Neon Parc | Elizabeth Newman

Naarm / Melbourne, Australia (1962–2026).

Elizabeth Newman made and exhibited art throughout Australia and overseas from the 1980s onwards. A painter by training, she expanded her practice over the years to include wall works, objects, text-based works and writing. Her innovative and experimental work significantly influenced her contemporaries and, further, younger generations of artists who regarded her work as exemplary.

Newman’s work is regarded as a significant advance in formalist-conceptualist discourse in Australia, and her writings are incisive articulations of this aesthetic and psychological terrain. Her broader conception of practice was also influential and saw her working beyond an individual subjective position as a collaborator, and as a vocal and intellectually rigorous member of the art community.

Installation view, Elizabeth Newman, 'The effect that is propagated is not from the communication of speech but from the displacement of discourse', Neon Parc Brunswick, 2016.

Selected works (71)

Exhibitions (13)

‘Melbourne Art Fair 2026’

19 Feb.–22 Feb.
2026

‘Some little lights in a perfectly dark field’
South Yarra
25 Jul.–16 Aug.
2025

‘Loss of World’
Brunswick
24 Aug.–23 Sep.
2023

‘Elizabeth Newman’
Brunswick
23 Jul.–28 Aug.
2021

‘Elizabeth Newman’
City
16 Oct.–16 Nov.
2019

‘Mira Gojak / Elizabeth Newman’
Brunswick
27 Oct.–16 Dec.
2017

‘The effect that is propagated is not from the communication of speech but from the displacement of discourse’
Brunswick
24 Jun.–12 Aug.
2016

‘Book Launch’
City
2 Jul.–6 Jul.
2013

‘Art Cologne’

18 Apr.–21 Apr.
2013

‘Monograph fundraising edition’
City
29 May.–1 Jun.
2012

‘Lights On’
City
23 Nov.–17 Dec.
2010

‘1988 and 2008’
City
25 Nov.–19 Dec.
2008

‘Elizabeth Newman’
City
5 Jun.–29 Jun.
2007

Curriculum vitae (PDF)

Recent Solo & Two Person Exhibitions

2026: ‘Melbourne Art Fair’, Neon Parc, Booth J2, Melbourne, Australia
2025: ‘Some little lights in a perfectly dark field’, Neon Parc South Yarra, Melbourne; ‘MAY Art Fair’, Neon Parc, Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland, New Zealand; ‘Marine Parade’, Schmick Contemporary, Sydney, Australia
2023: ‘Loss of World’, Neon Parc, Melbourne, Australia
2022: ‘…and the world flew off its axis.’, Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney, Australia; ‘Poly/Monochrome’, Negative Press, Melbourne, Australia
2021: ‘One All Alone’, Disneyland Paris, Melbourne, Australia; ‘Un-titled’, Drill Hall Gallery, ANU, Canberra, Australia
2020: ‘Elizabeth Newman’, Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney, Australia; ‘Elizabeth Newman: Is that a ‘No’?’, Griffith University Art Museum, Brisbane, Australia; ‘So Many Lights and so Much Darkness’, Philip Martin Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
2019: ‘Elizabeth Newman’, Neon Parc, Melbourne, Australia
2018: ‘So many lights and so much darkness’, Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2017: ‘Mira Gojak / Elizabeth Newman’, Neon Parc, Melbourne, Australia; ‘Elizabeth Newman: Pop Up Store’, Knulp, Sydney, Australia
2016: ‘Elizabeth Newman: The effect that is propagated is not from the communication of speech but from the displacement of discourse’, Neon Parc, Melbourne, Australia; ‘Elizabeth Newman Drawings 1984 -1992’, State Library of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
2013: ‘Elizabeth Newman’, Hamish McKay, Wellington, New Zealand; ‘Elizabeth Newman’, Book Launch, Neon Parc, Melbourne, Australia; ‘Axiom’, Neon Parc, Melbourne, Australia; ‘Elizabeth Newman’, NADA Cologne, Germany; ‘Elizabeth Newman’, SNO (Sydney Non Objective), Sydney, Australia
2012: ‘Art Copenhagen’, Copenhagen, DM; ‘Elizabeth Newman: Painting without Paint’, David Risley Gallery, Copenhagen; ‘Elizabeth Newman’, Monograph fundraising edition, Neon Parc, Melbourne, Australia
2011: ‘room for plan B with Nicki Wynnychuk’, AEAF, Adelaide, Australia; ‘Esther Klaes and Elizabeth Newman’, Spazio A, Pistoia, Italy; ‘Let the Sun Shine-in’, Molecule Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2010: ‘Elizabeth Newman: Lights On’, Neon Parc, Melbourne, Australia; ‘Maria Cruz and Elizabeth Newman: I want you to know. What I am’, MO space, Manila, Phillipines

