Imants Tillers is an artist, writer and curator. He has exhibited extensively since the late 1960s and has represented Australia at significant international exhibitions such as the Venice Biennale (1986), Documenta 7 (1982) and the São Paulo Bienal (1975).
Imants Tillers
Tillers came to prominence during the 1970s and has been an influential advocate of conceptual art and postmodern discourse in Australia. He works primarily with appropriation, intuitively combining existing artworks, ideas, literature and 'ready-made' poetry in his imagery.
In 1981 Tillers developed a system of painting in which multiple canvasboard panels fit together to form large, gridded works. The individual boards are numbered from 1 to infinity and are considered to be part of a continually-expanding whole, collectively titled “The Book of Power”. Tillers' canvasboard paintings have explored a range of themes over the last four decades including authorial originality, the reproduction and distribution of images, diaspora and displacement, landscape and place, and metaphysics. In the 1980s Tillers was one of the first artists to engage with Aboriginal art as a contemporary genre (sometimes controversially) and his most recent work considers the unexpected resonances between Aboriginal art and European metaphysical painters such as Giorgio de Chirico.
Major solo exhibitions of Tillers’ work have been presented at the Institute of Contemporary Art in London (1988), the National Art Gallery in Wellington, New Zealand (1989), the Museum of Contemporary Art (MARCO) in Monterrey, Mexico (1999), the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra (2006), and the Laurence Wilson Art Gallery, Perth (2009). In 2018, a significant retrospective exhibition of Tillers' work, Journey to Nowhere, was held at the Latvian National Museum of Art in Riga, and a feature length documentary, Thrown into the World, was made about Tillers' life and work.
Born Sydney, Australia in 1950.
Education
2005
- Awarded a Doctor of Letters (Honoris Causa), University of New South Wales, Sydney
2001-09
- Trustee of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
1977-83
- Founding Academic staff member, Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney
1976
- Cité Internationale des Arts Residency, Paris
- Owen Tooth Cottage Residency, Vence
1969-72
- Bachelor of Science (Architecture) with First Class Hons and University Medal, University of Sydney
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2024
- Trembling Earth, Milani Gallery, Brisbane
2023
- The Mosman Years, Mosman Art Gallery, Sydney
- Unfinished Journey, Embassy of the Republic of Latvia, Canberra
- Remembering the unknown, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
- After de Chirico, Arc One Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2022
- Image Reference, Arc One Gallery, Melbourne
2021
- Fierce Paradise, Bett Gallery, Hobart
- As soon as tomorrow, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
2020
- Terra Nullius, Milani Gallery, Brisbane
2019
- The Path Itself, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
2018
- Joy Knows No Mercy, Arc One Gallery, Melbourne
- Imants Tillers: The Philosophy of Doubt, Riddoch Art Galleru, Mount Gambier; Hamilton Gallery, Victoria
- Journey to Nowhere, Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga (solo exhibition)
- The Call from Papunya, (Imants Tillers and Michael Nelson Jagamara), Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane
- From the Studio, The University Gallery, University of Newcastle
2017
- In Normal Times, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
- Meeting Place: Imants Tillers and Michael Nelson Jagamarra, Parliament House, Canberra
- The Philosophy of Doubt, Greenaway Galleries, Adelaide
2016
- The Poet’s Surrender, Bett Gallery, Hobart
- Metafisica Australe, Arc One Gallery, Melbourne
2015
- Metafisica Australe, Jan Morton Art, Brisbane
- Metafisica Australe, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
2014
- Latvian Mandala, Australian Latvian Arts Festival, Latvian House, Sydney
