded over a longing for Sydney beaches, a good dose of homesickness and a sense of what it meant to be creative and share that with other people. And he really loved art. I wrote to him shortly afterward and asked if he would sit for me for the Archibald Prize (for Portaiture) and he agreed straight away. I was delighted. His management lined up some concert dates for me to go to – I went along as an “official artist” and sketched Michael while he performed. And then … Kick took off. Of course, the global phenomenon that was the INXS success story launched like a rocket around the world and scheduling sittings for paintings became a nightmare. We made many attempts to make the portrait idea work, but life took us in opposite directions. Later on, I investigated entering a posthumous painting of him, but the rules of the Prize didn’t allow for that kind of lag between a live sitting and a showing of the finished work.

I have some beautiful sketches of Michael from that time and I’m including one in the exhibition … but the really strange thing is that he is no longer here to see them. So much living has passed since his death – a whole creative and personal era for me, not to mention the birth of my child – but that compelling moment of our first meeting lives on. The thing is, art transcends time – its job is to capture the brilliance of a fleeting experience and make it eternal so that it can be seen in any future. I love that. And I’m sure Michael would too. His own art – his music – is still bringing joy to millions. And it’s just so lovely that his light has become part of my own Incandescence – shining through a fragment of the stained glass window that is the multi-coloured and complicated pattern of my artistic past. It reminds me that even after our own experiences are long gone, their beauty lingers on in the way we have touched and inspired other people.

For years, I was rather sorry I didn’t get to paint that rather grand lost painting of Michael; but when I started putting my “retrospective” together, I changed my mind. The funny thing is, Michael Hutchence helped me learn what it is to create a portrait. I didn’t need the Archibald Prize for that 🙂

* The launch party for Susan Muranty’s Incandescence EP and Art Exhibition (featuring the pastel portrait of Michael) will be held on Thursday Night August 28 at 6pm at Australian Bronze Sculpture House, North Head Reserve, Manly. RSVP to Bec@platinumartists.com.au

**Amen Amen (So Be It My Love) is available at https://itunes.apple.com/au/album/amen-amen/id904277641?i=904277644 You can catch Susan’s videos on Youtube at youtu.be/kRAaueAwQW0?a