TREVOR NICKOLLS
Born 1949 in Adelaide, South Australia
Lives and works in South Australia
Trevor Nickolls is one of the most significant social commentators working in the visual arts in Australia today. For the last thirty years he has worked and reworked themes that are both intensely personal, autobiographical, Aboriginal and universal, developing a unique repertoire of visual symbols to emphasise the impact of western culture on Aboriginal traditional life. Named the father of urban Aboriginal art by Brenda Croft, the incumbent curator of Indigenous art at the National Gallery of Australia, Trevor Nickolls has maintained a rich and vibrant artistic career, including being chosen to represent Australia alongside Rover Thomas at the Venice Biennale in 1990.
Education
1980 Post Graduate Diploma in painting, Victoria College of the Arts
1978 Diploma in Teaching, South Australian College of Advanced Education
1977 Canberra College of Advanced Education
1972 Western Teachers College (South Australian College of Advanced Education)
1972 Diploma in Fine Art (Painting) South Australia School of Art
Solo Exhibitions
2006 Nungar Spirituality – New Drawings by Trevor Nickolls, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne
2006 Trevor Nickolls – Paintings, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney
2004 Tales from the Tucker Bag, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne
2002 Other Side Art - New Paintings from an eexpedition to Rover's Country, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne
2001 The Adventures of Wanda Wandjina, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne
1996 Trevor Nickolls, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
1994 Boomerang Gallery, Amsterdam
1991 Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne
1990 Robert Steele Gallery, Adelaide
1989 Retrospective, Trevor Nickolls, 1975 - 1989, Deutscher Gertrude Street Melbourne
1987 Solander Gallery, Canberra
1987 Holdsworth Contemporary Gallery, Sydney
1987 Bethesda Series, Aboriginal Artists Gallery, Melbourne
1986 Holdsworth Gallery, Sydney
1984 Piaf Gallery, Melbourne
1981 Hogarth Gallery, Sydney
1982 The Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
1980 The Arts Centre, Australian National University, Canberra
1978 From Dreamtime to MachineTime, Canberra Theatre Gallery Tent Embassy, Headquarters, Canberra
Selected Group Exhibitions
2004 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award National travelling exhibition
2004 Kate Challis RAKA Award, Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne University, national touring exhibition
2001 Masterworks, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne
2001 Federation: 100 years of Federation ( touring ) Indigenous Art in the Collection of the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth W.A.
2001 Dreamtime: The Dark and the Light, Sammlung Essl, Klosterneuburg/Wien, Austria
2000 Transitions, 17 Years of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Galleries of the Northern territory and the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Touring
1990 Balance, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
1988 On The Edge, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
1988 A Changing Relationship: Aboriginal Themes in Australian Art
1938 - 1988, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney
A New Generation 1983 - 1988: The Phillip Morris Arts Grant Purchase, Australian National Gallery, Canberra
Urban Aboriginal Art: A Selective View, Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia.
First Australian Contemporary Art Fair, Melbourne
Australian Art Post 1960, Deutscher Gertrude Street, Melbourne
Creating Australia: 200 Years of Art 1788 - 1988, International Cultural Corporation of Australia, Touring
The Face of Australia, Australian Bicentennial Authority, Touring
Down Under America, lake Tahoe, Nevada, USA
Recent Aboriginal Painting, Art Gallery of South Australia
Aboriginal Artists Gallery, Sydney
Introduction to Aboriginal Art, Moree Plains Gallery, NSW
The Gordon Marks Gallery, San Francisco
1987 Australia: Art and Aboriginality, Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth, UK
1986 The Dreamtime Today, Royal South Australian Society of the Arts
1984 Ex Patriots, Contemporary Art Centre, Adelaide
Koori Art 84 Artspace, Sydney
1982 Morwell Gallery, Melbourne
1971 Realities Gallery, Melbourne
Awards
1980 Alice Springs Acquisition Art Award
1976 Canberra Civic Permanent Art Award
Grants
2003 Aboriginal and TI art Board (Artist In Residence Northern Territory University)
2002 Aboriginal and TI Arts Board Australia Council
1984 Aboriginal Arts Board, Sydney
1981 Creative Arts Fellow, Australian National University Aboriginal Arts Board, Sydney
Collections
Art Gallery, New South Wales
Australian National Gallery
Art Gallery of Western Australia
Art Gallery of South Australia
National Gallery of Victoria
The Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory
Flinders University, Adelaide
James Cook University of North Queensland
Sydney University of Technology
Canberra College of Advanced Education
Department of Foreign Affairs, Canberra
Alice Springs Art Foundation
Moree Plains Gallery, Moree
Melbourne College of Advanced Education ( RMIT)
Iwalewa Haus, Bayreuth, Germany
Rotterdam National Museum, Amsterdam
Morree Plains Gallery, Morree, NSW