Michael Nelson began painting some 25 years ago in Papunya, Central Australia, in the classic dot and circle tradition of desert sand painting. Much of his work centres on the country in the Mt Singleton area and tells of traditional Dreaming stories including Possum, Kangaroo, Emu and Lightning. Michael Nelson was recognised nationally and internationally in the late 1980s through numerous public art commissions and awards including the 1984 Telstra National Aboriginal Art Award. During the late 1990s, he reinvented his approach to painting with a more expressionistic style. He continues to make the salient point that although his choice of colours, materials and appearance of works are continually being reformatted, his stories have never changed. Michael Nelson’s significant contribution to Aboriginal Art was recognised in 2008, when he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of New South Wales. His works are held in numerous private, corporate and most public collections in Australia including the National Gallery of Australia and the Nationally Museum of Australia.
