Internationally renowned artist Angus McDonald will join friends and guests at The Byron at Byron Resort and Spa on August 9th to discuss the art world he inhabits and how it has changed.
“Art evolves constantly and is a mirror reflecting the era we live in” said McDonald. “What is art for the artist, the art lover, the art world. Why do we make it and collect it? What makes a piece of art a piece of art? What is all the fuss about anyway?”
Celebrated Australian identity Tim Olsen, of the Tim Olsen Gallery in Sydney, will introduce Angus and give an introductory talk on collecting art and growing up in the art world.
The walls of The Byron at Byron on Thursday August 9 will be adorned with paintings from Angus’s private collection as well as some of his own work.
“Angus was always a much better drawer than me” said Olsen. “And he didn’t even do art as a subject. He was studying to become an economist and businessman and I was the one who was becoming an artist. It has all turned out the wrong way around! Angus is an incredible draftsman who is able to translate his understanding of light and shade and tonality. He is one of the most underrated still life artists in Australia today. His still lives are not just pictures adorned with pots and drapery, intermingled with fruit. They are conversations or stories about how things interrelate in space. Each object relates with one another in a way that there is a conversation…. saying do I really belong here.
“As a person Angus has always been a wylie character, a maverick, completely unpredictable. He’s a loyal friend and a talented artist that I am proud to have within my stable”.
Born in Sydney in 1961, McDonald studied full time at the Julian Ashton Art School in Sydney for three years, receiving the Brett Whiteley Scholarship in 1994. He was a finalist in the NSW Travelling Art Scholarship in the same year. He then lived and worked on the Greek Island of Leros between 1996 and 2001 and attended the Florence Academy in Italy in 1999/2000. Since 1995 he has held 25 solo exhibitions in Australia, Japan and the UK. He was an Archibald Prize finalist in 2009, 2011 and 2012 and has been selected in numerous other prizes including the Dobell, the Country Energy, the Blake, the JADA Drawing Prize and the Australian Studio Furniture Design Awards. He has travelled twice to Antarctica, first as an expedition artist for the Mawson’s Huts Foundation in 2006 and as the artist in residence with Aurora Expeditions in 2008.
Angus lives and works in Lennox Head on the New South Wales North Coast. To view his work visit www.timolsengallery.com
Byron at Byron Presents Angus McDonald and Tim Olsen
7:00pm Thursday August 9, The Byron at Byron Resort and Spa
$70 for two courses, a glass of wine and Angus. Stay the night from $285 for two people.
Bookings essential. 02 66392105 or reservations@thebyronatbyron.com.au