Untitled heads [1-10] 1998 [W/P]

All ten drawings were shown at Metro 5 in February 2002, as dating from 1998 (and priced at $15,000 each). However only one (reproduced in the catalogue-brochure) is certainly identifiable: see now Untitled (‘Head 1’) 1998 [W/P].

The following works also seem likely to belong to this group:

Untitled head (#3) 1998 [W/P] and Untitled head (#4) 1998 [W/P]: first auctioned, together, in April 2003

Untitled head (#5) 1998 [W/P] and Untitled head (#6) 1998 [W/P]: first auctioned, together, in December 2013

B/W Icon Head 1998 [W/P]: auctioned in March 2004

Untitled (distorted head) 1998 [W/P]: apparently donated by Arkley to a charity auction in 1998

Four ‘Head Studies’ auctioned by Sotheby’s, Melb., 5 May 2003, lot 220 (each as undated, 84 x 59.3, ‘art dye ink on paper’) may also refer to works from this series, although the details are different, and none of these works was reproduced.

However, another related work, previously listed in this catalogue as Untitled head (#2) (1998) [W/P], and since identified as Head of Young Man (Dale) 1998 [W/P], was already in private hands by 1998, and was not one of the present series (as previously suggested).

All these heads have a mid 1980s parallel in Faces – Variations 1-8 (1985?) [W/P], smaller-scale drawings made with black fibre-tipped pen: see e.g. Untitled [Head] 1985 [W/P].

Exhibited

• HA Metro 5, Feb.2002, cat.25-34 (details as noted above but not reproduced, apart from the first in the set)