- Big storm between two places: Michael Nelson Jagamara and Imants Tillers, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane
- Dreamings: Australian Aboriginal Art meets De Chirico (a room of seven works from 1984 —2014), The Museo Carlo Bilotti, Rome
- The Philosopher’s Walk, Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide
- Haunted Nation, Bett Gallery, Hobart
2013
- The Fleeting Self, Arc One Gallery, Melbourne
2012
- Tabula Rasa, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
- The Loaded Ground: Michael Nelson Jagamara and Imants Tillers, Drill Hall Gallery, Australian National University Art Gallery, Canberra
- Capricornia, Jan Manton Art, Brisbane
2011
- The Journey South, Bett Gallery, Hobart
- Nature Speaks, Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide
2010
- Dual Worlds: Dadang Christanto and Imants Tillers, Jan Manton Art, Brisbane
- The Blossoming World, Arc One Gallery, Melbourne
- A Poem of the Land, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
2009
- Leap of Faith, Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide
- Value Added Landscapes, Jan Manton Art, Brisbane
- Clouds on a Distant Horizon, Bett Gallery, Hobart
- The Long Poem, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, University of Western Australia, Perth
2008
- The Tears of Things, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
- Melancholy Landscape, Arc One Gallery, Melbourne
2007
- In Two Minds, Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide
2006
- Imants Tillers ‘New Works’, Jan Manton Art, Brisbane
- Imants Tillers: one world many visions, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
- Hereafter, Chapman Gallery, Canberra
2005
- Land Beyond Goodbye, Sherman Galleries, Sydney
2004
- Imants Tillers New work, Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide
- Transmissions: From Here and There: Works by Imants Tillers, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne
- Local Knowledge, Raglan Gallery and Cultural Centre, Cooma
2003
- Imants Tillers, Australian Art Resources, Melbourne
- Recent Works, Sherman Galleries, Sydney
2002
- Imants Tillers, Chapman Gallery, Canberra
- Imants Tillers, Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide
- Not yet post—Aboriginal, Hazlehurst Regional Gallery
2000
- Imants Tillers, Sherman Galleries Hargrave, Sydney
- Imants Tillers, Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide
1999
- Accompanying 47th Australian Latvian Arts Festival, Span Galleries, Melbourne
- Towards Infinity: Works by Imants Tillers, Museo de Arts Contemporaneo de Monterrey, Mexico
- Home Visitation, Chapman Gallery, Canberra
- Nature Speaks, Sherman Galleries Goodhope, Sydney
- Not yet post—Aboriginal, SPAN Galleries, Melbourne
1998
- 1997 Lowenstein Sharp Arts 21 Fellow, Museum of Modern Art at Heide, Melbourne
- Prayer for Rain, Raglan Gallery and Cultural Centre, Cooma
1997
- Imants Tillers, Michael Milburn Gallery, Brisbane
- Imants Tillers, Karen Lovegrove, Melbourne
- The Enigma of Arrival, Sherman Galleries Goodhope, Sydney
1996
- Imants Tillers, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
1995
- Diaspora in Context: Connections in a Fragmented World, Pori Art Museum, Pori, Finland; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; Govett—Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand; Waikato Museum and Art Gallery, Hamilton, New Zealand
- via Paradiso, Karyn Lovegrove Gallery, Melbourne, 15 Mar—15 April
1994
- Telepathic Music, Michael Milburn Gallery, Brisbane
- Imants Tillers: Jump, Sherman Galleries Goodhope, Sydney
- Diaspora, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane
1993
- Imants Tillers: Within the Cleft, Michael Milburn Gallery, Brisbane
- Diaspora: Imants Tillers, National Museum of Art, Riga
- Five Pollock Paintings, Peter McLeavey Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
1992
- Imants Tillers, Karyn Lovegrove, Melbourne
- A Life of Blank, Plimsoll Gallery, Hobart; Monash University Gallery, Melbourne; Orange Regional Gallery, New South Wales; Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston
1991
- Journey: 33486, Deutscher Brunswick Street, Melbourne
