Michelle Nikou Biography
1967
Born Adelaide, South Australia. Lives and works Adelaide.
EDUCATION
1989
Bachelor of Design (Ceramics), SA School of Art, University of South Australia
1990
Graduate Diploma of Arts (Visual Art), SA School of Art, University of South Australia
2005
Master of Visual Arts (MA), SA School of Art, University of South Australia
2012
PhD candidate, Visual Art, SA School of Art, Architecture and Design, University of South Australia
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2016-2018
a e i o u, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne and touring Benalla Art Gallery, Victoria; Cairns Regional Gallery, Queensland; Anne & Gordon Samstag Museum of Art, Adelaide; Caloundra Regional Gallery, Queensland
2015
Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2014
Vacancy, Contemporary Food Lab Exhibition Space, Berlin
2012
DARREN KNIGHT GALLERY, Sydney Australia
2009
DARREN KNIGHT GALLERY, Sydney, Australia
2007
DARREN KNIGHT GALLERY, Sydney, Australia
Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide, Australia
2005
Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide, Australia
2004
DARREN KNIGHT GALLERY, Sydney, Australia
2002
DARREN KNIGHT GALLERY, Sydney, Australia
Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide, Australia
2001
Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide, Australia
2000
Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney, Australia
1999
Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide, Australia
1998
Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney, Australia
1997
Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide, Australia
1996
Mildura Arts Centre, Victoria, Australia
1995
Ararat Regional Art Gallery, Victoria, Australia
Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide, Australia
1994
Public Domain Art Projects Exhibitions
1993
Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide, Australia
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2020
Safe Space, Swan Hill Regional Art Gallery, VIC
Safe Space, Devonport Regional Gallery, TAS
Safe Space, Grafton Regional Gallery, NSW
Safe Space, Maitland Regional Art Gallery, NSW
2019
Safe Space, Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery, Queensland
Spring 1848, curated by Scott Donovan, Knulp, Sydney, Australia
I could sleep for a thousand years, curated by Jon Campbell, Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney, Australia
Safe Space, Dogwood Crossing, Miles, Queensland
Safe Space, Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery, Queensland
2018
Darren Knight Gallery, Booth G01, Sydney Contemporary, Carriageworks, 13-16 September 2018
From Will to Form: TarraWarra Biennale 2018, TarraWarra Museum of Art, Victoria
Safe Space, curated by Christine Morrow, Logan Art Gallery, Queensland (and touring)
2017
Darren Knight Gallery at Spring 1883, Room 55, The Establishment Hotel, Sydney
World Material, Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney, curated by Chloe Wolifson
2016
SPRING 1883, Room 224, Hotel Windsor, Melbourne
2015
Tender Thing, Adelaide Town Hall, Adelaide
CACSA Contemporary, Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia, Adelaide
Writing Art, Artspace, Sydney
2014
Return Threshold – Michelle Nikou, Charlie Sofo, Marcin Kobylecki and Patrick Hartigan, Fontanelle Gallery and Studios, Adelaide, Australia
2013
Future Primitive, Heide Musuem of Modern Art, Melbourne
Atelier Paris: The Power Studio, University Art Gallery, The University of Sydney, Australia
Black Square, Australian Foundation of Experimental Art, Adelaide
2012
Volume One: MCA Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
Post-planning, Ian Potter Museum of Art, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Look, Look Again, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, Western Australia
2011
Rundgang, Hochschule für bildende Künste, Braunschweig, Germany
2010
2010 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Before and After Science, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
2008
Uneasy – recent South Australian art, Anne & Gordon Samstag Museum of Art, University of
South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
Scope Basel, Greenaway Art Gallery stand, Switzerland
GAG Projects, Berlin
2006
Imagine…the creativity shaping our culture, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, Australia
Things Will be Great, MOP, Sydney, Australia
Taking the cure, Downtown Art Space, Adelaide
Art (212) Art Fair, Greenaway Art Gallery stand, New York
Calenture, Light Square Gallery, Adelaide
17th Annual Fibre Textile Biennial, Tamworth Regional Gallery, Tamworth
New York Art Fair, New York
2005
Mentor/Mentored, Contemporary Art centre of South Australia, Adelaide
Brisbane Art Fair, Greenaway Art Gallery
ARCO 05, Greenaway Art Gallery stand, Madrid, Spain
2004
2004: Australian Culture Now, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
MCA Unpacked II, Selections from the MCA Collection by Michelle Nikou and Joan Grounds,
University of South Australia Art Museum, Adelaide; Bendigo Art Gallery; Hazelhurst Regional
Art Gallery, Australia
Revenge, Downtown Art Space, Adelaide
Manifesto, Downtown Art Space, Adelaide
Melbourne Art Fair, Greenaway Art Gallery
2003-2004
Home Sweet Home: Works from the Peter Fay Collection, touring National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Hazelhurst Regional Art Gallery, Australia
2003
MCA Unpacked II, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia
