ABOUT THE ARTIST
Michael Nelson is an ambassador of Aboriginal art and an incredibly important figure in the Australian art world. He had a major impact in the art world when he won the inaugural National Aboriginal Art Award in Darwin in 1984 and has never looked back.
 
He joined the ranks of artists such as Robert Rauschenberg, Alexander Calder and Andy Warhol when he was asked by BMW to create an "art car" and he was given the honour of having one of his works made into the beautiful tiled mosaic forecourt to Parliament House in Canberra. His dreamings include Possum, Snake, Two Kangaroos, Flying Ant and Yam Dreamings for the area around Pikilyi. He had his first solo exhibition in 1989 and his paintings can now be found in major collections throughout the world.
 
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 a Honorary Doctorate from the University of New South Wales. His works are held in private, corporate and most public collections in Australia.  
 
COMMISSIONS
1989 BMW Art Car Project, Painted BMW M3 Racing Car 
1988 Possum & Wallaby Dreaming, Forecourt Mosaic, New Parliament House, Canberra 
1987 Possum Dreaming, Bicentennial Mural, Sydney Opera House   
Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin   
 
COLLECTIONS
Australian Museum, Sydney
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Parliament House Art Collection, Canberra
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
Griffith Artworks, Brisbane
Artbank, Sydney
Opera House, Sydney
Powerhouse Museum, Sydney
Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide
Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Queensland
Rockhampton Art Gallery, Queensland
Broken Hill Art Gallery, New South Wales
Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs
Paul Eliadis Collection, Brisbane
The Holmes à Court Collection, Perth
Vizard Collection, Melbourne
Sammlung Essl, Austria
Centre Culturel Tjibaou, New Caledonia
Ho¬-Am Art Museum, Seoul, Korea
BMW Art Car Project, United States 
The Kelton Foundation, Santa Monica, United States
Numerous private collections Australia & overseas