A Blank Canvas

Renowned abstract artist, the curmudgeonly octogenarian Giles Paumen, is the head of a family of artists, each of whom he considers less talented than himself. His son Laurence is a conceptual artist and lecturer – code for the fact that, unlike his father, he cannot paint at all. However, granddaughter Sophie has inherited the genes and is making a name for herself as a painter of massive portraits, not that Giles would ever dream of expressing a positive word about her work. When a new national art prize is announced, each of the Paumen’s secretly enters, the prize galvanizing them to embark in new directions. Giles will complete a landscape honouring his recently deceased wife. Laurence heads to Uluru intent on capturing the true spirit of Australia in this most iconic of outback locations. And Sophie decides to portray the malevolence lurking beneath the benign exterior of that most awful of men, the chauvinist. What none of them predicts is that they will become embroiled in an art fraud which threatens to undermine their reputations and devastate their careers. Here, the truth of their narcissistic and insecure personalities is revealed. So too, the underbelly of the art world is exposed in all its ugly, and hilarious, glory.