Dr Nick Mitzevich, arts superman
Less scholarship than schmoozing, less leadership than spin.
In June last year, someone told me to take a look at Nick Mitzevich’s Wikipedia profile. Frankly, it had never occurred to me that a page devoted to the Director of the National Gallery of Australia or any other high-level arts professional would contain anything but the most basic information. I was duly surprised.
What do we learn about Nick from his Wikipedia page? First of all, that he was born into “a very poor family” in Cessnock (just like me, but without the “very”!) and lived on a small farm at Abermain. His mother, Chrisoula, was “a beautiful, glamorous, sophisticated woman”. I can only imagine how lonely she must have been in Cessnock.
He says that his parents insisted that their children ‘do something for a worthy cause’, but also ‘let us follow our passions’. He was a shy, introverted child, who had to counter bullying at his high school, Kurri Kurri High, because of being creative and gay. (Kurri Kurri is chiefly famous for its annual mullet festival).
We learn that Nick’s interest in art was stimulated when his mother bought him a copy of Robert Hughes’s The Shock of the New when he was 15. He may even have read it, although he avoids making such a large claim.
