Nina Walton is a visual artist based in Sydney. Focusing on process, her practice sits within the tradition of conceptual art and abstraction that uses pre-determined rules to generate work, with the grid operating as a basic organising principle. As well as an artist, Nina is an economist and lawyer, which may help explain why all of Nina’s work focuses on how people deal with rules, systems and limitations.
Tell us about your journey into art – were you artistic as a child?
I’ve had an unconventional and rather circuitous route into art. As a child I never thought of myself as artistic, although looking back, I wonder whether I was making art without knowing it. I never took art classes or thought that I could draw, but I was always fascinated by patterns and games. I had a much more academic route through school which led to me first going to law school in Sydney, and then pursuing a PhD in economics, specialising in game theory in Los Angeles. After I had been working as an academic for a few years at a U.S. university, I started to feel very unsatisfied with the cerebral and abstract nature of my work, writing papers filled with mathematical equations that few people could comprehend. It was then that I started painting – more based on an intuition of the need to do something completely different from what I had been doing than a sense that this was the direction that I needed to follow. But something clicked in me once I started painting, seeing something come to life before my eyes in real time. That was 15 years ago. For the past eight years I have dedicated myself to art full time and to getting better, trying to understand my practice and how it all fits in with my previous work. I don’t think the journey will ever end – it always continues to evolve in unexpected ways. I never thought I would be an artist but here I am, and very grateful to be on this path.
Nina wears the Lennox V Neck Dress.
Who has nurtured your passion along the way?
I would not be here without the support of my family, my teachers, and friends, both in the art world and outside of it. Being an artist can be quite lonely, because a lot of the time, I’m really not sure of what I’m doing or why I’m doing it. I often have the feeling of being out on a limb that may crack at any moment. The importance of having a strong community of people who understand the difficulties and joys of the creative process, as well as places to retreat from it to get some larger perspective cannot be underestimated.
Nina wears the Lennox SS Shirt & Lennox Pleat Pant.
Can you describe your work and style for those not familiar with it?
In my work, I take a very limited idea – that of the grid, one of the most basic visual forms – and then I see how much I can play around with it. Keeping this form constant allows me to experiment with colour (all of them – I have no favourites), with materials (thread, paint, pen) and with artistic outputs (paintings, weavings, drawings, installations, books, furniture). In keeping things as simple as possible, I can see just how much scope there is for variation and change. Paradoxically, it’s the limitations that allow for more freedom. Process is also a big part of my work – I’m trying to encapsulate the entire creative act which includes the ultimate destruction of a piece. The video works I have done document me destroying installations in 15 minutes that have taken days to put up.
Nina wears the Calvin Tank Dress.
You’re also an economist and lawyer – how do these qualifications influence your work?
Fundamentally I’m fascinated by how people navigate limitations and boundaries, rules and restrictions. I’m also interested in how we unconsciously or consciously limit or expand our own freedom. Rules can be imposed from the outside, or self-imposed – more frequently than not, we restrict ourselves. My path from law to economics to art makes sense to me if I think about how when I was younger, I wanted to follow the rules as they were (the law), to understand why they were there in the first place (economics), to make them for myself (art). I often think there isn’t a massive difference between what I do now and what I was doing in academia except for the end product. It all involves a conceptual consideration of optimising within constraints.
Nina wears the Charlie Cami & Andy Skirt.
You also recently completed an MFA in painting from the National Art School. Of all the mediums you work in (drawing, painting, books, installation, video), which do you enjoy the most and why?
It’s difficult to choose because they are all my children in some respect, and all feel personal and necessary. The wall installations are the most immediately raw and cathartic. They resemble paintings, but are made on site on a specific wall using thread, and can’t be moved without being destroyed. Something about the impermanence of their beauty, as well as my active involvement in their demise hurts as well as enlivens. The video works that document the ‘unpainting’ process are all about loss of control, and letting go – the shadow side to the predetermined and disciplined process that is required for their creation.
This year, the most exciting thing for me is the release of my first book, Three Six Five Days on Paper. I made this work over 2020-2021, a very difficult time for me personally (as well as for many others), and then spent two years turning it into a limited edition book, which I had no idea how to do, and was a lot more complex than I had anticipated. I have been so lucky to have met and collaborated with some really wonderful people in Sydney and Berlin to bring it to life. I love the idea of a book being a complete work of art, both a sculptural object in and of itself and a site where form and content merge into a portal to another world - an exhibition that you can carry around with you. Creating a book is a dream come true, and I hope there are more to come in the future!
