This canvas, shown in 1987 at both Roslyn Oxley9 and the Anima Gallery, Adelaide, is a close variant of Felony (1983), distinguishable only on close inspection – see e.g. the different shapes at upper left, slightly different greens, etc. Slides of both works are held in Arkley’s archive.

NB information received from Deutscher and Hackett prior to the November 2023 auction of this canvas clarified its previous ownership, and also proved that this was the version included in the 2006-7 Arkley retrospective mounted by the NGV (not the 1983 canvas, as indicated incorrectly in the retrospective check-list).

Provenance

• Tolarno Gallery, Melbourne (label verso)
• Private collection, Melbourne, acquired from the above. c.1987
• Auctioned by Deutscher and Hackett, Sydney, 22 Nov.2023, lot 40: ill., dets.as shown above; est.$150,000-250,000; not sold

Exhibited

• HA Roslyn Oxley9, 9/87, cat.10
• HA Anima Gallery, Adelaide, 10/87, cat.3 ($4,000)
• HA Monash 1991, cat.63 (details as above)
• HA NGVA 2006-7 (label verso)

Literature

• Duncan 1991:27 (ill.)
• Spray 65: ill. (incorrectly identified as the 1983 canvas and also incorrectly indicated as in the MCA, Sydney)

First shown in Arkley’s solo show at the Anima Gallery, Adelaide, in October 1987. Various sources were combined to generate this image, including a cartoon-style story in a 1950s Adventure Annual in Arkley’s library, and magazine images collaged by the artist into several working drawings (reproduced in Spray 68). Arkley also produced a monochrome work-on-paper version: Ever Feel Like Drowning (1987) [W/P].

Provenance

• Recorded as in Melb. P/C in planning notes for HA Monash 1991 and the 2006-7 HA retrospective

Exhibited

• HA Anima Gallery, Adelaide, 10/87, cat.7 (as 160 x 122; $4,000)
• HA Monash 1991, cat.61 (details as above; size noted as 120 x 160)
• Monash Uni. Gallery, 3/00 (‘The Persistence of Pop’): as on loan to Monash from P/C Melb.

Literature

• Spray 67-8 (reproducing a series of working drawings)

This highly characteristic canvas, first shown in Arkley’s solo show at Roslyn Oxley9, Sydney, in Sept.1987, depicts a ‘Californian Bungalow’ of the type found in many Melbourne suburbs: for further comments, see the essay by John McPhee in the Christie’s 2000 auction catalogue.

Arkley’s archive contains the real estate source (identifying the house as in the Melbourne suburb of Caulfield: reproduced in Carnival Fig.1.6), and a photo of a set of working drawings testing different colour combinations (also in Carnival, Fig.1.10).

Provenance

• Listed as in a private collection in Spray research card c.1996[1]
• Auctioned by Sotheby’s, Melb., 16 June 1991 (ill.; sold for $6,500 = $7,150 inc. buyer’s premium)
• Auctioned by Christie’s, Melb., 27-28 Nov.2000, lot 23 (ill.; details as above; sold for $174,500 inc. premium)

Exhibited

• HA Roslyn Oxley9, 9/87, cat.1
• Tolarno 11/97 (‘Spray’ exh.), cat.13 (acc.to Christie’s

Literature

• John McPhee essay in Christie’s Nov.2000 auction cat. as cited above
• Carnival 20-21 and Fig.1.7

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[1] This may be erroneous, due to confusion in the Spray research records (copy in Arkley’s archive) between this work and Home Eastern Suburbs (1988).

This diagrammatic canvas was included in the 1987 group show ‘What is this Thing Called Science’ at the University of Melbourne Gallery, and  documented by a slide taken at the time for the Monash Visual Arts slide library. As the title indicates, the composition is based on an Albrecht Dürer woodcut illustrating the theory and practice of perspective (1525).

Arkley’s modified variant of the original woodcut, a similarly titled working drawing, After Durer’s illustrations, Treatise on Measurement (1525) 1987 [W/P], was reproduced in the catalogue of the Melbourne University exhibition. It incorporates Arkley’s own monogram and date alongside Dürer’s famous ‘AD’.

For Arkley’s general interest in Dürer, especially his line-work, see Carnival in Suburbia (2006), 94, mentioning this work in the context of a discussion of Cartographer (after Durer) 1983. His studio library contained several publications on the German artist.

Provenance

• Unknown

Exhibited

• Melb. Uni. Gallery, Dec.1987 (‘What is this Thing Called Science’), cat.no.2 (as courtesy Tolarno Galleries)

Literature

• Cass 1987, 14, and cat.no.2
• Brown, Tension 13 (June 1988): 35 (reproducing this painting, incorrectly described as a ‘working drawing’)
• Carnival in Suburbia, 94