“Marcus Callum’s painting has an arresting luminosity that matches the sensitivity of the treatment of his subject... a virtuosic demonstration of contemporary realist portrait painting.”
Dr Andrew Frost, Shirley Hannan National Portrait Award 2018 judge on Marcus's winning
portrait | Art Guide Australia | October 29, 2018
"National Portrait Gallery senior curator Dr Christopher Chapman,... described “Wrecking Ball” as a “compelling example of the possibilities of contemporary portraiture. While the sitter is outwardly recognisable, at the same time the portrait gives a very strong sense of a resourceful inner life and the sense of flux that characterizes selfhood. The artwork has been filtered and processed in a particularly inventive way. A very deliberate sense of perfected craft."
Nicholas Forrest | BLOUINARTINFO | October 02, 2015
"Marcus Callum is an exciting addition to Trinity College's significant art collection... a multiple finalist in the renowned national Archibald Prize; an achievement that has assured his position as one of Australia's leading contemporary figurative realist artists."
Campbell Bearstow, Dean, Trinity College | University of Melbourne
"I would also single out Marcus Callum's work... virtually as good as anything that might have come out from the Parisian Ecole des Beaux-Arts under the tutelage of David or Ingres."
Eugene Barilo von Reisberg 2013 | Charles Nodrum Gallery, Director BvR Arts Management