- Imants Tillers, Peter McLeavey Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
- Action Paintings, Yuill/Crowley, Sydney
1990
- The Shining Cuckoo, Yuill/Crowley, Sydney
- Imants Tillers: Recent Paintings, Peter McLeavey Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
- The Bridge of Reversible Destiny, Yuill/Crowley, Sydney
- One Painting, Cleaving: Imants Tillers, Wollongong City Art Gallery, Wollongong
- Imants Tillers: Poem of Ecstasy, Deutscher Brunswick Street, Melbourne
1989
- Imants Tillers: 19301 or as of October, National Art Gallery, Wellington; Govett—Brewster Gallery, New Plymouth
- Tomorrow Will Be The Same But Not As This Is, Yuill/Crowley, Sydney
- Imants Tillers, Bess Cutler Gallery, New York
1988
- Imants Tillers, Bess Cutler Gallery, New York
- To the Fatherland, with Marianne Baillieu, Yuill/Crowley, Sydney
- Imants Tillers: works 1978—1988, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London; The Third Eye Centre, Glasgow; Orchard Gallery, Derry, Northern Ireland
1987
- Paintings for Venice: Australia at te 42nd Venice Biennale, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane; Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
- Bess Cutler Gallery, New York
- Australian Appropriations: The Recent Paintings of Imants Tillers, Volcum College Center Gallery, Reed College, Portland, Oregon, United States
- Galerie Susan Wyss, Zurich
- Yuill/Crowley, Sydney
1986
- 42nd Venice Biennale: Imants Tillers, Corderie at the Arsenale, Venice
1985
- Yuill/Crowley, Sydney
- Bess Cutler Gallery, New York
1984
- Pandemonium, Yuill/Crowley, Sydney
- Motto: Everything Goes, Bess Cutler Gallery, New York
1983
- Reconnaissance, Melbourne
- White Aborigines, Matt's Gallery, London
- Yuill/Crowley, Sydney
1982
- One Painting: One Horizon, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane
- The Church + the Cross, with John Nixon, V Space, Melbourne
- The Church + the Cross, with John Nixon, n-space, Kassel, West Germany
- Documenta 7, with John Nixon, Art Projects, Melbourne
- A Painting which is a Souvenir (with John Nixon), QED, One Central Street, Sydney
- The Field, Art Projects, Melbourne
- Composition with 3 Equal and Parallel Rectangles (unit 1), with John Nixon, Yuill/Crowley, Sydney
- The Bridge, with John Nixon, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
- The Deluge, with John Nixon, Press 4, Melbourne
- Honour + Glory, with John Nixon, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
1981
- Two Maps (A Local Mirage), Art Projects, Melbourne
- Visible Suspension: One Room, Two Paintings, n-space, Sydney
- The Triangle, The Door: One Room, One Painting (left/centre/right), Watters Gallery, Sydney
- 52 Displacements, n-space, Sydney
- Q Space Annex, Brisbane
1980
- Other Realities, Realities, Melbourne
- Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane
- Survey 13: Imants Tillers, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
- Q Space Annex, Brisbane
- Worlds in Collision, Avago Gallery, Sydney
1979
- 52 Displacements (of Image, of Time, of Water, of Feeling: One Year's Work), Watters Gallery, Sydney
1978
- Have You Ever Been Taken the Same Way, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne
1977
- The Property of Being Found, Watters Gallery, Sydney
1975
- Conversations with the Bride, Watters Gallery, Sydney
1974
- Link Exhibition No.1: Imants Tillers, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
1973
- Still Life 2, Watters Gallery, Sydney
- Moments of Inertia, Watters Gallery, Sydney
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024
- Legacy, Arc One Gallery, Melbourne
- A Bigger View, HOTA, Home of the Arts, Gold Coast
- Wilder times: Arthur Boyd and the mid-1980s landscape, Bundanon
- The Garden Show, GAGPROJECTS, Adelaide
- A Glint of Koi, Gosford Regional Gallery, Gosford
- The First 40 Years, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
- New Acquisitions from the Mosman Art Collection, Mosman Art Gallery, Sydney
2023
- Photography and the Performative, Chau Chak Wing Museum, University of Sydney
- No Fixed Shape, Bett Gallery, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
