The Olgas for Ernest Giles 1985

“The Olgas for Ernest Giles” is a landscape conjured from the mind of Brett Whiteley, likely made with oils and probably a brush, maybe a rag, who knows? The painting has got these bulbous, fleshy forms rising from a flat plane. They're rendered in warm browns and oranges against this clear, almost cartoon-blue sky. It’s like he’s reimagining the Australian outback as something bodily, something almost surreal. You can see how the paint is built up in layers, giving real texture to those rock formations. There's this sense of playful exaggeration, and an almost dreamlike quality to the scene. It reminds me of some of the landscapes by Yves Tanguy. It's like Whiteley is not just painting what he sees, but what he feels, turning the landscape into something deeply personal. Isn't it interesting how artists see each other and places, and then make paintings?