Which artists do you admire or have shaped the artist you have become?
I always go back to the 1960s and 70s, to Donald Judd, Josef Albers, Anni Albers, Agnes Martin, and Sol Lewitt. These artists give me so much to think about in terms of serialism, repetition, colour, obsessiveness, labour, installation, and space. It’s amazing to think how much content there is in a simple square or grid. I don’t feel like we have anywhere near exhausted the questions posed by these artists.
I am also a great admirer of contemporary artists who are actively questioning how to operate in today’s late-stage capitalist art world and market. Elizabeth Pulie has so much integrity in her practice, thinking deeply and broadly about what art is, and how it can evolve (or not) in the 21st century. I’m also very interested in someone like Stefan Simchowitz, not an artist per se, but someone who is testing the boundaries of the art market as it currently exists. I look to people who are brave enough to follow their own path in the art world, unfortunately more of a conservative and conformist place than you might imagine it to be.
Nina wears the Lennox SS Shirt.
Outside of the art world, what else inspires you?
Travelling and learning. I spend a lot of time moving between places, cities, countries, mostly to see family and friends. I’m quite peripatetic and like to cover a lot of ground. This includes inner explorations too. More than being an artist, or economist, I’m basically a student at heart. Right now, I’m trying to understand ancient and esoteric systems of wisdom such as astrology and tarot as a way of accessing the unconscious within us. I’m also reading a lot about what entheogens and plant medicines do to our perception of the world. How to access the unconscious is a big focus for this year. Needless to say, I’m always surprised by where my interests take me.
What does your average day look like?
I’m disciplined but hopeless with routines. So there really is no average day. However, on my ideal day, I wake up early and keep the first few hours to myself, to meditate, read, and go for a walk or a swim. Then I go into the studio and work for the rest of the day, maybe with a friend visiting for tea and a conversation, followed by dinner with my husband and a good night’s sleep.
What are your absolute must-haves for a day in your studio?
Coffee, music, natural light, fresh air, a sense of having all the time in the world (even if I don’t) and a calm, clear mind. I don’t always attain these things, but I aspire to them!
Nina Walton is a visual artist based in Sydney. Focusing on process, her practice sits within the tradition of conceptual art and abstraction that uses pre-determined rules to generate work, with the grid operating as a basic organising principle. As well as an artist, Nina is an economist and lawyer, which may help explain why all of Nina’s work focuses on how people deal with rules, systems and limitations.
Tell us about your journey into art – were you artistic as a child?
I’ve had an unconventional and rather circuitous route into art. As a child I never thought of myself as artistic, although looking back, I wonder whether I was making art without knowing it. I never took art classes or thought that I could draw, but I was always fascinated by patterns and games. I had a much more academic route through school which led to me first going to law school in Sydney, and then pursuing a PhD in economics, specialising in game theory in Los Angeles. After I had been working as an academic for a few years at a U.S. university, I started to feel very unsatisfied with the cerebral and abstract nature of my work, writing papers filled with mathematical equations that few people could comprehend. It was then that I started painting – more based on an intuition of the need to do something completely different from what I had been doing than a sense that this was the direction that I needed to follow. But something clicked in me once I started painting, seeing something come to life before my eyes in real time. That was 15 years ago. For the past eight years I have dedicated myself to art full time and to getting better, trying to understand my practice and how it all fits in with my previous work. I don’t think the journey will ever end – it always continues to evolve in unexpected ways. I never thought I would be an artist but here I am, and very grateful to be on this path.
Nina wears the Lennox V Neck Dress.
Who has nurtured your passion along the way?
I would not be here without the support of my family, my teachers, and friends, both in the art world and outside of it. Being an artist can be quite lonely, because a lot of the time, I’m really not sure of what I’m doing or why I’m doing it. I often have the feeling of being out on a limb that may crack at any moment. The importance of having a strong community of people who understand the difficulties and joys of the creative process, as well as places to retreat from it to get some larger perspective cannot be underestimated.
Nina wears the Lennox SS Shirt & Lennox Pleat Pant.
Can you describe your work and style for those not familiar with it?
