With a career spanning more than 50 years, John Nixon (1949–2020) was a pivotal Australian figure within the history of abstract and non-objective art. Nixon pursued an experimental practice focused on painting, while also encompassing disciplines ranging from collage, drawing and printmaking to film, music and dance.

In 1990 he conceived the Experimental Painting Workshop (EPW). He described the EPW as a conceptual terrain in which to investigate the principles of 20th-century abstraction, developing its enquiry into the limits and nature of painting.

A prolific artist, Nixon created a diversity of works under the EPW umbrella. Featuring in this exhibition are monochromes in orange and silver polychromes with striking colours and visual rhythms, and constructed paintings using found materials and objects.

Nixon exhibited widely in Australia and in Europe and his work is held in many national and international collections including the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Herning Museum of Contemporary Art in Denmark and the National Gallery of Contemporary Art in Seoul.

Nixon’s work first came to the attention of collectors Corbett and Yueji Lyon in 2009 when the couple were introduced by gallerist Anna Schwartz.

Since 2009 the Lyons acquired works from each of Nixon’s solo exhibitions in Melbourne and Sydney, building up a significant and representative body of Nixon’s works.

The works shown in this exhibition, all drawn from the Lyon Collection, represent key aspects of Nixon's oeuvre and are testament to the artist's lifelong commitment to his practice and to his ongoing experimentation.