‘My pseudo-portrait tries to capture the volatile creative energy of Adelaide’s twin filmmakers Danny and Michael Philippou, aka RackaRacka.’ says Sydney-based artist Drew Bickford, who was a finalist in the 2024 Archibald with a portrait of filmmaking duo Soda Jerk.

‘Exploding from the lurid and visceral world of horror films (and my own ghoulish teenage thrills, thumbing the pages of American splatter rag, Fangoria), the work celebrates the brothers’ unhinged and unapologetic embrace of cinematic excess.

‘I love that their world feels like a rollercoaster of “safe danger”, a chaotic but tightly controlled experience, just like horror movies. I favoured caricature over realism with a MAD Magazine-inspired aesthetic, aligned with their explosive personalities and diabolical sense of humour.

‘The composition references the kind of reckless carnage the boys leave in their wake; a contaminated crime scene and a dangerous physical presence that might suggest playing with fire and running with scissors. Hopefully, the work paints the twins as hell-for-leather storytellers whose combustible practice sits somewhere between destruction and entertainment,’ says Bickford.

‘When the RackaRacka attack, nothing survives.’

Jo Litson
Art Gallery of NSW