SIDNEY NOLAN
Abstract works on paper 1986
Abstract works on paper 1986
OIGÅLL PROJECTS presents a focused exhibition of abstract works on paper by Sidney Nolan, produced in 1986 during a late, experimental phase of the artist’s practice.
Departing from the iconography that has come to define his legacy, these works return to a more fundamental impulse: abstraction as a site of testing.
Executed in spray enamel, pigment is atomised and dispersed into the air, settling in layered veils—colour suspended, colliding, and resolving beyond full control.
Forms emerge and withdraw. Edges dissolve. The compositions hold a sustained tension between precision and contingency, between intention and the behaviour of the material itself.
Rather than peripheral, this body of work occupies a critical position within Nolan’s practice—where experimentation is not relinquished with maturity, but sharpened by it. Presented as a cohesive group, the works feel both historically anchored and unexpectedly current in sensibility.
All images © Sidney Nolan Trust. All rights reserved. DACS/Copyright Agency, 2026
Departing from the iconography that has come to define his legacy, these works return to a more fundamental impulse: abstraction as a site of testing.
Executed in spray enamel, pigment is atomised and dispersed into the air, settling in layered veils—colour suspended, colliding, and resolving beyond full control.
Forms emerge and withdraw. Edges dissolve. The compositions hold a sustained tension between precision and contingency, between intention and the behaviour of the material itself.
Rather than peripheral, this body of work occupies a critical position within Nolan’s practice—where experimentation is not relinquished with maturity, but sharpened by it. Presented as a cohesive group, the works feel both historically anchored and unexpectedly current in sensibility.
All images © Sidney Nolan Trust. All rights reserved. DACS/Copyright Agency, 2026
MF6033:Untitled (abstract) 1986
Spray enamel on paper
Signed and dated on the reverse
81 x 121.5 cm
$9,900 inc GST
CONTACT
MF6037:Untitled (abstract) 1986
Spray enamel on paper
Signed and dated on the reverse
81 x 121.5 cm
$9,900 inc GST
CONTACT
MF6084:Untitled (abstract) 1986
Spray enamel on paper
Signed and dated on the reverse
81 x 121.5 cm
$9,900 inc GST
CONTACT
MF6081:Untitled (abstract) 1986
Spray enamel on paper
Signed and dated on the reverse
81 x 121.5 cm
$9,900 inc GST
CONTACT
MF6070:Untitled (abstract) 1986
Spray enamel on paper
Signed and dated on the reverse
81 x 121.5 cm
$9,900 inc GST
CONTACT
MF6072:Untitled (abstract) 1986
Spray enamel on paper
Signed and dated on the reverse
81 x 121.5 cm
$9,900 inc GST
CONTACT