“All the kids have moved away, and I'm pretty pleased that that'll be there long after our family have moved from the area.”
Man Lifting Cow, John Kelly, 2016
“Kelly's famous cow sculptures and paintings have taken him all over the world — from the Champs-Elysees to the Glastonbury Music Festival.
The concept originated while he was working at RMIT library and began researching the use of camouflaging in the Second World War. Of particular interest was William Dobell, one of several famous Australian artists, who had been ordered by the government to make paper mache cows in the hope of tricking Japanese pilots into thinking military bases were in fact farms.
During the war Dobell had shared a hut with artist Joshua Smith.
"As far as Dobell's cows, there's no real reference to them," Kelly said.
"The reason I make the cows with long necks and small heads is simply because they're based on the Joshua Smith portrait that [Dobell] won the Archibald Portrait Prize with."
These iconic full-bodied cows not only reference Australian art history, but the art world's battle with modernism.
—- Margaret Burin for ABC News