In my work, I take a very limited idea – that of the grid, one of the most basic visual forms – and then I see how much I can play around with it. Keeping this form constant allows me to experiment with colour (all of them – I have no favourites), with materials (thread, paint, pen) and with artistic outputs (paintings, weavings, drawings, installations, books, furniture). In keeping things as simple as possible, I can see just how much scope there is for variation and change. Paradoxically, it’s the limitations that allow for more freedom. Process is also a big part of my work – I’m trying to encapsulate the entire creative act which includes the ultimate destruction of a piece. The video works I have done document me destroying installations in 15 minutes that have taken days to put up.
Nina wears the Calvin Tank Dress.
You’re also an economist and lawyer – how do these qualifications influence your work?
Fundamentally I’m fascinated by how people navigate limitations and boundaries, rules and restrictions. I’m also interested in how we unconsciously or consciously limit or expand our own freedom. Rules can be imposed from the outside, or self-imposed – more frequently than not, we restrict ourselves. My path from law to economics to art makes sense to me if I think about how when I was younger, I wanted to follow the rules as they were (the law), to understand why they were there in the first place (economics), to make them for myself (art). I often think there isn’t a massive difference between what I do now and what I was doing in academia except for the end product. It all involves a conceptual consideration of optimising within constraints.
Nina wears the Charlie Cami & Andy Skirt.
You also recently completed an MFA in painting from the National Art School. Of all the mediums you work in (drawing, painting, books, installation, video), which do you enjoy the most and why?
It’s difficult to choose because they are all my children in some respect, and all feel personal and necessary. The wall installations are the most immediately raw and cathartic. They resemble paintings, but are made on site on a specific wall using thread, and can’t be moved without being destroyed. Something about the impermanence of their beauty, as well as my active involvement in their demise hurts as well as enlivens. The video works that document the ‘unpainting’ process are all about loss of control, and letting go – the shadow side to the predetermined and disciplined process that is required for their creation.
This year, the most exciting thing for me is the release of my first book, Three Six Five Days on Paper. I made this work over 2020-2021, a very difficult time for me personally (as well as for many others), and then spent two years turning it into a limited edition book, which I had no idea how to do, and was a lot more complex than I had anticipated. I have been so lucky to have met and collaborated with some really wonderful people in Sydney and Berlin to bring it to life. I love the idea of a book being a complete work of art, both a sculptural object in and of itself and a site where form and content merge into a portal to another world - an exhibition that you can carry around with you. Creating a book is a dream come true, and I hope there are more to come in the future!
Which artists do you admire or have shaped the artist you have become?
I always go back to the 1960s and 70s, to Donald Judd, Josef Albers, Anni Albers, Agnes Martin, and Sol Lewitt. These artists give me so much to think about in terms of serialism, repetition, colour, obsessiveness, labour, installation, and space. It’s amazing to think how much content there is in a simple square or grid. I don’t feel like we have anywhere near exhausted the questions posed by these artists.
I am also a great admirer of contemporary artists who are actively questioning how to operate in today’s late-stage capitalist art world and market. Elizabeth Pulie has so much integrity in her practice, thinking deeply and broadly about what art is, and how it can evolve (or not) in the 21st century. I’m also very interested in someone like Stefan Simchowitz, not an artist per se, but someone who is testing the boundaries of the art market as it currently exists. I look to people who are brave enough to follow their own path in the art world, unfortunately more of a conservative and conformist place than you might imagine it to be.
Nina wears the Lennox SS Shirt.
Outside of the art world, what else inspires you?
Travelling and learning. I spend a lot of time moving between places, cities, countries, mostly to see family and friends. I’m quite peripatetic and like to cover a lot of ground. This includes inner explorations too. More than being an artist, or economist, I’m basically a student at heart. Right now, I’m trying to understand ancient and esoteric systems of wisdom such as astrology and tarot as a way of accessing the unconscious within us. I’m also reading a lot about what entheogens and plant medicines do to our perception of the world. How to access the unconscious is a big focus for this year. Needless to say, I’m always surprised by where my interests take me.
What does your average day look like?
I’m disciplined but hopeless with routines. So there really is no average day. However, on my ideal day, I wake up early and keep the first few hours to myself, to meditate, read, and go for a walk or a swim. Then I go into the studio and work for the rest of the day, maybe with a friend visiting for tea and a conversation, followed by dinner with my husband and a good night’s sleep.
What are your absolute must-haves for a day in your studio?
Coffee, music, natural light, fresh air, a sense of having all the time in the world (even if I don’t) and a calm, clear mind. I don’t always attain these things, but I aspire to them!