- Continuum, Barossa Regional Gallery, 8 December 2023 – 5 February 2024
2022
- Journeys through the Tate Collection, Tate Liverpool
- Travelling stories: A Tribute to Michael Nelson Jagamara, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane
- ES_TEXT, Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga, curated by Elita Ansone and Leonards Laganovskis
- Light & Darkness, Chau Chuk Wing Museum
2021
- Light & Darkness, Chau Chak Wing Museum, University of Sydney
- Archibald Prize Regional Tour, Tweed Regional Gallery ad Margaret Olley Art Centre; Cairns Art Gallery; Griffith Regional Art Gallery; Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery; Shoalhaven Regional Gallery; Penrith Regional Gallery
2020
- Lockdown, GAGPROJECTS, Adelaide
- Archibald Prize Regional Tour, Bank Art Museum Moree; Bathurst Regional Art Gallery; Muswellbrook Regional Arts Gallery
2019
- Unfolding Time - Penelope Seidler's Gift to Maitland, Maitland Regional Art Gallery,
- Archibald Prize Regional Tour, TarraWarra Museum of Art; Gosford Regional Gallery
- Sydney Contemporary, with Arc One Gallery, Booth B05, Carraigeworks, Sydney
- Making Art Public: 50 Years of Kaldor Public Art Projects, Art Gallery of New South Wales,
- The Archibald Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
- Art \ Basel Hong Kong, with Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Booth 1C07, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre
2018
- The Like Button, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
- 20/20: Celebrating 20 Years with 20 New Portraits Commissions, National Portrait Gallery, Canbera
- Sydney Contemporary, with Arc One Gallery, Booth B04, Carraigeworks, Sydney
2017
- Sydney Contemporary, with Arc One Gallery Booth B04 and Fireworks Gallery Booth A16, Carraigeworks, Sydney
- Artist Profile: Australasian Painters 2007-2017, Orange Regional Gallery
- Poets and Painters - Celebrating the Punchbowl, Moonah Arts Centre, Moonah, Tasmania
- Hadley's Art Prize, Galleries at Hadley's Orient Hotel, Hobart, Tasmania
- Enlighten Festival, Projection on to New Parliament House, Canberra
- Landmarks, Blue Mountains City Art Gallery; Tamworth Regional Gallery; Murray Art Museum
2016
- MCA Collection: Today, Tomorrow, Yesterday, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
- Archibald Prize Regional Tour, Art Gallery of Ballarat; Wagga Wagga Art Gallery; Cowra Regional Art Gallery; Bega Valley Regional Gallery; Hawkesbury Regional Gallery; Western Plains Cultural Centre
- The Archibald Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
- Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
- Signs and Symbols to Live By, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
- Fleurieu Art Prize, Samstag Museum of Art
- Black, White, Restive, Newcastle Art Gallery, Newcastle
- Living Waters, part of Taba Naba - Australia, Oceanie, Arts by People of the Sea, Musée Océanographique de Monaco, Monaco
- Art Dubai, Greenaway Art Gallery, Dubai
2015
- Julian Dashper and Friends, City Gallery Wellington, Wellington
- Seen from Elsewhere, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, New Zealand
- Sydney Contemporary, with Arc One Gallery, Booth B04, Carraigeworks, Sydney
- Under Kunanyi, Bett Gallery, Hobart
- Lighting strikes at Merricks's, with Michael Nelson Jagamara, Merricks General Wine Store, Victoria
2014
- Pop to Popism, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
- Sublime Point: The Landscape in Painting, Hazelhurst Regional Gallery & Arts Centre
- Melbourne Art Fair, Arc One Gallery, Melbourne
- The Skullbone Experiment; A Paradigm of Art and Nature, Tasmania Land Conservancy, Launceston, Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Inveresk; UNSW Galleries, College of Fine Art Gallery, Sydney
- The Gold Award (winner), Rockhampton Art Gallery, Rockhampton
- The Archibald Prize Regional Tour, Tamworth Regional Gallery; Albury Library Museum; Shoalhaven City Arts Centre
2013
- New Acquisitions in Context, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
- Summer 2013-2014, Annette Larkin Fine Art, Sydney
