Jonathan Nichols was born in 1956 in Canberra, ACT and was living and working in Melbourne in 2008. Nichols completed a Bachelor of Visual Art at the National Institute of the Arts, Australian National University, Canberra (1988), where he was awarded the Lyle Cullen Memorial Prize. From 1989 to 1993 he lived in Sydney, completing a Graduate Diploma of Professional Art at the College of Fine Art, University of New South Wales (1989).
Notable among his solo exhibitions are Jonathan Nichols (2005), new painting (2003), and paintings (2002), all of which were held at Kaliman Gallery, Sydney; as well as Paradise , Karen Woodbury Gallery, Melbourne (2007); forgetting pictures , at 200 Gertrude Street, Melbourne (2001); and anonymous pictures , at 1st Floor Artists’ and Writers’ Space, Melbourne (2000).
Nichols has also participated in many group exhibitions including New Objectivity , Karen Woodbury Gallery, Melbourne (2006); Reflections in a Golden Eye , Linden – St Kilda Centre for Contemporary Arts, Melbourne (2006); Tales of the City , Australian Galleries, Melbourne (2005); Into the Quadrangle , RMIT Project Space and Spare Room, Melbourne; The Decadence of the Nude , Ocular Lab, Melbourne (2004); Scratch the Surface , Canberra Contemporary Art Space (2003); ATM: Intersections of Technology, Art and Life , Glen Eira City Gallery, Melbourne (2002); and Abstraction Now , Geelong Art Gallery (1996).
Among his numerous grants and residencies, Nichols has been awarded a New Work Grant by the Visual Arts/Craft Board of the Australia Council for the Arts (1998); Los Angeles Studio Residency, Visual Arts/Craft Board of the Australia Council (1997); Project Grant, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (1994); and Project Grant, Visual Arts/Craft Board of the Australia Council (1991).
Nichols is represented in several prominent public and private collections, including the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; BHP Billiton, Melbourne; Allens Arthur Robinson, Sydney; Lend Lease, Sydney; Esk Collection, Tasmania; and the RACV Art Collection, Melbourne.
