iS.H. Ervin GalleryThe Rocks
Angus Nivison: Unfamiliar Territory
A five-decade survey of abstract landscape painter Angus Nivison, curated by Rachel Parsons and touring from New England Regional Art Museum.
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Preview: written before the show opened
When this survey opened in Armidale in July, it included Remembering Rain, the large painting that won Angus Nivison the 2002 Wynne Prize. It also had Uncertain Light (2006), a picture John McDonald calls "gigantic", lent by the Art Gallery of NSW only once it dropped the transport charges.
It is Nivison's largest solo show yet: five decades of abstract landscape, painted from Yalgoolygum, his property near Walcha, a New England town of about 1,800 people. Loans come from the Art Gallery of NSW, NERAM, Utopia Art Sydney, private collections and his studio, up to Chaos Theory (2025), acrylic, graphite and pigment on polyester. In Armidale the hang split into a room of black fields with colour breaking through and a room of bright, saturated paintings.
You won't find the farm painted as it looks, so come ready to look slowly. Entry is $15 ($12 concession), Tuesday to Sunday, 11am to 5pm. Nivison and curator Rachael Parsons talk at the gallery on Sunday 8 November at 3pm.
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Five decades of Angus Nivison's abstract landscape painting, curated by Rachel Parsons and touring from New England Regional Art Museum.
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Image credits
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- Angus Nivison: Unfamiliar Territorycourtesy Utopia Art Sydney
- Robyn Kahukiwa: My Ancestors Are Always With MeCourtesy of Museum of Contemporary Art Australia
- Connections: MCA x TateCourtesy of Museum of Contemporary Art Australia
- Ai Weiwei: Neil Balnaves Tallawoladah Lawn Commission 2026Courtesy of Museum of Contemporary Art Australia
- S.H. Ervin GalleryCollywolly / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Sydney ObservatoryDicklyon, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Museum of Contemporary Art AustraliaTony Hisgett / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
- Museum of SydneyElekhh, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Australian National Maritime MuseumTony Hisgett, CC BY 2.0