Work of the Week | Greg Johns, Horizon Figure, 1997 – 98
Greg Johns
Horizon Figure
1997 – 98
Corten steel
280 x 350 x 80 cm
9ft 2 ⅕ x 11ft 5 ⅘ x 2ft 7 ½ in
Born in Adelaide in 1953, Greg Johns was educated at the South Australian School of Art, and has had solo exhibitions in Australia, Asia, the USA and the UK.
In 2001, Johns purchased 400 acres of land in Palmer, a small town two hours drive from Adelaide. It is a landscape of bare hills, sparse vegetation, rocks, boulders, steep escarpments and an immense sky of distant horizons. In the years since, Johns has placed the totemic forms of his sculpture in this harsh, elemental countryside. The rust-red profiles of his preferred medium, Corten steel, speak of the ranges, the deserts, and the shores which visually define so much of Australia, and allow for striking colour, material, and form, to emerge from the landscape.
It was here, in collaboration with Gavin Malone, that the concept of the Palmer Project was born. The 12th Palmer Sculpture Biennial opened on the 14th March, 2026; an exhibition in the Palmer Landscape, Australia, it celebrates contemporary sculpture within this ancient and mystical terrain.
Johns has exhibited widely throughout Australia, Asia, the USA and the UK, including the notable Thirty Year Retrospective at McClelland Museum, Melbourne in 2006. He has completed a large number of significant public commissions in Australia, as well as in Singapore, Spain, New Zealand, Korea, England and Ireland. Major commissions include Pattern 3, Pocheon, Korea (2005) and Landlines, Gawler Entrance, Adelaide (2017). In Sydney, a 6 by 8 metre public sculpture titled Swaying Whisperers (Songs Of The), based on drawings of native Australian grasses, was unveiled in May last year. In 2012, he was the recipient of the McClelland Museum Sculpture Prize.
Last year, Greg Johns celebrated 50 years of sculptural practice. A major retrospective of his work was held at Australian Galleries, Melbourne, in June 2025. For more works by Greg Johns, please enquire below: