Kelly 1965

Sidney Nolan made this painting, Kelly, with I'm guessing, a brush and some kind of printing process. I love how the sandy ground shifts and settles behind this figure, a mask of red, a square, so you know that it's the notorious Australian outlaw Ned Kelly. I imagine Nolan in his studio, grappling with the weight of history and myth, trying to pin down an image that keeps slipping away. The strokes are loose, searching, each one a question mark. It feels like the painting is constructing itself in front of you, finding its form through trial and error. It makes you wonder if this is like some fever dream where the paint itself becomes a character, a player in the drama. And the red, oh that red! It pulses with a kind of raw, untamed energy, like it's burning right through the canvas.