- Mémoires Vives; Une Historire De L'Arte Aborigène, Musée D'Aquitaine, Bordeaux
- Australia; 200 Years of Australian Landscape Art, The Royal Academy of Arts, London
- Collective Identity (IeS): This Is That Time, Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery
- Poets & Painters: A tribute to Dick Bett AM, Bett Gallery, Hobart
- The Archibald Prize Regional Tour, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery; Goulburn Regional Art Gallery; Bathurst Regional Art Gallery; Hazelhurst Regional Gallery & Arts Centre; The Glasshouse Regional Art Gallery, Port Macquarie
- Mix Tape 1980s: Appropriation, Subculture, Critical Style, The Ian Potter Centre, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
- The Archibald Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
- The Wynne Prize (winner), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
2012
- New Work, Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide
- The Re-invention of Gravity: Responses to the University of Sydney Union Art Collection, Verge Gallery, The University of Sydney
- Platform, Metro Arts with Jan Manton, Brisbane
- MCA Collection; Volume One, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
- The Wynne Prize (winner), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
2011
- GROUPS WHO, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
- Korea Art Fair, with Arc One Gallery, Korea
- Forever Young: 30 Years of the Heide Collection, Heide Museum of Modern Art,
Melbourne
Auckland Art Fair, with Greenaway Art Gallery, Auckland
-
Imitation of Life: Memory and Mimicry, Canberra Museum and Gallery
Out of Australia, The British Museum, London
Atonement, Bega Valley Regional Gallery
2010
- MCA Collection: New Acquisitions in Context, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney,
- Australian Masters, Solander Gallery, Canberra
- Melbourne Art Fair, with Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Melbourne
- How Nature Speaks, Arc One Gallery, Melbourne
- Curious Colony: A Twenty—first Century Wunderkammer, Newcastle Art Gallery
- Bushfire Australia, Tarrawarra Museum of Art, Melbourne
- Art Forum Berlin, with Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
- One—Off: An Exhibition of Anomalies from the Artist's Normal Practice, Greenaway Art
Gallery, Adelaide
2009
- Auckland Art Fair, Auckland, with Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
2008
- 50 x 50, Arc One Gallery Summer Show, Melbourne.
- Melbourne Art Fair, Melbourne
- Korea International Art Fair, Seoul, Korea
- Michael Nelson Jagamara: From the Studio, Experimentations and Collaborations, 1996—2008, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane (collaborative work included)
- Mark Making, University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane
2007
- Summer '07 '08, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
- Prelude 2008, Art One Gallery, Melbourne
- Poets Paint Words, Newcastle Art Gallery
- New Horizons: The Collection of the Ishibashi Foundation, Bridgestone Museum of Art,
Tokyo - Let's Call it a Living Room, Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taiwan
- The John McCaughey Memorial Prize: 50 Years, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
2006
- Prism: Contemporary Australian Art, Bridgestone Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan, Tomoko Nakayama
2006 Clemenger Contemporary Art Award, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne - Zones of Contact: 15th Biennale of Sydney, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
2005
- Pitch Your Own Tent: Art Projects / Store 5 / First Floor, Monash University Museum of
Art, Melbourne - Arts de la Table, ANU Drill Hall Gallery, Canberra
- A Partial View: Australian Art in the UWA Art Collection, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery,
Perth - Shoosh! A History of the Campfire Group, Institute of Modern Art, Brisban
- Unscripted: Language in Contemporary Australian Art, Art Gallery of New South Wales,
Sydney
2004
- One Of: Festivus 04, Sherman Galleries, Sydney
- A Sense of Place, Tarrawarra Museum of Art, Melbourne
