'MARK OATS, The Fiddle Player' - 2020 Archibald entry

Semi-finalist in the 2021 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize

Mark is a wizard on the fiddle; he can bring you to tears with the beauty of his playing and then have you whirling across the dance floor in a mad jig. He has a kind of magic in his fingers, but it’s soulfulness which transforms his tunes into something special; something that lifts me a little higher.

Art and music are intertwined, and I always paint while listening to music. That’s what I wanted to capture in this portrait - Mark’s colourful personality, and the driving rhythms and inspiring melodies he conjures, almost effortlessly, from his old fiddle.