Drew Bickford’s subjects are siblings Dan and Dominique Angeloro who together make up the filmmaking duo Soda Jerk.

Describing the portrait as ‘a work about memory and nostalgia’, Bickford says he was drawn to Soda Jerk because of their eccentric filmmaking practice.

‘I love them because their mash-up films, like Hello Dankness and Terror Nullius, are lawless in the way that dreams are – hybrids of reality and imagination. Their films are a bit like my childhood memories – fragmented and remixed with pop culture into more exciting and dangerous narratives,’ explains Bickford, an artist, art teacher and first-time Archibald finalist.

‘I approached the portrait as a tribute to the low-rent, horror and exploitation films that obsessed me as a teenager (and still do). Growing up, hand-painted movie posters, trashy VHS tapes and horror novel dust jackets were my version of contemporary art.

‘Soda Jerk were always my dream sitters in that they are kind of anonymous as well. I wanted to make them bigger than life and immerse them in a completely rabid, fictional cinematic universe.
My most important design criteria was simply a question for my inner 14-year-old: Would I rent this videotape?’

Jo Litson
Art Gallery of NSW

Listen to Drew being interviewed about his Archibald entry on Sydney’s 2SER radio.