Nelson's paintings translate psychological states and emotionally charged somatic experiences into visual vocabulary. The works are guided by Nelson’s highly intuitive process which responds to the initial memory, as well as new sensations that arise while making. The artist describes this method as ‘painting from inside the painting’. Nelson has long explored ways to open up the presumptive flat plane of the canvas. Using layers of paint and rhythmic brush marks Nelson constructs multi planar sites where the boundaries between body & landscape and abstraction & figuration are porous and ever-changing. Each painting contains a complex system of gesture which reveals traces of the artist’s movements while inviting viewers to place themselves in the action. This manifests in spectrums of broad strokes of color and networks of delicate line work. A single mark can simultaneously evoke multiple bodily references – arm is also leg, and the profile of a face doubles as butt cheeks, depending on perspective.