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Michael Johnson, born in Sydney in 1938, stands as a leading figure in Australian abstraction. The son of painter parents, he was immersed early in a creative environment, growing up in Mosman surrounded by art and reproductions of masters like Vermeer. Leaving school at fourteen, he honed his skills at Julian Ashton Art School and the National Art School in Sydney from 1953 to 1959. Johnson’s formative travels and experiences—including a friendship with Brett Whiteley—took him from painting excursions across rural New South Wales to mentorships with luminaries of 20th-century British art in London.
In London (1960–67), Johnson painted full-time and deepened his practice as a studio assistant for celebrated sculptors Brian Wall and Anthony Caro. Exposure to both the British and broader European art scenes catalysed a shift in his work from semi-abstract figurative and landscapes to a distilled, geometric abstraction. On his return to Sydney in 1967, Johnson held his first solo exhibitions and, in 1968, participated in the landmark show "The Field" at the National Gallery of Victoria, cementing his influence in the movement toward minimalism and abstraction in Australia.
From 1969 to 1975, Johnson was based in New York. There, his art embraced more surface texture and an earthy palette, inspired by the natural world’s diversity—bird feathers, beetle shells, and sunlit water became recurring motifs. He continued experimenting with colour and form, stretching his own canvases, mixing pigments, and developing works that prioritized sensory immersion. “These paintings are not to be viewed and considered in the interpretative way, they must be explored as a visual experience,” Johnson has said, inviting the viewer to journey through fields of colour and structural play.
There are Three Featured Artworks, currently for sale by Art Nomad:
1. SOUTHERN REFRACTION (2012/13) (Oil on Linen) This late-career work showcases Johnson’s lifelong devotion to colour and light. “Southern Refraction” radiates with luminous fields—a visual echo of Australia’s light-saturated landscapes. The meticulous layering and tuning of hues evoke refracted light and shifting atmospheric conditions, establishing a deep sensory response rather than depicting a literal scene. The composition’s rhythm and subtle transitions are characteristic of Johnson’s post-2000 output: immersive, luminous, and spatially complex.
2. ABSTRACT Though the title is generic, Johnson’s “Abstract” paintings are hallmarks of his persistent exploration of form and hue. Typical works under this label isolate geometric shapes—grids, bars, lattices—and employ flat swathes of carefully balanced colour. Rather than referencing external reality, these paintings aspire to become environments in themselves. Each gesture seeks to dissolve the boundary between painting and sculpture, a testament to Johnson’s fascination with architectonics and his background in three-dimensional work.
3. UNTITLED (1984) (Watercolour & Crayon) “Untitled,” like much of Johnson’s non-specific titling across his career, indicates an emphasis on visual language over narrative. This 1984 example, executed in watercolour and crayon, presents a more intimate reflection of the artist’s methods: vibrant colour blocks—applied with a remarkable economy of brushwork—echo the minimal style of Colour Field painting for which Johnson is celebrated. Such works invite viewers into a pure experience of texture and luminosity, unconstrained by the pictorial or descriptive.
Together, these three works encapsulate Johnson’s mature style: a seamless marriage of structure and sensation, and a deep engagement with the phenomena of the Australian landscape through the lens of abstraction.
Throughout his prolific career, Johnson has combined painting with a passion for educating a new generation of artists. From 1963-1985 he lectured extensively throughout the United Kingdom, Thailand and Australia, including: St Martins School of Art, London; Croydon School of Art, London; Birmingham School of Art; Sydney College of the Arts; Brisbane Arts Council, QLD; University of New South Wales, Sydney; City Art institute, Sydney; Crown Lane School of Art, Sydney; Silpokon University Malchon, Thailand.
Michael Johnson has held numerous exhibitions across the national and international art stages and was included in the seminal exhibitions, ‘The Field’, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, and Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (1968); the UNESCO Biennale, France (1968); the São Paulo Bienal, Brazil (1969); and The Australian Biennale, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (1988).
Johnson’s work has received widespread recognition through multiple awards and commissions, from taking out the 1967 R.H Taft’s Prize, Contemporary Art Society Annual Exhibition, Sydney, several artist-in-residence Grants including the 1986 Visual Arts Board Artist-in-Residence, University of Melbourne, the 1976 Gold Coast Art Prize (Paintings), Queensland to the 1980 Camden Art Society Prize (Works on Paper). Johnson’s Commissions include his 1984 Mural, State Bank of New South Wales and 1989 work for Sydney Conference Centre, New South Wales.
Johnson draws his inspiration from the history of art. “All my favourite painters…. they still communicate to me.” The artist holds a particular fascination for birds and animals and the different ways in which light plays on the back and the belly of animals. “It is just amazing that there’s a top and bottom to everything, and living on the surface of the planet, one tends to relate to how the light behaves from the sun and from the earth. Animals, I find, amazing…feathers on birds. I just love animals. Humans aren’t as interesting to look at.” says Johnson.
Michael Johnson’s work is marked by a metaphysical arrangement of colour and a charismatic robustness. His works are dreamy and idealistic in spirit; in their treatment, they are raw and perceptive, deeply connected to the artist’s powerful and multi-faceted relationships with nature, the natural process and mood.
Michael Johnson explains his trademark use of horizontal bars, “The zonal thing in my work has always been there….even though it is horizontal, it has never been about landscape; it is about the recyclable thing of life. The bars or zones are a different place at a different time in space, so it is about mathematics…over and over, like in music.”
Important Gallery Collections:
Michael Johnson’s artworks are represented in all major Australian state and regional collections including:
• National Gallery of Australia (Canberra) • National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne)
• Art Gallery of New South Wales (Sydney)
• Queensland Art Gallery (Brisbane)
• Art Gallery of Western Australia (Perth)
• Museum of Contemporary Art (Sydney)
• Chartwell Collection (New Zealand)
• UTS Art Collection (University of Technology, Sydney)
His work is also held in numerous significant corporate and private collections both in Australia and internationally, cementing his legacy as one of the nation’s finest abstractionists.
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