 Considered among the first of the country's postmodern painters, Persson's early work is characterised by his eclectic source material, monochromatic palettes, the use of arabesques and a free interplay between abstraction and figuration.His more recent paintings have tended towards abstraction.In 2003 he won the inaugural Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize from the Bendigo Art Gallery (then Australia's richest open painting prize), worth $50,000.