Mystic Medusa on Art, New Contemporaries, Sydney, Australia
2001-2002
Home is where the heart is, South Australian touring exhibition, Burra Regional Art Gallery, Adelaide Art Museum, University of SA, Port Pirie Regional Art Gallery, Port Augusta Fountain Gallery, Australia
2001
Jamboree Clay, The Jam Factory, Adelaide, Australia
2000
Chemistry – Art in South Australia 1990-2000. The Faulding Exhibition. Art Gallery of South
Australia, Adelaide, Australia
Genespill, Imperial Slacks, Sydney, Australia
Melbourne Art Fair, Greenaway Art Gallery
1998
Defiling the Object, Nexus Gallery, Adelaide, Footscray Community Art Centre, Melbourn, Australia, The Substation, Singapore
Strange Brew, Jam Factory, Adelaide, Australia
1997
Comfort, First Draft, Sydney, Australia
North Adelaide School of Art, South Australia
1996
Brisbane Art Fair, Greenaway Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia
1994
Fania, University of South Australia Art Museum, Adelaide, Australia
1993
Side Step, Prospect Gallery, Adelaide
1992
The China Cabinet, Jamboree Workshop, Adelaide
1990
Post Graduate Exhibition, University of South Australia Art Museum, Adelaide, Australia
Frank, The Bullring, Adelaide, Australia
AWARDS & RESIDENCIES
2016
NAVA Visual Arts Fellowship
2010-2011
Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig, Germany (studying under Professor Thomas Rentmeister)
2009
Anne and Gordon Samstag Visual Arts Scholarship
Arts SA Project Grant
2008
Arts SA, Professional Development Grant
2007
Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Japan Travel Fund
Residency at Cité des Artes, Paris, University of Sydney
2006
Helpmann Academy Mentorship Scheme
Australia Council for the Arts, New Work Grant
2005
Recipient of the Arts SA sponsored South Australian Living Artist Festival publication prize
Arts SA Project Grant
2004
SALA monograph, 2005
2003
MF & MH Joyner Scholarship of Fine Arts
Australian Post Graduate Award (APR)
University of South Australia Post Graduate Research Award (USAPRA)
Catalogue funding, Arts SA, South Australia
2001
AIT Arts Foundry, Roma Mitchell Arts Education Centre
2000
Ceramics workshop, University of South Australia
Project Grant, Arts SA, South Australia
1998
EVA Art Prize, Pulteney Grammar School, Adelaide, Australia
Australia Council for the Arts, New Work Grant
1995
Santos Sydney Studio Scholarship
Department for the Arts and Cultural Development, Arts Project Grant
1990
Kym Bonython Art Prize, Adelaide
COMMISSIONS
2009
Aboriginal War Memorial, Commisioning Agent, RSL
2008
Public Art Work, Port Adelaide – Commissioning Agent Post Adelaide Enfield Council
2006
Public Art Work, Rundle St Adelaide, Commission Agent Adelaide City Council
COLLECTIONS
Art Gallery of South Australia
University of South Australia Art Museum
National Gallery of Australia
Clo Fleiss Collection, Paris
Gigi and Josef Fainas Collection, Geneva
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Backhouse, M. Complexly Primitive, Art Guide, January/February 2014, p.75
Bolton, K. Michelle Nikou Wakefield Press, Adelaide 2006
Bolton, K. Sculptures, Agenda, Melbourne October 1995
Day, C & Tutton, S. Before and After Science, 2010 Adelaide Biennale of Australian Art, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide. 2010.
Dwyer, L. Open Gallery, Sydney Morning Herald-Spectrum, 24-24 November 2012
Eagle, M. What differentiates art from everyday making? Home is Where the Heart is,
Catalogue Essay, Country Arts S.A., 2000
Fitzgerald, M. Open Gallery in Sydney Morning Herald Spectrum, 24-25 Nov 2012, p.14
Hart, D. Home Sweet Home: an artist-collector’s passion, Home Sweet Home: Works from
the Peter Fay Collection exhibition catalogue, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra,
Australia, 2003
Hill, P. On their selection, Sydney Morning Herald, Spectrum, October 18-19 2003
Keneally, C. Where are we now, Broadsheet, Vol 23, No.3
McDonald, J. The meaning of colour, Sydney Morning Herald Spectrum 31 March – 1 April 2007, p. 17
Morrell, T. Michelle Nikou, Uneasy – recent South Australian art exhibition catalogue, Anne
& Gordon Samstag Museum of Art, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia 2008,
pp.38 – 39.
Nelson, R. Imagining the forces that shape our artistic culture The Age Metro Reviews 26 July 2006, p. 22
Newell, M. Michelle Nikou: Two Spoons, Broadsheet Vol. 30 32, 2001
Newell, M. (Foreward), catalogue essay, Michelle Nikou, 2004
Radok, S. A Woman’s Touch, Home is Where the Heart is, Catalogue Essay, Country Arts
S.A., 2000
Radok, S. The Adelaide Review, July 1995
Radok, S. Here and Now, The Adelaide Review, Vol. 23 NOl3, Sept. 94
Rainforth, D. Michelle Nikou, Art Guide, Issue 100, March/April 2016, pp.93-96
Sheedy, M. For Art’s Sake, Elle, May 1998
Stanhope, Z. (Ed.) IMAGINE… the creativity shaping our culture, exhibition catalogue,
Heide Museum of Modern Art, 2006
Valamanesh, A. Self Determination, Artlink, Vol.14, No.4
Wolfe, R., The Samstag Alumni: The Anne & Gordon Samstag International Visual Arts Scholarship,http://www.unisa.edu.au/samstag/scholars/scholars10/nikou.asp,
September 2009
Wolfe, R. The Samstag Legacy, An Artist’s Bequest, The Anne and Gordon Samstag Museum of Art, University of South Australia, 2016, p.345
Wolff, S. Michelle Nikou in The Art Life, http://theartlife.com.au/2012/michelle-nikou/, pub. 23 November 2012
Zagala, A., Michelle Nikou: a e i o u, Artlink Magazine, 8 June 2016, https://www.artlink.com.au/articles/4460/michelle-nikou-a-e-i-o-u/