Description

‘Cindy Pastel’, 2015 (pencil, crayon, and watercolour on paper; 59.3x42cm), is a portrait by Gareth Ernst depicting Sydney drag legend Cindy Pastel (aka Ritchie Finger), who has been performing since 1979. Widely known as the inspiration for the Hugo Weaving character Tic in ‘Priscilla, Queen of the Desert’, Pastel’s success has extended to the mainstream, performing in the 2000 Sydney Olympics opening ceremony, and acting in Richard Wherrett’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ at the Sydney Opera House.

Gareth Ernst is a Sydney-based artist who whose drawings ‘focuses on the intimate and fleeting, on mortality, desire, surveillance, and masculinity’. His studies of the human form are uncompromising and direct. He has held a series of solo exhibitions at Martin Brown Art since 2018.