Selected Group Exhibitions

2025: ‘I ♥ Lizzy’, Neon Parc, Melbourne, Australia; ‘Conjuction’, Drill Hall Gallery, Australia National University, Canberra, Australia; ‘Eye to Eye’, Drill Hall Gallery, Canberra, Australia; ‘A Fictional Retrospective: Gertrude’s First Decade 1985–1995’, Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne, Australia; ‘Shape Shifters’, Wollongong Art Gallery, Wollongong, Australia; ‘The Melbourne Art Print Fair’, Linden New Art, Melbourne, Australia
2023: ‘The Origin of the World’, NAP Contemporary, Mildura, Australia; ‘Group Exhibition’, Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2022: ‘The Gertrude Editions’, Geelong Gallery, Geelong, Australia; ‘Re/production: Australian art from the 1980s and 1990s’, 16albermarle Project Space, Sydney
Sydney Contemporary, online platform
2021: ‘Uptown: An Exhibition for Our City, City of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
2020: ‘1991’, Neon Parc, Melbourne, Australia
2019: ‘Peasant, Partisan’, Neon Parc, Melbourne, Australia; ‘A Place for Everything’, Artbank, Melbourne, Australia; ‘I could sleep for a thousand years’, curated by Jon Campbell, Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney,
Australia; ‘Unfinished: Décor’, Blindside, Melbourne, Australia
2018: ‘Painting Amongst Other Things’, ANCA Gallery, Canberra, Australia; ‘Polly Borland - Polymorph’, Sullivan and Strumpf, Sydney, Australia; ‘Darren Knight Gallery’, Booth G01, Sydney Contemporary, Carriageworks, Australia
2017: ‘I love Pat Larter’, Neon Parc, Melbourne, Australia; ‘The End of Time. The Beginning of Time.’ Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne, Australia; ‘Superposition of three types’, Artspace, Sydney, Australia; ‘Perceptual Abstraction’, The Honeymoon Suite, Melbourne, Australia
2016: ‘Shut up and paint’, NGV, Melbourne, Australia; ‘Bilder Bilder’, Neon Parc, Melbourne, Australia; ‘Group show 2006-2016’, Neon Parc, Melbourne, Australia; ‘Redlands Westpac Art Prize’, National Art School, Sydney, Australia; ‘The trouble with remuneration’, Westspace, Melbourne, Australia; ‘Re-Purpose’, Drill Hall Gallery, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia; ‘Soft furnishings’, RMIT Project Space, Melbourne, Australia; ‘Painting. More Painting’, ACCA, Melbourne, Australia, Australia; ‘Fabrik’, Ian Potter Museum, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
2015: ‘The Kaleidoscopic Turn’, NGV, Melbourne, Australia; The Sovereign Asian Art Prize, Hong Kong; ‘Sculpture’, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, Australia; ‘The Mechanic’, Neon Parc, Melbourne, Australia; ‘Sculpture Hinkley Newman Sands’, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2014: ‘No You’re Product’, Slopes, Melbourne, Australia; ‘Fin’, Utopian Slumps, Melbourne, Australia; ‘Re-raising Consciousness’, TCB, Melbourne, Australia; ‘Loaded’, Enjoy, Wellington, New Zealand; ‘New Argument Stream’, Slopes, Melbourne, Australia; ‘Uneducated’, Counihan Gallery, Melbourne, Australia; ‘Function Room’, Rearview, Melbourne, Australia; ‘Pavillion’, TCB, Melbourne, Australia; ‘girls abstraction’, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
2013: ‘Flow’, Prague Biennale 6, Czech Republic; ‘Melbourne Now’, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia; ‘Monochrome Exhibition’, Sutton Projects, Melbourne, Australia; ‘Collage: The Heide Collection’, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, Australia; ‘Third/Fourth Artist Facilitated Biennale’, Margaret Lawrence Gallery, Melbourne, Australia; ‘Two Room Exhibition’, Rearview, Melbourne, Australia; ‘Higher Arc’, Murray White Room, Melbourne, Australia; ‘In The Cut’, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA), Melbourne, Australia
2012: ‘Artists’ Proof #1’, Monash Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, Australia; ‘Micro Management’, Utopian Slumps, Melbourne, Australia [EN one word]; ‘Repaint’, David Pestorius Gallery, Brisbane, Australia; ‘Deep Inside’, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington; ‘Subject To Be’, dacg gallery, Manila; ‘Pablo and Mo’, ICAN, Sydney, Australia; ‘Drawing Folio 2: Ruler, Pencil + Time’, Blockprojects, Melbourne, Australia
2011: ‘Black elastic, two umbrellas, a mint leaf and wheels’, Monash University Museum of Art,; Melbourne, Australia; ‘Forever Young’, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, Australia; ‘Catching Trucks’, Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne, Australia; ‘Rays on the shutter’, Galleria Duemila, Manila, Phillipines; ‘Love and Telepathy’, Westspace, Melbourne, Australia; ‘Group Show’, Neon Parc, Melbourne, Australia
2010: ‘Extreme Beauty: Approaches To The Real’, Y3K, Melbourne, Australia; ‘Paint(h)ing’, Australian Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaide, Australia; ‘Taint’, First Draft, Sydney, Australia; ‘Discreet Object’, Utopian Slumps, Melbourne, Australia; ‘The Aesthetics of Joy’, Westspace, Melbourne, Australia; ‘Lamp, Table, Chair, Big Painting’, Margaret Lawrence Gallery, Melbourne, Australia; ‘Canadian Pharmacy’, Neon Parc, Melbourne, Australia

