Anna Schwartz Gallery will honour the life and work of Melbourne-based multidisciplinary artist and seminal figure in contemporary Australian abstraction, John Nixon (b 1949), who has passed away following a year-long illness. In memoriam of the artist, Anna Schwartz, founder of Anna Schwartz Gallery, who has held a valued, close friendship with the artist throughout his career, has announced she will extend the institutional-scale solo exhibition currently installed at the Gallery until the end of 2020.
“John has been a fundamental artist and source of inspiration for me in the gallery; a friend for 35 years whose support and enthusiasm have been generously given to all who he has worked with. As I assured him on the last day of his life, his work will endure and I am privileged to be part of making it so. John’s beautiful exhibition Groups + Pairs 2016-2020 will remain in the main gallery until the end of this year as a tribute, a memoriam and a great experience for all who visit”, said Anna Schwartz.
For more than fifty years, John Nixon’s prolific output has been dedicated to the on-going experimentation, analysis and development of radical modernism, abstraction, minimalism, constructivism, non-objective art, the monochrome, and the readymade. His expansive practice includes painting, collage, printmaking, drawing, photography, film, dance, experimental music, art theatre direction, graphic design, curating and teaching. John’s influence is wide reaching. He has been a seminal figure within Australian art and he has been instrumental in providing platforms for other artists to exhibit, publish and record. Our communal loss cannot be overstated.
The exhibition Groups + Pairs 2016 – 2020, will remain on view at Anna Schwartz Gallery until the end of this year. The exhibition features 116 new and existing works and is a dedication to this leading Australian artist who is known for his elegant experiments in non-objective painting.
Whilst Anna Schwartz Gallery is currently closed in line with Government health and safety guidelines around Covid-19, the exhibition is currently installed and is partially visible through the Gallery windows. Once permitted, Anna Schwartz Gallery will reopen with the solo exhibition of works by John Nixon, in line with updated health guidelines.
