{"id":282282,"date":"2025-07-22T10:41:17","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T10:41:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/282282\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T10:41:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T10:41:17","slug":"edinburgh-based-painter-wins-first-prize-at-the-london-art-biennale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/282282\/","title":{"rendered":"Edinburgh based painter wins First Prize at the London Art Biennale\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This Sunday a Scottish painter was awarded first prize at Chelsea Old Town Hall as the venue played host to the seventh edition of the London Art Biennale.<\/p>\n<p>The<a href=\"http:\/\/instagram.com\/gagliardigallery\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> Gagliardi gallery<\/a> who have been on Kings road for nearly 50 years hosted the event and this year winner of the 1st Prize was Malawi born, Scottish artist, <a href=\"https:\/\/alanmacdonald.net\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Alan MacDonald.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Describing the moment of winning <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DMNoAjLoS8e\/?img_index=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Macdonald<\/a> said: \u201c\u200aIt\u2019s a bit surreal.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI worked for years on my work and it\u2019s never really won anything and then suddenly out of the blue they said my name.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His artistic process is a combination of instinct and hard work as he has slowly developed a style over years of practice: \u201cI paint figuratively, but I always start with an abstract idea.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt begins with the main figure \u2013 not quite knowing where I\u2019m going \u2013 and then I let it kind of follow on from there.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u200aFor the winning painting \u2013 a \u00a070.1\u2033 \u00d7 79.9\u2033 oil on linen painting called Euphorus \u2013 this was particularly true.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Macdonald said: \u201dTiming was important for this painting, we had moved to Edinburgh about six months before and it was a really difficult winter trying to get our house all sorted, so I got really depressed and then, then the spring came in Edinburgh and it is just unbelievable.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt just blossoms, and they don\u2019t cut their trees the way they do in Dundee, they let them grow and they were all\u2026 it was just amazing.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just put that all into my painting, just the sense of life coming back in. The euphoria at the end of the winter.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Alongside the Sunday awards which are listed in full below, the event also hosts a speaker on the opening night which saw Hala Badri, director general of Dubai Culture and Arts Authority speak to the crowd.<\/p>\n<p>The work exhibited included a huge range of mediums selected by the Gagliardi\u2019s for the show.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>From oils and acrylics to video works and woodcuts, some of the sculptures were made from found objects that had been forged together.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The hosts of the exhibition Marie and Peter Gagliardi spoke about the process of choosing the 350 artists from 60 countries to be included in the exhibition.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Peter said: \u201cWe are looking for innovation\u2026 it can range from pure talent, you know, from a traditional perspective, skill and talent, all the way through to avant garde ideas.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEssentially it\u2019s all about communication about art speaking [to you] and art being of objective high quality.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe would like to think of some of our hearts displayed in how we have shown the work and how we\u2019ve presented it, and how we\u2019ve put it together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe point is for people to have a journey of art, it has to look fabulous, and it has to feel stimulating.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As Macdonald put it as he described his feeling towards painting: \u201cI like to get it out as fast as possible so that the doubt monsters don\u2019t get it, then tidy it up without losing that energy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you tidy it up too much the energy dies.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The exhibition took place from 16-20 July 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Full list of award winners below:\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>1st Prize<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Alan Macdonald \u2013 Euphorus, Oil on Linen<\/p>\n<p>United Kingdom<\/p>\n<p><strong>London Art Biennale Award for Painting 1st Prize<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Eric Jung<\/p>\n<p>Sweden<\/p>\n<p><strong>London Art Biennale Award for Sculpture\/Installation 1st Prize<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Rimas Metlovas<\/p>\n<p>Lithuania<\/p>\n<p><strong>London Art Biennale Award for Works on Paper 1st Prize<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Rebecca Lyne<\/p>\n<p>United Kingdom<\/p>\n<p><strong>London Art Biennale Awards for Digital work\/Video 1st Prize<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Toby MacLennan<\/p>\n<p>United States of America<\/p>\n<p><strong>World Art Dubai Award<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Rebecca Holton<\/p>\n<p>United Kingdom<\/p>\n<p><strong>Chianciano Art Museum Award<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Hugh Chapmam \u2013 United Kingdom<\/p>\n<p>Agnieszka Cereda \u2013 Poland<\/p>\n<p>Mariken Francisca Bleeker \u2013 The Netherlands<\/p>\n<p>Marieluise Bantel \u2013 Germany<\/p>\n<p>Roger Adamson \u2013 United Kingdom<\/p>\n<p>Yuan Quan \u2013 China<\/p>\n<p>Mary Whitlock \u2013 United Kingdom<\/p>\n<p>Tanya Voltsinger \u2013 Israel<\/p>\n<p>Jan van Luyn \u2013 The Netherlands<\/p>\n<p>Francesco Stile \u2013 Italy<\/p>\n<p>Marco Venturini \u2013 Italy<\/p>\n<p>Nina Schjeide \u2013 Norway<\/p>\n<p>Giorgia Santopadre \u2013 Italy<\/p>\n<p>Marthe Roussel \u2013 France<\/p>\n<p>Lesueur Allan \u2013 France<\/p>\n<p>Matthew Ricci \u2013 Australia<\/p>\n<p>Dorian Radu \u2013 United Kingdom<\/p>\n<p>Aglaia Perrakis \u2013 Greece<\/p>\n<p>Onnik \u2013 Bulgaria<\/p>\n<p>Darby Vincent Alcoseba \u2013 Philippines<\/p>\n<p>K Gorny \u2013 United Kingdom\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Hisham Echafaki \u2013 United Kingdom<\/p>\n<p>CROW \u2013 Germany<\/p>\n<p>Benet Dalmau Alsina \u2013 Spain<\/p>\n<p>Sofia Bianchini \u2013 Italy<\/p>\n<p><strong>International Confederation of Art Critics Award<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Uki Otake \u2013 United Kingdom<\/p>\n<p>David Agenjo \u2013 Spain<\/p>\n<p>Emmanuel Junior Obigba \u2013 United Kingdom<\/p>\n<p>Carmen Chami \u2013 United States of America<\/p>\n<p>Louise Bird \u2013 United Kingdom<\/p>\n<p><strong>Arts Club Chianciano Award<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Evie Gazet \u2013 United Kingdom<\/p>\n<p>Lucie Crocro \u2013 Czechia<\/p>\n<p>Mitchell Craig \u2013 United States of America<\/p>\n<p>Carolynda Macdonald \u2013 United Kingdom<\/p>\n<p>Chloe Cox \u2013 United Kingdom<\/p>\n<p>Featured image credit: Rosie Beveridge<\/p>\n<p>                            <script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This Sunday a Scottish painter was awarded first prize at Chelsea Old Town Hall as the venue 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