Automatic for the people: Casey Stoner, 2008

Casey Stoner AM (b. 1985) is a two-time MotoGP motorcycling world champion. Queensland-born, Stoner first competed when he was four years old and by fourteen had notched up 41 dirt and long track titles and 70 state titles. In 1999, he moved with his family to the United Kingdom so that he could compete in road racing. In 2002 he contested the GP World Championship for the first time, winning his first GP race in 2003 and finishing the season inside the world’s top ten 125cc riders. In 2005, now racing in the 250cc category, Stoner won five world championship fixtures to claim second place overall in the world standings. He joined the Ducati MotoGP racing team in 2007 and that year, riding a Desmosedici GP7 bike capped at 800cc, became the MotoGP World Champion for the first time, winning ten races and never finishing lower than sixth all season. He was named Young Australian of the Year in 2008. Runner-up to rival Valentino Rossi in 2008, Stoner missed much of the subsequent season through illness, but returned to form in late 2009 to win the Australian Grand Prix and finish fourth in the world riders’ championship. He won his fourth straight Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island, the world’s fastest MotoGP track, in 2010 and a year later won his fifth, sealing his second World Championship. Stoner retired from the MotoGP circuit at the end of the 2012 season having won yet another Australian Grand Prix. He was designated a Legend by the Federation of International Motorcycling in late 2013.

Scott Redford (b. 1962) is an influential Australian contemporary artist who has been exhibiting since the early 1980s. Redford’s work is unique in its references to international art movements including colour-field painting, conceptual art and pop art; its engagement with local themes (such as Australian art history and vernacular architecture); and its accessibility to a broad audience. Redford has used images of iconic actors and musicians to comment on gender issues, and has worked with surfboard technicians to produce ‘surf paintings’ that articulate the glossy appeal of surfboards. For this portrait, Redford invented a new set of logos to reflect Stoner’s vibrant racing persona.

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned with funds provided by Tim Fairfax AC 2008