City Gallery Gives Corporate Favours
Aaron Watson
Capital Times
March 13 2002

Hotter dons the infamous armour and wanders through the gallery explaining Sir Sidney Nolan's paintings of Ned Kelly as Kelly himself might see them. It's something different from the regular art talks and it brings Sid, Ned and the art to life. Unfortunately, Kelly is only appearing to sponsors and friends of the gallery. This must be corrected immediately. There has been much talk about Kelly as a “glorious : loser” in the wake of the exhibition. It doesn't quite ring true. Australians don't celebrate losers. In sport, politics and art they love winners.

The Kelly revealed here was anything but a loser. Although he was untimely hung, his time on the run led to the repeal of land laws that were impacting harshly on the poorest immigrants. The police were later censured for their handling of the Kelly Gang by a judicial inquiry. Kelly was something of an Australian Robin Hood and, in legend, has an almost supernatural quality.

“They passed the sentence of death and I declared to the judge ‘I will see ye there when I go” Hotter/Kelly in a broad Irish brogue. “Indeed I have. He died 12 days later.” Kelly was a republican of good Irish stock, with no time for the corrupt police force or the biased laws of the English crown. His people were painfully aware, via invasion and famine of the cruelty of the British upper classes. Nolan was also something of an outlaw. Hotter/Kelly cleverly reveals this even as he comments on the paintings.

“He'd [Nolan] skipped the tyranny of serving in his majesty’s forces during the war. Somewhere right up back in the Wimmera - in the year 1944. Became an outlaw, you could say. Like me. No wonder he got the mood pretty right.” History and art criticism are presented in narrative form. This has the effect of teaching about the paintings without influencing the audience to see them in a particular way.

“This is how my good friend Sidney saw it, after I was good dead and buried. Doesn't look anything like me," says Hotter/Kelly in front of the painting, Ned Kelly. “See here. That's me. He's taken liberty with the facts of the matter. I never managed to ride a horse in armour. It makes me look like a Greek centaur. Heroic-like.”

For the layman, the painting suddenly has a context in art history. It's the classical image of a hero, albeit slightly twisted. Nolan's input into the Kelly legend begins to emerge. Steve Hart Dressed as a Girl is another focus of the presentation. An odd-looking man in a dress stares out from the painting at the audience. “We Irish peasants weren't transvestites. That's my pal, Stevie Hart. Well Stevie ...Steve got away with everything but murder in that dress,” Hotter/Kelly tells us. So why the dress and odd stare? It turns out Nolan was a fan of abstraction.

“He [Nolan] didn't like landscape much till he had to spend some time in the great outdoors during the war care of His Majesty. He'd been painting all these funny abstract paintings up till then. But his pals after the war encouraged him towards the land. You see, seems there was a bit of a painterly fashion round Victoria back then for landscapes of blue and gold. Sidney reckoned it as like the memory we all have of that land. And for my money he gets the feeling pretty right.” Australian art history, Nolan's view of his work and biographical information are transmitted effortlessly. Well done writer Mark Amery, director Tracey Monastra and, of course, Hotter. And Sid and Ned.

You can learn all this from other sources. But this presentation is something special. It is not dry facts. Kelly and Nolan come to life. The paintings come to life. Give it to the public!, City Gallery! Paula Savage, director of the City Gallery says: “The idea for this event came from one of the sponsors. They planned a function at the gallery and requested an actor. Brian turned out to be so good we decided to make the event into an opportunity for our friends”.

Brian Hotter will appear as Ned Kelly at a Friends of the City Gallery event on March 21 2002 Non-members can attend for $7. Call Megan Bull, 801 3961, for details.