- Landscape in Me: Windows on Australian Art, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern
Territory, Darwin - Imants Tillers, John Nixon and Louise Forthun, Conny Dietzschold Gallery, Sydney
- The Joseph Brown Collection, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
- Shanghai Art Fair, with Australian Art Resources, Melbourne
- Sharjah Project: Artcard, Sharjah Art Museum, United Arab Emirates
- ANU Art Collection: Acquisitions from the Last Ten Years, ANU Drill Hall Gallery,
Canberra
2003
- First Beijing International Art Biennale, Beijing, China (awarded Prize for Excellence)
- MCA Unpacked II, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
- Intergrafia: World Award Winners Gallery, International Print Triennale, Krakow, Poland
- Empathy: Beyond the Horizon, Artspace, Sydney
- Austral—Asia Zero Three, Sherman Galleries, Sydney
- Synergies: A Fusion Event, Australian National University, Drill Hall Gallery, Canberra
- Fieldwork, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
- Bushfire, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
2002
- Kunst Nach Kunst (Art After Art), Neues Museum Weserburg, Bremen, Germany
- The Big River Show, Wagga Wagga Regional Art Gallery, NSW
- Lines II, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane
- Deeper Places, Casula Powerhouse, Sydney
- Mindscapes, Newcastle Art Gallery, NSW
- Discomfort, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane
2001
- Bennett, Nain, Parr, Tillers, Sherman Galleries Goodhope, Sydney
- 7th NICAF: International Contemporary Art Festival, Tokyo International Forum,
Chiyoda—ku, Tokyo - A Selection of Important Twentieth Century Australian and New Zealand Paintings, Martin Browne Fine Art, Potts Point, Sydney
- Group Exhibition, Sherman Galleries Goodhope, Sydney
- Osaka Triennale 2001: 10th International Contemporary Art Competition, Contemporary Art Space, Osaka, Japan (awarded Silver Prize)
- Colin McCahon: A Time for Messages, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
- A Studio in Paris: Australian Artists at the Cité Internationale des Arts 1967—2000, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney
- Art Chicago 2001, Chicago, Illinois
- ARCO 01, with Greenaway Art Gallery, Madrid
- Southern Exposure: Centenary of Federation, Hazelhurst Regional Gallery and Arts
Centre, Gymea, Sydney - Empatia (Empathy: Beyond the Horizon), Pori Art Museum, Pori, Finland
- MCA Unpacked, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
2000
- Spitting and Biting: Ten Contemporary Artists and the Print, Monash University Gallery, Melbourne
- Restricting the Palette: Colour and Land, Canberra School of Art Gallery, Canberra
- Australian Latvian Artists' Society, Latvian House, Strathfield, Sydney
- From Appreciation to Appropriation: Indigenous Influences and Images in Australian Visual Art, Flinders Art Museum, Adelaide
- Artists in Focus — Iconography: Traditions and Influence, Holmes à Court Gallery, Perth,
June - Art and Furniture, Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne
1999
- WORD, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
- The Rose Crossing: Contemporary Art in Australia, Sherman Galleries touring exhibition,
Brisbane City Gallery, Brisbane; Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong; Singapore Art Museum, Singapore - Home and Away: Contemporary Australian and New Zealand Art from the Chartwell
Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, Auckland - Art 1999 Chicago: at Navy Pier, Festival Hall, Navy Pier, Chicago
- Cinderella's Gems: Art and the Intellectual Mission. 20th Century Australian Art Selected
from University Collections in New South Wales, Macquarie University, Sydney, touring
to regional galleries in Noosa, Toowoomba, Orange, Mosman, Bathurst, Lismore,
Tamworth, La Trobe, Mildura, and Horsham - 1999 Visy Board Art Prize, Richmond Grove Winery, Tanunda, South Australia
- Snowy! Power of a Nation: 50 years of the Snowy Mountains Scheme, Powerhouse
Museum, Sydney - Parr, Sachs, Tillers, Young, Orange Regional Gallery, Orange
1998
- Cinco continentes y una ciudad (Five Continents and a City), Museo de la Ciudad de
