Sydney, 18 Apr 2023 — 7 May 2023

15 Roylston Street [PO Box 282], Paddington 2021

From the Centre
- Greg Johns

‘I have not had a solo exhibition in Sydney since 2007. This is, on a personal level, an exhibition I have been looking forward to for a long time.

The exhibition focuses on my figurative sculpture, which is influenced by a deep, subterranean reading of the Australian landscape. A number of the round ‘mandala’ forms are also shown. As John Neylon (the author of the two monographs published on my work) has commented, these figurative pieces, influenced by the Australian landscape, are connected to and descend from the larger picture; universal forces, which the mandala forms symbolically represent. The local is connected to the universal.’

Greg Johns is working on a long-term, cross-cultural collaboration in the Tiwi Islands, with the carvers and painters of the extraordinary Pukamani poles. His major engagement with the landscape has been for many years through the restoration of over 400 acres of a post-colonial landscape in rain shadow country at Palmer in South Australia. Forty-five of his sculptures have been placed there in a symbiotic relationship with the land. 

‘The intention environmentally is to make a contribution in what clearly now is a climate emergency. Culturally, the development of an Australian sculptural sensibility, which at the same time has connections with universal, symbolic and spiritual questions, is centrally important to me.

In 2023 the digital world may now be the reality which most people spend their time engaging. In a time when entertainment, overwhelming and continual input, rapid change and loss of connection with the natural world shape us culturally I see large scale public sculpture as providing a tether to timeless aspects of reality. In respect to this contemporary mythology, questions of spirit, connections to our profound landscape, and the continual unfolding of the story/ journey of sculpture worldwide, all provide significant input for the ongoing development of my sculpture. In the 21st century we must continue to ask questions in all of the areas that the arts explore. It is our responsibility to reveal (and take care of) the sense of wonder which is expressed so profoundly by our natural world.’

– Greg Johns, 2023

Greg Johns
Greg Johns has worked as a full-time sculptor for 38 years and has completed significant …
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