Deutscher and Hackett

Fusing intelligent social commentary with playful humour, reality with non-reality, John Kelly is recognised internationally as one of the most original artists of his generation. Widely acclaimed for his iconic theme of ‘the cows’ exemplified here brilliantly by Dobell’s Cow – Painted, 1992, Kelly completed a Masters of Arts at RMIT University in 1995, following which he was awarded the prestigious Anne and Gordon Samstag International Visual Arts Scholarship to further his studies as an Affiliate student at the Slade School in London. He has since regularly exhibited in the United Kingdom with Piccadilly Galleries, Agnew’s, and Merville Galleries, and his surrealist cow sculptures have been included in a number of major international exhibitions including the Champs de la Sculpture II (1999) on the Champs Elysées, Paris; La Parade des Animaux (2002) in Monte Carlo; the Musée d’Art Moderne de Contemporaine, Nice (2007); The Hague (2007); Glastonbury (2006 and 2007); and Cork City (2011). Closer to home, he is known to local audiences through his beloved Cow up at Tree sculpture permanently situated on the Harbour Esplanade at the Docklands, Melbourne.

Occupying the vast majority of his oeuvre, Kelly’s whimsical cow interpretations were originally inspired by William Dobell’s creation of papier-mâché cows during World War II, deployed as camouflage around defence bases in a strategy intended to deceive enemy warcraft. As Dr McMahon recalls, ‘When World War II broke out, Bill [Dobell] served as a camouflage labourer, and later as an artist recording the work of the Civil Construction Corps which built airfields and other defence projects. As a camouflagist he was one of several, later famous artists, who had been ordered to make papier-mâché cows and move them around the base in the hope of fooling Japanese pilots. Said Bill, ‘I think the authorities underestimated the eyesight of Japanese airmen…’’’¹

Interestingly, if in his inaugural iterations of the theme, Kelly referenced this bizarre episode as his source of inspiration – specifically branding his cows ‘Dobell’s Cows’ in titles such as the present and evoking the mysterious workshop of Dobell’s airfield as their setting – over time ‘Dobell’s cows’ gradually morphed to become ‘Kelly’s cows’, isolated from the original historical narrative and acquiring their own history and curious identity. Variously depicted as stacked, balanced, wheeled, propped on trestles, assembled sideways or upside down, indeed there is no suggestion of wartime tragedy, despair or bleakness. Quite the contrary, these beautifully painted works become ‘humorous forays into the artist’s inventiveness… poignantly quizzical metaphors for aspects of Australian culture and colonial history, or even enigmatic signifiers of art’s shifting purposes and the puzzling scenarios in which it finds itself.’² As the artist himself elucidates, ‘My intention is to create work that encapsulates the concepts and ideas that intrigue me. I take historical subjects such as Dobell’s cows… and my own personal experience to build a framework within which I can create my own vision of things. Within this I pursue a multi-layered research of imagery that portrays a dumbness to camouflage a more sophisticated intent. Through this I generate visual ideas and concepts in paintings and sculptures that create their own history by engaging in the real world as works of art… I like to create works that reach beyond their absurdity to reflect something of my visual and intellectual environment. This is my intent.’³

1. McMahon, E., First Draft, Dobell Archives, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, see John Kelly, Cow up a Tree, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne, 1999, p. 12
2. Hammond, V., ‘Cow Up a Tree / Sculpture’ at https://www.onlymelbourne.com.au/cow-up-a-tree
3. Kelly, cited in John Kelly, Cow up a Tree, op. cit.

VERONICA ANGELATOS