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.