Matthew Johnson Australian , b. 1963
Overview
Matthew Johnson (b. 1963, London, UK) is an Australian artist based in Melbourne, Victoria. With an eclectic and modernist approach to his artistic practice, his work blends diverse cultural and travel experiences, expressed through the timeless medium of oil and pigment. His paintings often feature underlying compositional structures, including grids, geometric patterns, stripes, or sequential arrangements inspired by nature. Johnson has participated in numerous artist residencies across Europe and Australia. His work is held in private and corporate collections both nationally and internationally, and he is continuously developing site-specific architectural installations across Australia.
Works
Biography
The London-born, Melbourne-based Matthew Johnson, painter, sculptor, light- and installation artist, has been exhibiting regularly since the late 1980s in Melbourne (formerly with Christine Abrahams Gallery and Block Projects), Sydney (The Olsen Gallery), Brisbane (Fireworks Gallery), and Adelaide (Hill Smith Art Advisory).
His works had been included in important curated group exhibitions, including the SH Ervin Gallery Sydney (1989, 1995), ‘Australian Perspecta’ at the AGWA Perth (1993), ‘Abstraction Now’ at the Geelong Gallery (1996), Espace Eiffel Branly, Paris (1999), Carousel du Louvre, Paris (2001, 2003), ‘Towards Colour’ at the McClelland Gallery (2002), Heide MOMA (2002), Counihan Gallery, Moreland (2017) and at numerous regional and tertiary institutions.
Matthew had won numerous awards, prizes, and residencies, including the Faber Castell Prize for Drawing (1988), Fisher’s Ghost Art Prize (1993), and Cite International des Art Paris (2002), and was a finalist in the Moet et Chandon Travelling Scholarship (1993, 1995), Hermann’s Art Award (2001, 2003), and Mosman Art Prize (2020, 2021).
More recently, Matthew has become known for his large-scale site-specific commissions in collaborations with leading designers and architects, and his works grace the facades of the Chadstone Shopping Centre, TAC Building (Geelong), CBD Melbourne Metro, Coolaroo Station (VIC), South Morang Station (VIC), the iconic tower on the corner of the St Kilda Junction, and numerous others.
His works have been acquired by the Artbank, Heide MOMA, regional collections of Bega, Bendigo, Benalla, Bundaberg, and Campbelltown; tertiary collections of La Trobe, Macquarie, Monash, and UQ universities; Allen Allen Hemsley, BHP, Deloitte, Faber Castell, Freehill, Gandel Group, Holmes a Court, RACV, Visy, and further corporate and significant private collections in Australia and abroad.
Matthew was the subject of numerous exhibition essays and reviews, and in 2023 he was included in Amber Creswell Bell’s Australian Abstract.
Exhibitions
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Transcript in Flux
ARKLEY, BRAMELD & STAPLES, DALL'AVA, DIMOPOULOS, GEORGE, HAGERTY, HARPER, HUSH, JACKS, JOHNSON, QUINN, SNAPE, WATSON 16 Sep - 10 Oct 2026We are thrilled to announce Transcript in Flux , an exhibition of abstract painters and sculptors exhibiting with our gallery. Collectively, this selection of paintings and sculpture represents the plurality...Read more -
SERPENTINE
SELECTED WORKS BY MATTHEW JOHNSON 19 Aug - 12 Sep 2026When we transition from shore to sea. From ground to water. Our feet leave the solidity under our toes, this, sureness of stability, into a space of subtle dissolution of...Read more -
Summer Salon | Little Treasures
3 Dec 2025 - 31 Jan 2026This summer, the gallery presents Summer Salon | Little Treasures, an exhibition that turns its attention to the quiet strength of small-scale artworks. These pieces show how limited dimensions can...Read more -
The Last of the Summer Blue
Claudia Terstappen | Matthew Johnson | Melinda Harper | Carissa Karamarko | Kate Rohde | Marie Hagerty 4 - 29 Mar 2025Artists have long been fascinated by the transition between seasons, laden with its rich metaphorical meanings. For us in Melbourne, the intense heat we were so kindly blessed with this...Read more
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