A is for Archibald

The same year Oscar entered the tallest possible sheet of paper into the Archibald Prize — 3.3 metres of it — he also quietly entered something else: probably the smallest work in the show, just 14cm tall and 9cm wide.

There was a twist, though. That tiny book was also probably the most disproportionate entry of the year, because it unfolded — a Japanese album, concertina-style — to 279cm wide.

He entered it under an artistic alias (only one entry per artist is allowed, and, well, he's a radical rebel).

Partway through an almost three-month odyssey to win the Prize — part calculation, part creativity — he had a thought: what if one work could tell his story, the Archibald's story, and every entrant's story at once? It would need to be intimate, personal, relatable to both the audience and the judges.

The result was, if anything, more rebellious than the giant painting: a self-referencing book titled A is for Archibald: The ABCs of Australia's most famous art prize.

A few favourite letters — M is for Me (a self-portrait), J is for Judges, O is for Oil Paint, G is for Gigantic, H is for Hope, N is for Noticeability, and S is for Self-Portraits.

Here's the completed book, spread by spread — along with the letter Oscar wrote to the judges, heart laid bare.