In this untitled painting, vibrant blocks of colour are thinly applied with no sign of brushwork – a feature of the minimal style of Colour Field painting to which Michael Johnson belonged. Johnson’s minimalist painting style earned him a place in The Field, a highly influential exhibition of Australian art held in the newly re-opened National Gallery of Victoria in 1968.

One of the recurring themes in the development of the Art Collection at UTS and earlier, the NSW Institute of Technology (NSWIT), has been to address the vast expanse of concrete in the foyer and other public spaces inside the Brutalist UTS Tower building. Johnson’s painting became a part of the permanent UTS Art collection in the 1990s, joining several other important paintings from the same period. It can be viewed in the mezzanine area on Level 4 of the UTS Tower building, facing the building’s Western entrance.