Collections

National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia
Artbank, Sydney, Australia
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, Australia
The Potter Museum of Art
Australian National University Collection
Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, Australia
William Dobell Foundation, Sydney, Australia
HOTA: Home of the Arts, Gold Coast (formerly Centre Gallery Collection)
UQ Art Museum, University of Queensland
Cruthers Collection of Women’s Art at The University of Western Australia
Stonnington City Council, Melbourne
Deakin University, Geelong
Hewlett Packard, Melbourne, Australia
Kerry Stokes Collection, Perth, Australia
Chartwell Collection, Auckland, New Zealand
Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
Private collections

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Elizabeth Newman, 'Untitled', 1990. Collage and watercolour on paper, 44.5 x 35 x 4 cm.

Elizabeth Newman, 'Untitled', 2018. Oil on linen, 140 x 100 cm.

Installation view, Elizabeth Newman, 'Some little lights in a perfectly dark field', Neon Parc South Yarra, 2025.

Elizabeth Newman, 'Untitled', 2012. Pencil on paper, 38.5 x 30 x 4 cm.

Elizabeth Newman, 'Untitled', 2023. Texta on paper, 30 x 23.5 x 4 cm.

Elizabeth Newman, 'Untitled', 2015. Chalk on paper, 60.5 x 41.5 cm.

Installation view, Elizabeth Newman, 'Loss of World', Neon Parc Brunswick, 2023.

Elizabeth Newman, Installation View 'Loss of World' Neon Parc Brunswick, 2023.

Installation view, Elizabeth Newman, 'Loss of World', Neon Parc Brunswick, 2023.

Installation view, Elizabeth Newman, Neon Parc Brunswick, 2021.

Elizabeth Newman, 'Untitled', 2023. Oil on linen, 60 x 50 cm.

Installation view, Elizabeth Newman, 'Loss of World', Neon Parc Brunswick, 2023.

Elizabeth Newman, 'Untitled', 1990. Oil pastel on paper, 38 x 50 cm.

Elizabeth Newman, 'Untitled', 1990. Pastel on paper, 29.5 x 21 cm.

Elizabeth Newman, 'Untitled', 1985. Pencil on paper, 14.5 x 20 cm.

Elizabeth Newman, untitled. Oil on linen, 50 x 40 cm.

Installation view, Elizabeth Newman, 'Un-titled', Drill Hall Gallery, Australian National University, Canberra, 2022.

Elizabeth Newman, 2021, Oil on linen, 24 x 18 cm.

Elizabeth Newman, Untitled, 2021, oil on linen, 50 x 40 cm.

Elizabeth Newman, Untitled, 2021, paper, timber stretcher, 56 x 40 cm.

