Elephant 1965

Sidney Nolan made this Elephant using lithographic ink and crayon, and well, it’s just great. Look at the way the image comes together with these big, simple marks. It’s like Nolan is saying, "Here’s the essence of an elephant, a landscape – now you fill in the blanks." The colors are earthy, with a surprising streak of yellow that cuts across the middle, giving the whole thing a jolt. You can almost smell the dirt and feel the weight of the animal, even though it's all just ink on paper. I keep coming back to how immediate this feels. The marks are so direct, like he’s wrestling with the image right in front of us. It reminds me a bit of Cy Twombly, in that same spirit of making something grand from something so simple. It's a reminder that art isn't about perfection, but about the energy and the thought behind each mark.