Nigel Lendon’s practice as an artist in the fields of post-minimalist and conceptual art spans from the late 1960s until his death in October 2021. He was one of the youngest artists included in the NGV’s 1968 landmark exhibition The Field, and his work is represented in most state and national collections.
Nigel Lendon







As an art historian and curator, Lendon focussed on the relationship between tradition and innovation in collaborative and cross-cultural practices. He researched, published and curated exhibitions about Australian contemporary art, the art history of Arnhem Land and the war art of Afghanistan. His most recent exhibitions include Modelling the Now (ANU Drill Hall Gallery; Milani Gallery 2016), Return to the Field (Sydney Non-Objective 2018), Unfinished Business (Canberra Contemporary Art Space 2019), and IN-formalism (Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre 2019). In 2021, he co-curated I Weave What I Have Seen: The War Rugs of Afghanistan at Drill Hall Gallery.
Education
1969
- Diploma of Fine Art Sculpture, South Australian School of Art, Adelaide
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2022
- Aleks Danko and Nigel Lendon: [AS.YET.MAYBE] NOT A TITLE..., Milani Gallery, Brisbane
2020
- LENDON/BEER: The Mass, Canberra Museum and Gallery, Canberra
2018
- LENDON/BEER: Exhibition 141, SNO, Sydney
- Lucina Lane & Nigel Lendon: Teach the kids to strike, Neon Parc City Gallery, Melbourne
- Abstraction 18: Further a-Field, 1970s, Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne
- Abstraction 17: A Field of Interest, c. 1968, Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne
- Lucina Lane & Nigel Lendon: I do not disagree, Caves Gallery, Melbourne
- ANTI-NOSTALGIA, Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne
2017
- Modelling the Now, Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne
2016
- Modelling the Now, Milani Gallery, Brisbane
2015
- Modelling the Now, ANU Drill Hall Gallery, Canberra
1973
- Nigel Lendon: 6 New Pieces of Sculpture, Chapman Powell Street Gallery, Melbourne
1971
- Nigel Lendon, Watters Gallery, Sydney
- Nigel Lendon, Bonython Art Gallery, Sydney
Selected Group Exhibitions
2019
- Unfinished Business, Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Canberra § 2019-2020, Geometries, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
2018
- The Field Revisited, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne § 2018 Returning to the Field, SNO, Sydney
- IN-Formalism, SNO at the Casula Powerhouse, Sydney
2017
- I can see Russia from here, TCB Gallery, Melbourne
2016
- Paint + Object, Annandale Gallery, Sydney
2014
- SNO 106, SNO Gallery, Sydney
2013
- Minimal/Conceptual, Milani Gallery, Brisbane
2012
- Less is More: Minimal and Post-Minimal Art is Australia, Heidi Museum and Gallery, Melbourne
2011
- Margaret Seaworthy Gothic, Margaret Lawrence Gallery, VCA, Melbourne
1998
- Taipai National University of the Arts, Taiwan
1995
- Canberra National Sculpture Forum, Canberra
1976
- Venice Biennale Aperto Pavilion, Venice, Italy (with ‘Art & Language’)
- Art & Language, John Weber Gallery, New York; Gallery Eric Fabre, Paris
1973
- Object and Idea, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
1971
- John Kaldor Art Project 2, Harold Szeemann in Australia, I want to leave a nice well-done child here, Bonython Gallery, Sydney/National Gallery of Victoria
- The Situation Now: Object and Post Object Art, Central Street Gallery, Sydney
1970
- Form in Action: An Exhibition of Recent Australian Sculpture, National Gallery of Australia international touring show
- Transfield Prize, Sydney
- Comalco Invitation Award for Sculpture, Tasmania
- The Mildura Sculpture Triennial, Mildura, Victoria
1968
- The Field, National Gallery Victoria
1967
- Mildura Prize for Sculpture, Mildura
Collections
- National Gallery of Australia
- Art Gallery of South Australia
- Queensland Art Gallery
- The University of Queensland Art Museum
- Art Gallery of New South Wales
- Mildura Art Gallery
- Launceston Museum and Art Gallery
- Bathurst Regional Art Gallery
Publications
For citation details and access to publications, visit https://www.nigellendon.art/te...