Elizabeth Newman, 'Something found', 2017, Oil on canvas, 150 x 100 cm

Installation view, Elizabeth Newman, Neon Parc Brunswick, 2021.

Elizabeth Newman, 'Untitled', 2021. Oil on linen, 40 x 30 cm.

Elizabeth Newman, 'What makes this poem beautiful?', 2017. Oil on canvas, 150 x 100 cm.

Elizabeth Newman, Untitled, 2017, Oil on canvas, 140 x 100 cm

Installation view, 'Is That a No?', Elizabeth Newman, Griffith University Art Museum, 2020.

Elizabeth Newman, Untitled, 2019, Oil on linen, 40 x 30 cm

Elizabeth Newman, Untitled, 2019, Oil on panel, 40 x 30 cm

Elizabeth Newman, Untitled, 2019, Oil on linen, 45 x 35 cm

Installation view, Elizabeth Newman, 'The effect that is propagated is not from the communication of speech but from the displacement of discourse', Neon Parc Brunswick, 2016.

Elizabeth Newman, Untitled, 2019, Oil on linen, 100 x 70 cm

Elizabeth Newman, Angela's Painting, 2015, Oil on Linen, 157 x 121 cm

Elizabeth Newman, 'Untitled', 2020. Oil on linen, 50 x 40 cm.

Elizabeth Newman, Untitled, 2021. Oil on linen, 140 x 100 cm.

Elizabeth Newman, 'Untitled', 2021. Oil on linen, 40 x 30 cm.

Elizabeth Newman, 'Untitled', 2021. Oil on linen, 80 x 70 cm.

Elizabeth Newman, Untitled. Oil on linen, 2021, 80 x 70 cm.

Elizabeth Newman, 'Untitled', 2021. Oil on linen, 40 x 30 cm.

Elizabeth Newman, 'Untitled', 2021. Oil on board, 50 x 40 cm.

Elizabeth Newman, 'Untitled (The Authority of Art)', 1989. Oil on linen, 91 x 76 cm.

Elizabeth Newman, 'Untitled (extreme openness)', 1989. Oil on canvas, 75 x 85 cm.

Elizabeth Newman, 'Untitled', 2018. Gouache on paper, 51.5 x 40 x 4 cm.

Elizabeth Newman, 'Painting', 2009. Fabric and oil on linen, 100 x 80 cm.

Elizabeth Newman, 'You are the sunshine', 2009. Oil on canvas, 135 x 100 cm.

Elizabeth Newman, 'Big Feeling', 2009. Oil and fabric on linen, 160 x 135 cm.

Elizabeth Newman, 'Untitled (For Imi)', 2009. Fabric, glue, 105 x 86 cm.

Elizabeth Newman, 'Untitled (For RM)', 2009. Fabric, glue, 120 x 80 cm.

Elizabeth Newman, 'Untitled', 2012. Oil and felt on canvas, 125 x 100 cm.

Elizabeth Newman, 'Untitled', 2023. Oil and collage on linen, 137 x 96 cm.

Elizabeth Newman,' Untitled', 1987. Oil on canvas, 27 x 20 cm.

Elizabeth Newman, 'Civilisation', 2009. Fabric on old painting, 90 x 70 cm.

Elizabeth Newman, 'Other Worlds', 1992. 60 x 100 cm.

Elizabeth Newman, 'Untitled', 2022. Oil and board on canvas, 100 x 70 cm.

Elizabeth Newman, 'Untitled', 2019. Oil on linen, 100 x 70 cm.

Elizabeth Newman, 'Beautiful', 1989. Oil and collage on canvas, 121 x 152 cm.

Elizabeth Newman ,'Untitled (Love)', 1992. Oil on canvas, collage, 153 x 183 cm.

Elizabeth Newman, 'Self-portrait', 1992. 40 x 50 cm.

Elizabeth Newman, 'Untitled (I'll see for myself)', 1989. Oil on linen, 55 x 45 cm.

Elizabeth Newman, 'Untitled', 2004. Polar fleece, thread, 150.5 x 80.3 cm.

Elizabeth Newman, 'Untitled', 2009. Fabric, thread, 130 x 100 cm (irregular).

Elizabeth Newman, 'Untitled', 2007. Hoop pine plywood, cedar, electrical fittings, fluorescent tubes, 150 x 100 x 9.5 cm.

Elizabeth Newman, 'Untitled', 2019. Oil on linen, 69 x 51 cm.