Melbourne artist wins Geelong Contemporary Arts Prize

MELBOURNE artist Travis MacDonald has been awarded the 2024 Geelong Contemporary Arts Prize for his painting “The top of the pond”.

MacDonald’s work received the $30,000 award for its “enigmatic space, lyrical figuration, and beautifully refined aesthetic.”

The artist was born in Bunnythorpe, New Zealand, but now lives and works in Melbourne.

His often deliberately understated works feature a subdued palette and subjects working to bridge the gap between the mundane and absurd.

He has previously been awarded the Gary Grossbard Drawing Prize and the Lionel Gell Foundation Drawing Scholarship.

His works have been featured in the 2018 Melbourne Art Fair and in 2016, MacDonald’s work was exhibited in Painting. More Painting at Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne.

“The top of the pond” is MacDonald’s first piece to be acquired by the Geelong Gallery.

The judging panel were drawn into the oil painting for its “beguiling sense of calm, aabsorbing the viewer into a luminous, dynamic space of contemplation and possibility.”

“The figure invites empathy and intimacy and evokes the peace found in solitary reverie and the restorative power of nature.

“The top of the pond is a painting that asks us to give it time – to slowly meditate on what we are looking at and what feelings, memories, and desires it conjures.

“MacDonald’s painting is a romantic, emotive panacea – a thing of beauty – in a world flooded with images of the banal and the horrific.”

MacDonald said his work was the final iteration of an ongoing study of public foundations.

“They are an affordable solution to a public beautification project and citizen relaxation.

“No statues, just water from water, liquid and light. Light travels in straight lines, enters water, water follows a path of least resistance.

“A tricked-out Monet idea. The parable load of the fountain – of youth, of fertility/libido, knowledge, of rest and restlessness-is traversable.

“Like a number of radios stuck between stations, too much matter squeezed through a nozzle, a polite and mundane disorder.”

The judging panel congratulated all shortlisted finalists on their efforts.

“The high calibre of works in this year’s prize and exhibition made the judging process both challenging and very rewarding,” the panel stated.

“We acknowledge and honour their commitment to art practice and vital contributions to contemporary culture.

“Collectively, they reflect the excellence and vitality of contemporary Australian painting.”

The Geelong Contemporary Art Prize exhibition is now on display at Geelong Gallery.

For more information, head to geelonggallery.org.au