KADIR Nelson, born in Washington D.C., grew up in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and San Diego, California. San Diego stole his heart and is where he now lives with his wife and young daughter. A graduate of Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, he has created images for Polygram, Nike, Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, The New Yorker and Time Magazine. Most notably, Nelson was the Conceptual Artist for Steven Spielberg's feature film , Amistad, and the companion book, Give Us Free.
Currently, Nelson is working on a series of books with Debbie Allen, Will Smith and Deloris and Rosalyn Jordan. At this time two children's books are in print--Debbie Allen's Brother's of the Knight and Jerdine Nolen's Big Jabe. Nelson is also planning a book about the Negro Baseball Leagues using his illustrations and their own words to describe these giants of men.
Many of Kadir's paintings can be found in the private collections of actors, sports figures and musicians including Debbie Allen, Jalen Rose, Spike Lee, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett and Ice Cube. His work has also appeared on the television sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and in the feature films Friday and Set it Off.
Nelson describes his work as "figurative" and "very spiritual." He gives credit to Ernie Barnes, N.C. Wyeth, Norman Rockwell and Thomas Blackshear as having influenced his work immensely. Receiving national recognition for his work, Nelson has been awarded gold and silver medals from the Society of Illustrators in New York.
Nelson's works have been exhibited at venues throughout the United States as well as in Japan, England and Mexico. Selected exhibits include the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences in Los Angeles, The Museum of African American History in Detroit, The Society of Illustrators in New York, The Bristol Museum in England, The Citizen's Gallery of Yokohama, Japan and the Center for Culture of Tijuana, Mexico.