Seven times Archibald Prize finalist Angus McDonald has won the 2024 Archibald Price ANZ People’s Choice award for his portrait of Marcia Langton AO.
This is the second time McDonald has been awarded the People’s Choice, winning previously for his portrait of Behrouz in 2020.
Lennox Head based McDonald said, “I am so thrilled that the public voted my work as their favourite. It was a privilege to be able to share Marcia’s inspirational story with a wider audience through this painting.
“Marcia is charismatic, direct and one of our deepest thinkers. She has a well of stories which she relates with razor sharp detail and humour. At the same time, she radiates kindness and warmth.
“I wanted to portray her as a pivotal figure in Australian social history and someone who has an incredible life. I placed her just right of centre to suggest a sense of stepping away and handing the baton to a younger group of activists after a lifetime of tireless commitment.
“She gazes up and to the left to reflect that she persistently followed her own own path.
“Although she is an analytical thinker, I see her as a mystic who emanates love and wisdom.”
McDonald himself is the subject of a portrait in this year’s Archibald by Mostafa Azimitabar.
Bs sure to see the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes 2024 finalists before the exhibition closes on Sunday 8th September.
The Art Gallery of New South Wales offers 2 for 1 tickets on Wednesday evenings from 5pm to 10pm during Art After Hours.
