Stephen Andrews (artist) to his own experience of living with HIV. Andrews’ method of homemade colour separation evokes both the 19th-century painting technique of Pointillism: “in which small, distinct dots of pure color are applied in patterns to form an image”, and the Ben-Day dots of mechanical printing. Beyond these references, Andrews’ uses the technique to, at the same time, evoke the alchemy of vision and break its mechanics down. As a result, Andrews creates works that “hover at legibility.” “The pixilation or dot matrix completely obscures details, making specifics impossible to see. We can't grasp the full picture.“ The series of rubbed-crayon
The Big Picture (painting) work itself was considered a worthy record of the event but not a masterpiece. It has, however, become the best known pictorial record of the historic occasion, and a national icon. The cartoonist Bill Leak's homage, "The big picture... with apologies to Tom Roberts", won the 1997 Walkley Award for best artwork. Robert Hannaford was commissioned to create a companion piece to celebrate the centenary of Federation in 2001. The Big Picture (painting) The Opening of the First Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia by H.R.H. The Duke of Cornwall and York (later H.M. King George V), May 9, 1901,