Published on the occasion of the exhibition John Nixon Groups + Pairs 2016–2020 at Anna Schwartz Gallery, and following the unexpected passing of the artist in August 2020, this publication honours the immense artistic contributions of the influential Melbourne abstract artist and leader of radical modernism John Nixon.

The exhibition John Nixon Groups + Pairs 2016–2020 documents the fundamental threads of Nixon’s practice as they had unfolded since 1968. Featuring a series of his paired paintings – evidence of his ongoing dedication to geometric abstraction – the exhibition also presents video installations capturing performance by Grace Uchinda dressed in Alpha60 alongside two of Nixon’s paintings, further collaborative works made by Nixon and Jacqueline Stojanovic, and a series of posters that were distributed around the inner suburbs of Melbourne in a timely suburban intervention.

John Nixon Groups + Pairs 2016–2020 features an essay by historian Carolyn Barnes and design by Yanni Florence. A comprehensive book will be published by Schwartz City to complement this publication in the future.