“Margaret Egan’s work is forever mysterious, magnetic, mystical and tantalisingly muted … This is the magic of Margaret Egan’s work: it teases and it taunts, it challenges and beguiles, it constantly proffers an invitation (sometimes a challenge) to explore the artist’s mind, to find an inner story, and, in doing so, to perhaps discover an aspect of life or of nature that we have long hidden from our own inner selves. Down the years, within her devoted and dedicated artistic life, it has been a delight to witness her further development in delving deeper and deeper into the psyche of her subjects, in seeking new insights in her depiction of the conflicts between nature and human nature, thus bringing to her work a sometimes harrowing harmony of beauty and loss.”

— BERNARD FARRELL (intro)

“Acrylic paint is Margaret Egan’s medium of choice, and while it has many advantages, it can be difficult to breathe life into, due to its plasticity. Consequently, it can lack the romantic allure, richness and durability of oil paint. But Egan seems to find something deeper within acrylic. Her manipulation of the medium creates a weathered quality to the painted surface that seeps into the canvas, almost in the way that tempera does with plaster in a mural. The opacity of the paint comes from the artist’s use of the brush to caress the medium until it absorbs light and takes on extra volume. The texture, at times, can be chalky in appearance, which adds a warmth and tactility to the surface of the paintings.”

— MARK EWART (essay)