An extraordinary exhibition by leading contemporary artist Nike Savvas will open at Orange Regional Gallery on Friday 26 June.
Nike Savvas: Purple Haze will feature previous major works alongside a spectacular new iteration of her acclaimed Atomic series.
Savvas is celebrated for her large-scale, vibrant installations that blend elements of painting, sculpture and kinetic art, inviting playful engagement alongside thoughtful contemplation.
Developed in partnership with the Art Gallery of New South Wales and supported by TLE Electrical, the exhibition will centre around Atomic: Purple Haze (2026), a vast, exploding, and atomised three-dimensional painted landscape filling an entire gallery.
Nike Savvas, ‘Rally’ 2014 plastic bunting, wire rigging, electric fans. Installation dimensions variable. Art Gallery of New South Wales. Commissioned with funds provided by the Art Gallery Society of NSW Contempo Group 2014. Photo: Jamie North.
It comprises thousands of colourful spheres painted in shades of purple, green and blue, stretching across the gallery space on nylon thread. Electric fans strategically positioned along one wall activate the work into a shimmering, vibrating universe.
Orange City Council’s Recreation and Culture Community Committee Chair, Cr Tammy Greenhalgh, said the exhibition was one not to be missed.
“Taking more than three weeks to install, this exhibition has transformed the Gallery’s North Gallery into an unforgettable experience,” Cr Greenhalgh said.
“The vibrant colour, energy and sheer scale of this incredible exhibition must be seen to be believed.”
Atomic: Purple Haze is the latest iteration of Nike Savvas’ Atomic series, commemorating landscapes that are symbolic of place. The hues and placement of colour in Purple Haze reference the fields of Paterson’s curse that Savvas observes as she drives along the Federal Highway between Sydney and her childhood home of Canberra.
Also included in the exhibition is Rally (2014), an artwork originally commissioned for the Art Gallery of New South Wales’ entrance court, in which cascades of colour unfold through suspended strips that echo the flickering energy of Impressionist brushstrokes, extending painting beyond the canvas and into surrounding space.
Nike Savvas: Purple Haze will be opened at 6pm on Friday 26 June by Wayne Tunnicliffe, Director of Collections and Exhibitions, Art Gallery of NSW. The exhibition will run until 15 November 2026.
People wishing to attend the opening can book their tickets here.
Nike Savvas, Atomic: Full of Love, Full of Wonder 2005 (detail), polystyrene, nylon, polymer paint, electric fans, air movement. Photo by David Gray.
