Gus Kelly was born in Kempsey, New South Wales in 1949 and belongs to the Dunghutti language group.

Gus has been creating art since 1997 after graduating from art studies at Kempsey TAFE College. Gus has been a finalist in various awards including the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Art Award and was a finalist in Parliament of New South Wales Indigenous Art Prize.

In 2021, Gus won the Saltwater Freshwater Arts Alliance Award and the Koori Mail Indigenous Art Award. His winning work – “Nobody Told Me There’d be Days Like These..” is in the permanent Collection of the Lismore Regional Gallery.

Gus likes to paint portraits and images of native animals; using charcoal, coloured pencils and acrylic paint.