2021
- Tim Bonyhady and Nigel Lendon: I Weave What I Have Seen: The War Rugs of Afghanistan
2016
- Nigel Lendon, Rethinking The Aboriginal Memorial
2014
- Nigel Lendon, Relational Agency: The Elcho Island
2011
- Nigel Lendon, A Tournament of Shadows
2009
- Nigel Lendon, Groundwork: The Advent of the Indigenous Print in Australia
- Nigel Lendon, Beauty and Horror: Identity and Conflict in the War Rugs of Afghanistan
2008
- Nigel Lendon, As Citizens of the World
2004
- Nigel Lendon, Innovation and its Meanings
2003
- Nigel Lendon, Near and Far
2001
- Nigel Lendon, Beyond Translation
- Nigel Lendon, Unfamiliar Territory: An art of constant translation
1998
- Nigel Lendon, Authorship, Authority and the Production of Public Knowledge
- Nigel Lendon, On the Possibility of Collaboration
1997
- Nigel Lendon, A Narrative in Paint [The Wagilag Sisters]
1996
- Nigel Lendon, The Black Print: Technology and innovation in contemporary Aboriginal printmaking
1988
- Nigel Lendon, Ian Burn, Charles Merewether and Ann Stephen, The Necessity of Australian Art: An Essay about Interpretation
1984
- Nigel Lendon and Ian Burn, Purity Style Amnesia
1980
- Nigel Lendon, Ashton Roberts and Bayliss: Some relationships between illustration, painting and photography in the late Nineteenth Century
Awards
1974-76
- Harkness Fellowship, Commonwealth Fund of New York City
1970
- Mildura Purchase Award
1969
- Harry P. Gill Medal and Prize, South Australian School of Art
Select Literary References
2014
- Mildura Revisited: sculptures exhibited 1961-1978, Mildura Arts Centre, Mildura, Victoria.
2013
- ‘Nigel Lendon: systemic structures’, in NEW 2013: Selected recent acquisitions, The University of Queensland, pp.116-7.
2012
- Sue Cramer, Less is More: Minimal + Post-Minimal Art in Australia, Heidi Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne.
2003
- Zara Stanhope, This was the future: Australian sculpture of the 1950s, 60s 70s and today, Heidi Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne.
1999
- Greg Dening, ‘Time Searchers’, The Australian, 11-13 August 1999.
1986
- Daniel Thomas, ‘Introduction’, Skangaroovian Funk, Art Gallery of South Australia.
1985
- Graeme Sturgeon, Sculpture at Mildura: the story of the Mildura Sculpture Triennial 1961 – 1982, Mildura City Council, Mildura, Vic.
1974
- Terry Smith, ‘The Provincialism Problem’, Artforum September 1974, pp.54-59. 1978 Graeme Sturgeon, The Development of Australian Sculpture 1788 – 1975, Thames and Hudson Ltd, London.
1971
- Terry Smith, ‘Making use of space: the work of Nigel Lendon’, The Sunday Age, 7 March 1971, p.18
Selected Tributes
Autumn 2022
- ‘Nigel Lendon 1944-2021’, Art Monthly Australasia Issue 331 - ANN STEPHEN, GORDON BULL, DEBORAH CLARK, HOWARD MORPHY, TIM BONYHADY, EMMA BEER AND ALEKS DANKO
2021
- 15 Dec 2021, ‘Vale Nigel Lendon 1944-2021’ Artlink Magazine – RUARK LEWIS
- 28 Oct 2021, ‘Vale Nigel Lendon’, Art History Network – MARK SHEPHERD
- 20 Nov 2021, ‘Lendon leaves impressive art legacy’, Canberra Times – DAVID WILLIAMS