Jenny Sages Paul Cox

Paul Cox is a Dutch-born photographer and filmmaker who has worked in Melbourne since 1971 where he has produced a body of idiosyncratic films including Cactus, Man of flowers, My first wife, Lonely hearts, Vincent and A woman’s tale (the artist’s favourite – ‘like a good book which you can return to again and again’)

At the time of the portrait, Jenny Sages found her subject (who was until then not personally known to her) in a deep depression having had his funding cut by Film Victoria and having lost his film and house as a result: ‘he was sucking on a Dutch pipe which was reminiscent of [artist Vincent] van Gogh, in fact, there was van Gogh everywhere’.

Sages spent four months completing the portrait: ‘I like to start early because I like to live with a subject … I do not like to pose them. For four months I circled him and as I circled him I isolated him in the portrait, then protected him with a chair. It was a bright summer day and strong light came flooding into a dusty European setting reminiscent of his films. It was a terribly moving experience for me … very pleasurable all round.’

The portrait is now in the collection of the Tweed Regional Gallery, NSW.