Karen Black has been selected as a finalist in the prestigious Archibald Prize for her painting of fellow artist and poet, the late Madonna Staunton, whose practice spanned five decades and included writing, collage, assemblage and painting. ⠀
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She says, “I’d wanted to paint Madonna since 2014 after seeing her paintings at QAGOMA. I felt she’d been overlooked as one of our great women artists and wanted to put her in the spotlight. When I discovered she was the same age as my mother and also had dementia, it gave me a more personal reason to meet her. I visited her in the nursing home and was inspired to see her still working on various paintings. She was still outspoken, yet I could see a certain introspect in her manner, especially her eyes.⠀
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She sat on her bed talking, so I situated the painting in her room. When I mixed the paint on the canvas a blob of paint hung over her eye, giving the portrait that feeling of introspection I’d recognised. I used shapes, referencing her assemblages and collages and painted it in the pale colours she was wearing on the day. It reminded me of time fading away.⠀
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We lost Madonna on 16th December 2019.”⠀ ⠀