Jon Campbell

Jon Campbell was born in Northern Ireland in 1961. He lives and works in Melbourne.

He has been practicing since the 1980s when he began exhibiting paintings of suburban youth culture influenced by growing up in Melbourne's Western suburbs. His work reflects his interest the local; Australiana, language and rock n roll. With his use of words and phrases as imagery, he captures aspects of popular culture that are both lived and observed. He works across paintings, drawings, neon lighting, tea towels, flags and songs to celebrate suburbia and its parlance. His works define the look of the world in which he lives and the accent and humour of its language, both questioning and celebrating who we are.

In 2025 Campbell's work was the subject of a major survey exhibition, 'yEAH / dUNNO', at Geelong Gallery. In 2022 he featured alongside Nadia Hernández in 'Speech Patterns: Nadia Hernández and Jon Campbell' at the Art Gallery of Western Australia, and had a solo exhibition, 'MCA Collection: Jon Campbell' at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney in 2017.

Campbell has been the recipient of multiple awards and residencies and his work has been included in many exhibitions in public institutions around Australia. A major monograph was printed in 2010. His work is included in most major Australian public collections.