Actual Fractual (1994)



Synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 203 x 153
Signed and titled on reverse, with inscribed date 199(… illegible) (according to NGV)
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (acc.no.2015.381)

The main lines of the real estate source (not previously used by Arkley), are transcribed over the reverberant, patterned surface in the manner typical of the ‘Pointillist Suburb’ series. The ‘moiré effect’, generated by slightly mismatched overlapping stencilled patterns, based on one of Arkley’s studio copies of Scientific American, is clearly in evidence here (for further details and discussion, see Carnival 73ff.).

This work was acquired for the National Gallery of Victoria in 2015, after a campaign for public funds to bolster the contributions of several private donors.

Provenance

  • Sold in 1994 for $10,000 (ref. HA stock-book 1993-6)
  • Robert Gould, Melbourne
  • Purchased for the NGV in 2015, with the assistance of the Fox Family Foundation, Robert Gould, Carol Sisson, Peter and Anne Greenham, the Peggy and Leslie Cranbourne Foundation, Richard and Rosemary Raw and donors to the Arkley Appeal

Exhibited

  • HA Tolarno 11/94 (‘Pointillist Suburb series’), cat.6 ($10,000)
  • Korea 1998 (‘Unhomely’)
  • HA Venice 1999 (as P/C, courtesy Gould Gallery)
  • HA Gould Galleries, Melbourne, Nov.2013 (ill.)

Literature

  • Asian Art News 6.6 (Nov./Dec.1996), cover image
  • Smith 1998 (‘Unhomely’ exh.cat.), p.24 (ill.)
  • Livingstone & Morrell 1999 (HA Venice exh.cat.), p.20
  • https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/115153/ (NGV online catalogue entry, with details as noted above, and a good reproduction)