Eggshells, onion bags and five years painting only in orange: the playful avant-garde art of John Nixon

"John Nixon, the late Australian avant-garde artist, would sometimes save the shells from his boiled eggs and sprinkle them across blank paint, creating his own starry night. Other times he'd set himself rules, such as painting only in orange for five years. It was 1996 and he was becoming a father, so he wanted a streamlined practice plus, what other artist was associated with orange?"

"Cramer has undertaken the professional and personal endeavour of sifting through Nixon's thousands (possibly tens of thousands) of art works, encompassing painting, prints, text, music, film, performance, photography and more. As Nixon once joked to an artist friend Marco Fusinato: I made too much. For a staunch minimalist known for his paintings of imposing crosses and forthright monochromes and who courted a rather serious reputation in his youth in the 1970s the exhibition title, Song of the Earth 1968-2020, privileges Nixon's gentleness as much as his rigour."

"His hardline minimalism never feels stifling or overwrought, but rigorous and playful, critical yet fortuitous. Through his life and work he wanted to challenge orthodoxy in everything he did, says Sue Cramer, Nixon's wife and the co-curator of his first major exhibition since his death in 2020 at the age of 70."

John Nixon was a late Australian avant-garde artist who integrated art into daily life across more than fifty years. Nixon combined frugality and idiosyncratic strategies, from saving boiled-egg shells to setting long-term self-imposed rules such as painting only in orange for five years. His work ranged across painting, prints, text, music, film, performance and photography, and he produced thousands of pieces. Nixon became known for imposing crosses and forthright monochromes while maintaining a playful, fortuitous minimalism. An exhibition titled Song of the Earth 1968–2020 presents his rigour alongside gentleness, opening with an experimental painting workshop room that is kaleidoscopic yet orderly.

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