John Waller

An artist with gray hair, wearing glasses and a dark shirt, standing in front of colorful abstract artwork.

John Waller is an Australian artist and educator whose paintings are drawn from landscapes he has an emotional empathy with. Born in Mildura and raised in the Mallee, he works in a mode of landscape-based abstraction.

Waller is visibly concerned with the craft of painting. He trowels, scrapes and smears pigment into evocative textures. His use of colour and the layers of images allows you to see glimpses of other landscapes, figures and objects.

Exhibitions

Waller has exhibited nationally for four decades. Solo exhibitions include Home Country: the Art of John Waller — Survey 1999–2003 at Shepparton Art Gallery (2003), Survey: John Waller 1990–2002 at Bundoora Homestead Arts Centre (2002), and Mildura Arts Centre (2002). As Artist in Residence at La Trobe University he held four solo exhibitions at the La Trobe University Art Museum between 2001 and 2007, and he showed at Peking University in 2007. Commercial solo exhibitions include Lyttleton Gallery, Melbourne, annually from 1991 to 2006; Mossgreen Gallery, Melbourne (2008, 2009, 2011, 2014, 2016); Arthouse Gallery, Sydney (2010); Red Sea Galleries, Brisbane (2016, 2017); Artvisory, South Yarra (2018); Queenscliff Gallery (2021, 2022, 2023); and Brickworks Gallery, Castlemaine (2021).

Group exhibitions include the Glover Prize finalists' exhibition (2021), the R & M McGivern Art Prize finalists (2006), My Country at Bendigo Art Gallery (2005), Common Ground at Bundoora Homestead Arts Centre (2006), From the Fringe to the Centre at Mildura Arts Centre (2002–03), and Abstract Interpretations of the Australian Landscape at La Trobe University Art Museum (2002).

Writing and collections

His work has been written about by art critic Dr Christopher Heathcote, including the essays John Waller’s Sunburnt Country and Space, Time and Memory (2018), and appears in Bernard Smith's Australian Painting 1788–2000 and McCulloch's Encyclopedia of Australian Art.

His work is held in private and public collections including Artbank, Mildura Arts Centre, Shepparton Art Gallery, La Trobe University, Bundoora Homestead Arts Centre, the City of Darebin Art Collection, Telstra and the Alfred Hospital.

See John Waller’s paintings for sale · John Waller’s website

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John Waller, A vision gone by, 2021

$3,300.00

Oil on linen

50cm x 50cm

Framed

A shimmering green horizon captures a fleeting, nostalgic moment driving along the Bellarine Peninsular. Australian painter John Waller draws upon memory and lived experience of the Australian landscape, translating these encounters into layered abstractions.

John Waller, Grampians

$8,500.00

Oil on linen

122cm x 152cm

Framed

Violet bands of mountains cut through with ochre earth tones and yellow light, showing fragments of sunsets and horizons. Australian painter John Waller draws upon memory and lived experience of the Australian landscape, translating these encounters into layered abstractions.

John Waller, Spectral Plain, 2026

$6,900.00

Oil on linen

122cm x 152cm

Framed

Spectral Plain draws upon memories of the semi-arid landscapes of north-western Victoria and the Murray region. Rust, orange and ochre planes evoke the heat and colour of the inland plains. Australian painter John Waller draws upon memory and lived experience of the Australian landscape, translating these encounters into layered abstractions..

John Waller, Presence, 2026

$6,900.00

Oil on linen

122cm x 122cm

Framed

Presence explores the fleeting relationship between figure and landscape through abstraction. Planar forms and translucent layers merge remembered place with human experience, suggesting a quiet dialogue between body and country. Australian painter John Waller draws upon memory and lived experience of the Australian landscape, translating these encounters into layered abstractions..

John Waller, Mallee

$6,900.00

Oil on linen

122cm x 122cm

Framed

Horizontal bands of green, yellow, red, black and grey, laid down in thick and thin brushstrokes, distil the Mallee country where Waller grew up. Australian painter John Waller draws upon memory and lived experience of the Australian landscape, translating these encounters into layered abstractions.

John Waller, Threshold

$6,900.00

Oil on linen

122cm x 122cm

Framed

Blocks of ochre, red and yellow are layered beneath a dark green horizon, suggesting land seen from the threshold between memory and place. Australian painter John Waller draws upon memory and lived experience of the Australian landscape, translating these encounters into layered abstractions.

John Waller, King Island 1

$8,500.00

Oil on linen

122cm x 152cm

Framed

A deep ultramarine field crossed by horizontal bands of white, pink and soft violet light – colours evokes the wildness of island and ocean. Australian painter John Waller draws upon memory and lived experience of the Australian landscape, translating these encounters into layered abstractions..

John Waller, Absence, 2026

$6,900.00

Oil on linen

122cm x 122cm

Framed

Absence distils memory into a sparse landscape where layered veils of colour suggest traces of human presence rather than description. Inspired by Australia’s semi-arid interior, the work explores silence, distance and endurance. Fragmented forms evoke histories embedded within the land, inviting contemplation of what remains unseen yet profoundly felt. Australian painter John Waller draws upon memory and lived experience of the Australian landscape, translating these encounters into layered abstractions..

John Waller

Exhibitions

Writing and collections

Orten Contemporary