Mexico, Mexico City - Ways of Being, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney, touring to
regional galleries in New South Wales and Gold Coast City Art Gallery - Remanence: Melbourne Festival 1998, Former Melbourne Magistrates' Court and City
Watch House, Melbourne - Expanse: Aboriginalities, Spatialities and the Politics of Ecstasy, University of South
Australia Art Museum, Adelaide - On the Ashes of the Stars … STÉPHANE MALLARMÉ a celebration, Monash University Gallery, Melbourne
- Proscenium, Artspace, Auckland
- Landscape, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga
1997
- Objects and Ideas: Reinventing Minimalism, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
- Mike Parr, Imants Tillers, John Young, Sherman Galleries Goodhope, Sydney
- Anon, Sherman Galleries Goodhope, Sydney
- Tokyo International Art Festival, Tokyo International Forum, Tokyo
- The Archibald Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Victorian Arts Centre,
Melbourne - Power, Corruption and Lies, Institute of Modern Art, Brisban
- Visy Board Art Prize, Barossa Vintage Festival, South Australia (awarded First Prize)
- Coded, Waikato Museum and Art Gallery, Hamilton, New Zealan
- The Real Thing, Museum of Modern Art at Heide, Melbourne
- In Place (Out of Time): Contemporary Art in Australia, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford,
curated by David Elliott and Howard Morphy
1996
- Spirit and Place: Art in Australia 1861—1996, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
- Systems End: Contemporary Art in Australia, Oxy Gallery, Osaka; Hakone Open—Air Museum, Tokyo; Dong—Ah Gallery, Seoul; Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan (with separate
catalogue) - The John Kaldor Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
- Colonial Post-Colonial, Museum of Modern Art at Heide, Melbourne
- The World Over/Under Capricorn: Art in the Age of Globalisation, City Gallery,
Wellington; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam - Perceptions and Perspective, Next Wave Festival, National Gallery of Victoria,
Melbourne - Rosalie Gascoigne, Robert MacPherson, Jacky Redgate, Rover Thomas, Imants Tillers: Some Works from their Present and their Past, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
- Osaka Painting Triennale, Osaka Mydome, Osaka
- Imants Tillers, Tracey Moffatt, Dale Frank, Geoff Lowe, Karyn Lovegrove Gallery, Melbourne
- 12th Biennial Prints Acquisitive Exhibition, Mornington Peninsula Gallery, Victoria; Karyn Lovegrove Gallery, Melbourne
- Greg Weight Artists' Portraits, Manly Art Gallery and Museum, New South Wales
- Viewing an Era: Monash University Collection, Monash University Gallery, Melbourne
1995
- Atkins, Blackman, Borgelt, Firth-Smith, Jones, Lanceley, Mitelman, Parr, Partos, Storrier,
Tillers, Guan Wei, Wolfhagen, Sherman Galleries Hargrave, Sydney - Australian Art 1940—1990, from the Collection of the National Gallery of Australia, The Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu, Japan
- The French Embrace, Alliance Française, Sydney
- Baltic Presence, Latvian Centre, Strathfield, Sydney
- Australian Art: Colonial to Contemporary, Deutscher Fine Art, Melbourne
- Text & Art, Logan Art Gallery, Logan City, Queensland
- Patrick Pound, Jacky Redgate, Imants Tillers, Milburn Gallery, Brisbane
- Smorgon Collection of Contemporary Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
- Exhibition of Works on Paper, Milburn Gallery, Brisbane
- In Tandem, Sherman Galleries Goodhope, SydneySelected Commissions
1994
- Antipodean Currents: Ten Contemporary Artists from Australia, John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts
- Guggenheim Museum SoHo, New York, curated by Julia Robinson
Commissions
2014
- Avenue of Remembrance, Tapestry, First World War Galleries, The Australian War Memorial, Canberra
2013
- Written in Water (Hymn to Sydney), Commonwealth Bank Building, Martin Place, Sydney
2002
- The Attractor and Eight Women, Sydney Olympic Park, NSW (collaboration with Alec Tzannes)
1991
- Founding donors commission, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydne
1987
- The dome of the Federation Pavilion, Centennial Park, Sydney (collaboration with Alec Tzannes)
Selected Monographs
2018
- Elita Ansone and Mark Ledbury (eds), Imants Tillers: Journey to Nowhere (exh. cat), Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga and Power Publications, The University of Sydney, Sydney (forthcoming)
- Ivor Indyk (ed), Imants Tillers: Metafisica Australe, Giramondo Publications, Sydney, 2018 (forthcoming)
2009
- John Barrett-Lennard, The Long Poem (exh. cat.), Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, University of Western Australia, Perth, 2009
2006
- Deborah Hart (ed), Imants Tillers: one world many visions (exh. cat.), National Gallery of Australia: Canberra, 2006
2005
- Shoosh! A History of the Campfire Group, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, curated by Michael Eather
2003
- First Beijing International Art Biennale, Beijing, China (awarded Prize for Excellence)
2002
- Graham Coulter-Smith, The postmodern art of Imants Tillers: appropriation `en abyme', 1971 - 2001, Fine Art Research Centre, Southampton Institute and Paul Holberton Publishing: London, 2002
1999
- Charles Merewether, Towards Infinity: works by Imants Tillers (exh. cat.), Mexico: MARCO Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Monterray, 1999.
1998
- Wystan Curnow, Imants Tillers and the `Book of Power', Craftsman House: Sydney, 1998
1995
- Diaspora in context: connections in a fragmented world. Imants Tillers makes a painting by Georg Baselitz, Joseph Beuys, Bernhard Blume, Carlo Carra, Giorgio de Chirico, Mike Kelley, Byatutas Landsbergis, Colin McCahon, Arnulf Rainer, Nicholas Roerich and Isidore Tillers, Pori, Finland: Pori Art Museum, 1995
1989
- Jennifer Harper, Imants Tillers 19301, National Art Gallery, Wellington, 1989
Collections
- Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
- Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
- Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
- Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, New Zealand
- Australian Embassy, Paris
- The Australian War Memorial, Canberra
- Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, Victoria
- Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria
- Bridgestone Museum of Art, Tokyo
- Canberra Museum and Gallery, Canberra
- The Chartwell Collection, Hamilton, New Zealand
- Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu, Christchurch, New Zealand
- Floridablanca Collection, Madrid
- Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne
- High Court of Australia Collection, Canberra
- Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki
- Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga
- Lila and Gilbert Silverman Collection, Detroit
- The Loti and Victor Smorgon Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
- Maitland Regional Art Gallery, Maitland
- Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
- Monash University Collection, Melbourne
- Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterray (MARCO), Mexico
- Museum and Art Gallery of the NorthernTerritory, Darwin
- Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
- Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington
- National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Newcastle Art Gallery, New South Wales
- Orange Regional Gallery, New South Wales
- Parliament House Art Collection, Canberra
- Pori Art Museum, Finland
- Prudential Insurance Company Collection, New York
- Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston
- Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
- Sakai City Collection, Osaka, Japan
- Sordello/Missina Collection
- TarraWarra Museum of Art, Healesville, Victoria
- Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart
- Tate Modern, London
- University of Technology Art Collection, Sydney
- University of Western Australia Art Collection, Perth
- Wagga Wagga Regional Art Gallery, New South Wales
- Westpac Bank Collection, New York
- Westpac Corporate Art Collection, Sydney
- Wollongong City Gallery, New South Wales
- Numerous corporate and private collections in Australia and internationally
