JOHN KELLY Australian, B. 1965

Estimate

15,000 - 20,000 AUD

bidding is closed

Description

John Kelly
COW DEPOT
Signed and dated 93 lower right; bears artist's name, title and date on label on the reverse
Gouache on paper
38.5 by 57.5 cm

Please note this lot is subject to G.S.T.

Provenance

Corporate collection, Sydney

Catalogue Note

John Kelly’s beautifully crafted, wittily surreal paintings of cows have brought him international success. Originally he was intrigued by the story of William Dobell, as an official war artist, making papier-mâché cows during the Second World War in order to mislead Japanese fighter pilots who might have been surveying the Australian landscape for military installations. The image of the fabricated beast – in its now numerous highly original variants – became for Kelly a comment on appearance and reality, official representation and, perhaps, individual subversion.