Over three decades, Shane Pickett has established himself as one of the foremost Nyoongar artists working in Australia. Selected in the forthcoming National Triennial of Indigenous Art at the National Gallery of Australia, Mossenson Galleries Collingwood are proud to present a special body of recent paintings on paper and canvas from one of Australia’s most accomplished contemporary Indigenous artists. Summer Heat Bunuroo presents a vibrant body of works that deepen Shane’s continuing exploration of the Nyoongar landscape and spirituality, confirming his reputation as one of Australia’s most exciting contemporary artists.

Born in Quairading (Balladong Country) in the south-west of Western Australia, Shane Pickett began exhibiting in 1976, quickly rising to the forefront of a new generation of painters taking up the mantle of the Carrolup school of landscape painters. Pickett’s work met with immediate acclaim, being awarded the painting prize at the 1986 National Aboriginal Art Awards. In 1988 he was named Western Australian Indigenous Artist of the Year.

During the late 1990s, Pickett abandoned realist landscape painting, forging a new school of Nyoongar abstraction based upon his deepening interest and awareness of his Nyoongar heritage, spirituality and cultural values. Developing a highly personalized style of gestural abstraction, he created a complex visual metaphor for the persistence of Nyoongar culture against the colonising tide of modernity. Through his example, mentorship and teaching, Pickett has inspired a vibrant new school of Nyoongar painters. Commenting on Pickett’s work, Gary Dufour, Deputy Director of the Art Gallery of Western Australia notes; His highly personal, ethereal landscapes reveal an intimate relationship and understanding of land and country. Pickett’s works often tell us the untold or concealed histories of the Nyoongar lands that underscore the deep connections, pride and confidence that comes from identity, family and knowledge of place.

Pickett’s work is held in the National Gallery of Australia, the National Gallery of Victoria, the Art Gallery of Western Australia, along with numerous major public and private collections. He has been a finalist in the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards on eight previous occasions, and has been selected again in 2007. In 2006 he was awarded the Sunshine Coast Art Award and the City of Joondalup Invitation Art Award. His lifetime achievement was also recognised with a solo retrospective at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts in 2006.