Institute of Modern Art

1313 24 MARCH–2 JUNE Tom Nicholson’ s solo exhibition surveys the central role drawing plays in his engagement with contemporary political realities in Australia and beyond. The show presents works from 2005 to 2018, focusing on both the histories and possibilities of drawing, and its relationship to writing. The exhibition will feature the final chapter of Drawings and correspondence : a new commission by IMA, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, and Art Gallery of South Australia. The project centres upon a moment at Kwartatuma/Ormiston Gorge in Central Australia, at the outbreak of WWII, that led to a remarkable relationship between the non-Aboriginal watercolourist Rex Battarbee and the Western Aranda artist Albert Namatjira . The exhibition will be accompanied by the first monograph of Nicholson’s work, edited by Amelia Barikin and Helen Hughes , and co-published by the IMA, the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, and Sternberg Press. The publication is supported by the Gordon Darling Foundation and Myer Foundation. Tom Nicholson lives and works in Melbourne, where he lectures in drawing at Monash Art Design and Architecture, Monash University. Recent exhibitions include I was born in Indonesia , Ian Potter Museum, Melbourne (2017); Comparative monument (Ma’man Allah) , Milani Gallery, Brisbane (2014); Cartoons for Joseph Selleny , Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (2014) and Proposition for a banner march and a black cube hot air balloon , with Raafat Ishak, Shepparton Art Museum, Victoria (2012). Tom Nicholson Drawings and correspondence Cover Image: Tom Nicholson, Pouncing photograph (Cartoons for Joseph Selleny) . 2014. Photo: Christian Capurro. Type C photograph, 130 x 86.6cm. Courtesy of the artist and Milani Gallery.