Marcus Wills (born 1972) is an Australian painter, winner of the 2006

Archibald Prize The Archibald Prize is an Australian portraiture art prize for painting, generally seen as the most prestigious portrait prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after the receipt of a bequest from J. F. Archibald, J. F. Archib ...

and finalist in many other art competitions.

Early life and education

Wills was born in Kaniva, Victoria in 1972. He studied for an Advanced Certificate of Art and Design between 1989 and 1991 at the Wimmera Community College of TAFE (now

Federation University Australia Federation University Australia (FedUni) is a public university based in Victoria, Australia. It is the modern descendant of the School of Mines Ballarat, established in 1870 as the fourth tertiary institution in Australia, which evolved to f ...

's Horsham Campus). He graduated from the

Victorian College of the Arts The Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) is the arts school at the University of Melbourne in Australia. It is part of the university's Faculty of Fine Arts and Music (FFAM). It is located near the Melbourne city centre on the Southbank campus ...

in 1995.

Career

His work has been displayed in a number of exhibitions, and he has held solo exhibitions in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

since 1992. He paints in the style which mixes figurative and realist styles.

Awards

He was the winner of the 2006

for his painting of ''The Paul Juraszek Monolith'', which was based on an engraving by

Marcus Gheeraerts the Elder Marcus Gheeraerts the Elder, Marc Gerard and Marcus Garret (c. 1520 – c. 1590) was a Flemish painter, draughtsman, print designer and etcher who was active in his native Flanders and in England. He practised in many genres, including portrait ...

. In 2000, he won the second Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship. He has been a finalist in the Sir John Sulman Prize (2003, 2010 and 2013) and

Wynne Prize The Wynne Prize is an Australian landscape painting or figure sculpture art prize. As one of Australia's longest-running art prizes, it was established in 1897 from the bequest of Richard Wynne. Now held concurrently with the Sir John Sulman Prize ...

(2010). He was a finalist of the

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

with ''El cabeceo'',

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

with ''The ersatz (James Batchelor)''.,

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

and

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

with ''Requiem (JR)'' (Portrait of Jack Riley). In

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

he was again a finalist in the Archibald, with a portrait of filmmaker Thomas M. Wright called ''Antagonist, Protagonist (Thomas M. Wright)''. Wills set up the scene to look like a crime drama, with Wright as

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a ...

. He was a finalist for the 2024 Archibald Prize with a portrait of ballet dancer Callum Linnane.

References

\ {{DEFAULTSORT:Wills, Marcus Australian painters Archibald Prize winners Living people 1972 births Victorian College of the Arts alumni Federation University Australia alumni Archibald Prize finalists Wynne Prize