Philippe Le Miere’s ‘Study for Alice and Kelly at the table’ brings together two iconic protagonists of Australian art: Charles Blackman’s Alice from Wonderland and Sidney Nolan’s Ned Kelly. At their inception, Blackman’s Alice and Nolan’s Kelly both illuminated key themes in Australian modernism. The artists played with perspective – Alice looming large or minute in swirling realities and Kelly, impossibly flat against strips of yellow desert and cerulean sky.

To different effects, Blackman and Kelly also found personal resonance in collective stories. Nolan saw the ambivalent Australian identity in the myth of the bushranger, while Alice’s descent into disorientation reminded Blackman of his then wife, Barbara Blackman’s experience of vision loss.

Representations of Alice and Kelly are now quintessential to Australian art. They remain at the echelons of auction earnings and pride of place at museums. In Le Miere’s remix, he recalls this fame, raising questions around Australian modernism, the role of antiheroes in art and how an image changes meaning over time. What if Alice, the wide-eyed ingénue, had tea with Ned Kelly?

For collectors of pop and contemporary art, or those looking for a new perspective on Australian modernism, ‘Study for Alice and Kelly at the table’ is the event for you.

Philippe LE MIERE (1975 - )
'Study for Alice and Kelly at the table' 2024
acrylic on canvas
Image Size: 66 x 51 cm
Dimensions: 70 x 55 x 4 cm
Signed: Signed lower right Le Miere, inscribed verso Philippe Le Miere, title and date
Comes with Letter of Provenance

Condition: Excellent

(c) The Artist or Assignee