Nell’s multifaceted practice explores the thresholds and complexities of the contemporary human experience. Growing up in regional Australia, DIY projects and music on the radio were Nell’s lifeline; her connection to the world and the formation of her selfhood. From a distinctly Antipodean perspective, she draws upon art history, popular culture, rock’n’roll, religious texts, Buddhist spiritual teachings, chance and coincidence, to create works that are at once playful, insightful and poetic.
Nell has developed a unique visual language that traverses scale, medium and materiality. Regardless of the outcome, her work explores oppositional thresholds and the fertile space that exist beyond the binary: from intimate to immersive, found to fabricated, high to low culture, two-dimensions to three-dimensions, individual to collaborative, ancient to contemporary, sacred to profane. She uses recognisable motifs, including smiley faces, ghosts, eggs, teardrops, lightning bolts and crosses, as well as text taken from the world around us, to communicate universal themes of birth and death and everything in between. At the heart of Nell’s practice is an offering of connection and companionship; a reminder that we are not alone.
Across three decades, Nell’s work has been included in over 300 exhibitions in Australia and abroad. Significant recent solo exhibitions include: Nell x Colin McCahon: Through the Wall of Birth and Death, The Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt, NZ (2024), Old New Wave, Linden, Melbourne, VIC (2023) and in 2016, Shepparton Art Museum presented an eponymously titled survey exhibition of Nell’s works, NE/LL. Group exhibitions include; RE-PAIR, Tennessee Triennial, Engine for Art, Democracy & Justice, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, US (2023), Know My Name: Australian Women Artists 1900 to Now, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (2021), No Place Like Home, MONA FOMA, K&D Warehouse, Hobart, TAS (2021), The National: New Australian Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2017) and the Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art 2016: Magic Object, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide (2016). A monograph on her work, published by Thames and Hudson, was released in 2020.
baby #2
2025
hand-blown glass, scallop shell
7.0 × 9.1 × 9.0cm
red and pink ones without number (arriving and departing)
2008
mixed media on linen
137.0 × 101.5cm
life after life
2025
silver plated egg cups, epoxy, clay, acrylic paint, glitter, gold plate, pearl
17.5 × 6.0cm (length variable)
Face Everything
2025
Heide Museum of Modern Art
installation view
Photo: Christo Crocker
Face Everything
2025
Heide Museum of Modern Art
installation view
Photo: Christo Crocker
Face Everything
2025
Heide Museum of Modern Art
installation view
Photo: Christo Crocker
I AM only A MAN
2017
cement, oxide, pigment, acrylic paint, enamel paint, bondcrete, wooden stool
88.2 × 34.4 × 32.8cm
Life and Death Mask #2
2016
earthware, glaze, gold lustre
35.5 × 28.0 × 14.3cm
wood spirit – I am ready
2017
earthenware, underglaze, branch, metal and wooden stool
97.0 × 39.0 c 85.0cm
Made in the Light - sun
2012
Fluorescent lights, backing board, power cord
270.0 × 270.0 cm
I SAW the LIGHT
2021
STATION Naarm/Melbourne
installation view
Group Show
2013
Kalimanrawlins
installation view
face me
2025
earthenware, underglaze, glaze
11.0 × 7.8 × 8.0cm
Face Everything
2025
Heide Museum of Modern Art
installation view
Photo: Christo Crocker
On a withered branch, a ghost bloom
2024
hand-forged stainless steel, hand-blown glass
42.7 × 78.0 × 22.2cm
THE SONG OF WATER
2019
acrylic paint and Japanese pigment on canvas
98.4 × 78.4 cm (framed)
SHINTO makes sense
2019
acrylic paint and Japanese pigment on canvas
99.0 × 78.8 cm (framed)
Nell x Colin McCahon: Through the Wall of Birth and Death
2024
The Dowse Art Museum
installation view
Photo: Sam Hartnett
Sydney Contemporary
2019
STATION
installation view
Sydney Contemporary
2019
STATION
installation view
Radical Textiles
2024
Art Gallery of South Australia
installation view
Photo: Jenni Carter
Made in the Dark - bolt
2013
neon, MDF and acrylic
50.0 × 17.0 cm
Old New Wave
2023
Linden New Art
installation view
Photo: Simon Strong
Born and Unborn
2019
hand-blown glass and fibreglass stool
2 parts, overall: 68.0 × 28.5 × 28.5 cm
Eveleigh Treehouse
2019
in collaboration with Cave Urban and Carriageworks
Nell x Colin McCahon: Through the Wall of Birth and Death
2024
The Dowse Art Museum
installation view
Photo: Sam Hartnett
Sydney Contemporary
2019
STATION
installation view
Happy Rain
2019
South Eveleigh
installation view
Sun Rays for Sunny Days
2021
Neon
44 × 40 cm
I SAW the LIGHT
2020
acrylic and Japanese pigment on linen
137.8 × 183.3 cm (framed)
On a withered branch, a ghost blooms (#6)
2024
hand-forged stainless steel, hand-blown glass
37.0 × 79.0 × 20.0 cm
The WAY Home
2022
STATION Gadigal/Sydney
installation view
Nell and Tiger Love AC/DC
2024
STATION Gadigal/Sydney
installation view
The National 2017: New Australian Art
2017
Museum of Contemporary Art
installation view
From Memphis to Memphis
2021
1950’s Gibson Alligator Guitar Case, Vintage Gibson Les Paul Junior Guitar, archival glue, cotton, linen, plastic, gold, steel, brass, aluminium, paintbrush
46 × 105.3 × 48.5 cm
empty vessel
2014
mirror polished bronze and dead blow-fly
7.5 × 10.5 cm
You and me
2019
acrylic, glitter and mixed media on canvas
99.0 × 83.0 cm (framed)
GAME OVER
2019
acrylic on canvas
100 × 85.9 cm (framed)
I Am Being Called
2019
acrylic and Japanese pigment on canvas
100.0 × 80.8 cm (framed)
Naarm / Melbourne
9 Ellis Street
South Yarra, Victoria 3141
Australia
+61 3 9826 2470
Gadigal / Sydney
91 Campbell Street
Surry Hills, New South Wales 2010
Australia
+61 2 9055 4688
