Art, Life, and the other thing is an Archibald Prize-winning 1978 painting by Australian artist Brett Whiteley[1][2] which combines three different media in a triptych.
The middle canvas depicts Brett Whiteley himself standing side-on to the onlooker, his head in motion and his hands grasping.
The left-hand part of the triptych is a medium-sized oil painting on canvas done in warm, earthy colours, such as browns, oranges, yellows and reds.
It depicts a crazed baboon, shackled and chained with cuts and wounds caused by the nails sticking into its hands and wrists.
In the top left-hand corner there is a hand, palm outstretched, offering the baboon a syringe.
Brett Whiteley uses many media, such as: painting, photography, drawing, sculpture and even melds his own hair onto the piece.
His drawing is exaggerated with very expressive features and the artist places a large emphasis on the visualization of motion.
(Triptych) Oil, glass eye, hair, pen and ink on cardboard, plaster, photography, oil, dried PVA, cigarette butts, hypodermic syringe on board, 90.4 x 77.2, 230 x 122, 31.1 x 31.1 cm; signed and dated in black ink 1.r.