Rover Thomas was one of Australia’s most important Australian painters of the last half of the 20th Century.In 1990, only about eight years after he had started painting, Thomas represented Australia (with Trevor Nickolls) at the Venice Biennale.His work is outstanding in contemporary art, along with that of the late Emily Kame Kngwarreye, for offering
both an entirely new interpretation of landscape and groundbreaking style of Aboriginal art. Underpinning Thomas’s minimalist forms is a strong narrative which integrates traditional beliefs with modern events, such as Cyclone Tracy which devastated Darwin and the north of Australia in 1974.
Thomas’s works were exhibited in leading galleries around Australia and internationally from 1989. In 1994 the NGA held the solo exhibition Roads Cross and works from the Holmes à Court collection formed the basis of the major touring exhibition, Rover Thomas: I Want to Paint, National Gallery of Victoria and touring most of the state galleries in Australia, 2003.
Thomas's work was selected for many major group exhibitions from 1987 and is represented in the NGA and all state galleries; Anthropology Museum, Perth; Robert and Janet Holmes à Court Collection and numerous other significant public and private collections both nationally and internationally.
