Jon Cattapan’s detailed and atmospheric works deal primarily with ways of representing urban landscapes and narratives. His practice is based in the traditional mediums of painting and drawing, with much of his work being underpinned by explorations of how the human form can be visualised through different stylistic means, from figuration to abstraction. Within his saturated, layered vistas and figurative groupings we see influences of contemporary global culture and recent history, that range from science fiction and film, through to the representations of conflict and urban social debates.

Cattapan is one of Australia’s most established and highly-respected artists, having been awarded some of the country’s top accolades for achievements in visual art, including the prestigious Bulgari Art Award in 2013. Since the beginning of his career in 1978, he has presented over sixty solo exhibitions and his works are represented in most Australian state and territory collections. In 2006, he was honoured with a major retrospective, The Drowned World: Jon Cattapan works and collaborations, at the Ian Potter Museum of Art, University of Melbourne. In 2008 Cattapan took up a commission through the Australian War Memorial as Australia’s 63rd Official War Artist, and was deployed to Timor Leste, where he explored Night Vision technology as an aesthetic tool, which continues to inform his work.

Jon Cattapan

Threshold Signs 2008‑2021

Jon Cattapan, Lyndell Brown & Charles Green

Framing Conflict: Contemporary War + Aftermath

Jon Cattapan

Possible Histories