Evert Ploeg began his career as a commercial illustrator in the mid-1980s. He gained wide attention in 1997 when he attempted to enter the Archibald Prize with a portrait of the original Bananas in Pyjamas, which was later purchased by the ABC. His portrait of Deborah Mailman, now one of the most popular paintings in the National Portrait Gallery, won the Archibald Prize People’s Choice Award in 1999, as did his portrait of George Ellis in 2007; his portrait of Jana Wendt earned him the Packing Room Prize in 2004. In 2005 he won the Shirley Hannan Portrait Prize and also his first award at the Portrait Society of America International competition, in which he garnered further awards in 2011 (Best of Show), 2012 and 2017. He has also triumphed in that society’s annual members-only competition, including a First Place in 2017 and life-long ‘Signature Status’ in 2018. In 2010 he was part of the BIGhART stage production Namatjira, painting portraits of lead actor Trevor Jamieson on stage. Four years later he participated in another BIGhArt project, Blue Angel, spending seven days aboard an oil tanker painting portraits of crew members. Six of Ploeg’s portraits are in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, and his portrait of Tamie Fraser is currently on loan.
