Early Life and Artistic Training

John Nixon was born in Sydney, Australia, in 1949. His early years in the city set the stage for a life spent working with materials and form. He moved toward formal study in the late 1960s, seeking out the technical foundations of his craft.

In 1967 and 1968, he spent his time at the Preston Institute of Technology. This period of study provided the initial structure for his developing practice. By 1969, his training moved to the National Gallery of Victoria Art School and the State College of Victoria. These institutions offered the environment necessary for him to refine his approach to making art.

His formal education reached a milestone in 1970. That year, he received a diploma in Art and Education. This qualification marked the end of his initial academic training and prepared him for the decades of experimentation that followed.

Technique and Artistic Style

His work follows the logic of Concrete Art, focusing on the physical reality of the medium rather than representation. He moved through radical modernism, constructivism, and non-objective art, often stripping away the narrative to focus on the essential. His practice was not limited to the canvas; he worked through printmaking, photography, drawing, collage, filmmaking, and even experimental music. This breadth allowed him to test how different materials respond to the act of making.

There is a specific interest in the truth of materials. He looked at the tools and the surfaces themselves, often giving voice to found and pre-used objects. By using what was already there, he explored the weight and texture of the physical world. His approach was a constant investigation into how a shape or a color occupies space, often using the sparest of means to question the very nature of a painting.

His palette changed depending on the series, moving from dark, earthy tones to bright hues or metallic silver. He treated the surface as a field for reinvention, sometimes using white monochromes to act as a stand against traditional pictorialism. This method was less about decoration and more about a precise, considered decision regarding how color and form interact on a surface.

The Experimental Painting Workshop

In the late 1970s, Nixon established the Experimental Painting Workshop (EPW). This practice became a way to look closely at the mechanics of making. He used the workshop to test how different compositions, colors, and found objects interacted on a surface. It was a method of constant investigation, moving away from traditional narrative to question the very nature of what a painting could be.

His work within the EPW often focused on the weight and presence of color. Every choice regarding a hue was considered and precise. This attention to detail extended to his white monochromes. He produced these works in various sizes and types, using a wide range of materials to see how the light and texture would respond. He also explored specific chromatic directions, such as his silver paintings and his work with orange.

The workshop allowed him to move between the purely abstract and the use of the readymade. By treating the act of painting as a series of experiments, he could strip the medium down to its most basic elements. This approach turned the canvas into a site for testing the limits of material and form.

Major Exhibitions and Recognition

The first solo exhibition took place in 1973 at the Pinacotheca in Melbourne. This early showing preceded a long career of consistent presence in the gallery circuit. By 1982, his work reached an international stage when he represented Australia at Documenta 7 in Kassel. This period marked a significant moment in his trajectory, placing his investigations into abstraction within a global context.

His practice remained active through many decades, with more than seventy solo exhibitions held from 2001 onwards. These shows took him to various locations, including the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki and the Museum Gegenstandsfreier Kunst in Otterndorf. In 1999, he was awarded the Clemenger Contemporary Art Award in Melbourne, a recognition that coincided with his established position in the Australian art scene.

Key Works and Series

Nixon’s practice often moved through specific, disciplined investigations of form and color. Between 1979 and 1983, he produced the ANTI-MUSIC series, a period of work that coincided with his broader interest in experimental music and the physical limits of his materials. This was followed by the 1983 series Young Blood, Notes on Art Practice, which continued his interrogation of how a painting is constructed and what it can represent.

In 1988, his focus shifted toward a series of self-portrait non-objective compositions. These works, including versions in purple, red, brown, black, and ultramarine blue, used color and shape to address the idea of the self without relying on traditional likeness. He approached these compositions with a specific, measured intent, treating the canvas as a site for testing how color interacts with the surface.

The Experimental Painting Workshop (EPW) continued to evolve through the 1990s and into the 2000s. This included the EPW: Orange and EPW: Silver series, both of which began in 1995. These series demonstrate his long-term commitment to exploring how a single hue or a metallic finish behaves when applied to different scales and textures. His work often moved between these heavy, saturated tones and a more sparse, white monochrome approach.

• ANTI-MUSIC (1979–1983)
• Young Blood, Notes on Art Practice (1983)
• Self-portrait (non-objective composition) purple (1988)
• Self-portrait (non-objective composition) red (1988)
• Self-portrait (non-objective composition) brown (1988)
• Self-portrait (non-objective composition) black (1988)

Legacy and Influence in Australia

Nixon’s presence in the Australian art scene was felt through the spaces he built and the people he supported. He was a leading exponent of Australian abstraction, moving through the decades with a focus on the mechanics of making. Beyond his own canvases, he acted as a mentor and collaborator, touching several generations of artists with a specific kind of rigor. His influence was not merely in the marks he left on a surface, but in the way he encouraged others to find their own paths.

In 1979, he founded the Art Projects gallery, an artist-run space that became a significant site for experimentation. This space provided a platform for many creators to exhibit and develop their work. His commitment to the community extended into his time as a director at the Institute of Modern Art, where he helped shape the dialogue of contemporary art. He lived and worked in Melbourne, leaving behind a footprint that remains part of the country's visual history.

Where to See His Works Today

His presence in the art world is felt through collections held in several major institutions across different continents. In New York, his work is part of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. This reach extends to Asia, where his pieces are held in the National Gallery of Contemporary Art in Seoul. These locations offer a way to see how his investigations into form and material have been preserved within permanent collections.

In Europe, his work can be found in the Daimler Chrysler Collection in Berlin. There is also a presence in the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. Seeing these works in such varied settings shows the physical spread of his practice beyond the Australian landscape where he lived and worked.