Philippe Le Miere’s 'Kellyballer' throws two Australian legends into the same arena - Sidney Nolan’s masked outlaw Ned Kelly and his striped, defiant Footballer. The collision is bold, witty, and unmistakably postmodern.

By swapping the Footballer’s face for Kelly’s black, boxy helmet, Le Miere transforms a national myth into a postmodern provocation. It is both a homage and a send-up. Vividly executed and richly textured, the work replays Nolan’s themes of heroism and identity through a lens of irony and contemporary swagger.

'Kellyballer' speaks to collectors who relish sharp, playful reworkings of Australian Modernism and art that takes on masculinity, myth, and meaning with fearless humour and bite. Game on!

A note about the medium: this work is a pochoir (posh-waar) print. Emerging in late nineteenth-century Paris, pochoir printmaking involves layering and hand-colouring each component of the image. This unmechanized process gives each edition its own ‘aura’ while requiring significant time and skill. By the 1930s, pochoir had largely faded with the rise of more efficient, mechanized printing techniques. Master printmaker Jeffrey Makin was the first to connect Le Miere's experimental process with this nearly forgotten early twentieth-century practice. Subtle disturbances in the painted surface, with elements slightly misregistered, enhance its textural appeal. Once embraced by Matisse and Picasso, pochoir is now revived by Le Miere, uniting art and craftsmanship to imbue each piece with the essence of an original painting.

Philippe LE MIERE (1975 - )
'Kellyballer' 2026
acrylic on paper
Edition of 20
Image Size: 32 x 24 cm
Dimensions: 42 x 31 cm
Signed: Signed, titled and editioned in margin
Comes with Letter of Provenance
Condition: Excellent
(c) The Artist or Assignee