This work, preserved in Arkley’s studio at his death, appears to have been his final completed painting, thus concluding a remarkable sequence of works based on the same suburban composition, dwelling repeatedly on the motif of a prominent bush outside a window shaded by a striped blind. This theme first appeared in Our Home (1986), where the dark bush looms menacingly outside the red brick house. Later variants, all in vertical format, include Spray Veneer 1994, Floral Facarde [sic] 1995, and Dull Home 1998 [W/P].

The present canvas brings this sequence to a highly stylised, monumental close. The planes of the building meet in forceful contrasts of tone and colour, the pink of the roof tiles is echoed by the stripes of the blind, and the bush has been completely tamed, now a docile cartoon-like creature keeping watch. The stripped-down aesthetic exemplifies the spare, clarified artistic language Arkley had developed in his last phase, especially in his freeways.

Provenance

• Artist’s collection
• Private collection

Exhibited

• HA at Melbourne Art Fair (Kalli Rolfe), 22-25 Feb.2024
• HA 1301SW, Sydney, Feb-March 2025

Literature

• Flux 2024 (Melbourne Age report)

This stylized chair, made up of two interlocking parts, harks back to the artist’s early 1980s chairs and installations – see e.g. Muzak Mural – Chair Tableau(1980-81) [3/M].

However, as with Homezone (1999) [3/M], made at the same time, the stencilled decoration revisits the ‘moirè’ patterning first used in the ‘Pointillist Suburb’ series in 1994.

Provenance

• artist’s collection
• P/C Melb.

This is a version of the composition used for Houseomorphics (1996) and several variants from the same year, including Family Home (1996) [W/P] (exhibited at Bellas, March 1996). The grey line and muted colour scheme here are consistent with other late works. Part of a group of works acquired for a Queensland collection c.1998: ID photo and details forwarded to Arkley Estate Sept.2011.

When viewed in Melbourne prior to its Sydney auction in March 2013, this work appeared to be a very good example, in excellent condition.

NB the date prominently inscribed on the front of the work is preferred here.

Provenance

• F.& D.Meares collection, Queensland (acquired directly from the artist, c.1998: information and ID photo supplied to Arkley Estate Sept.2011: as ‘The Grey House’, 73 x 53 cm)
• Auctioned by Menzies, Sydney, 21 March 2013, lot 12 (ill.& dets.as above; date given as 1998-99; est. $14-18,000; sold for $14,000 plus B/P {$17,182})

‘Howard Arkley: Home Show’, Karyn Lovegrove Gallery, 6150 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, USA, 9 July-14 Aug.1999

The only commercial show of Arkley’s work to be staged overseas, this exhibition was a sell-out. All eight paintings reprised existing Arkley compositions, but with noticeable refinements, and a new intensity and yet subtlety of colour, based on a range of new hues with which the artist had been experimenting.

The glowing colour and formal clarity of these canvases point more clearly than any of his other late works to the direction his style may have taken in the future. Unfortunately, none of these works was included in the 2006-7 Arkley retrospective, and few have been seen in Australia since his death – which occurred just over a week after this show opened.

U.S. viewers enjoyed the exhibition, and influential critic Dave Hickey later listed it among his ten ‘Best of the ‘90s’ shows, in the Dec.1999 issue of Artforum, adding a moving tribute to Arkley.[1] The show also appears to have met with commercial success, although it’s unclear exactly how some of the paintings now in Australian collections actually ended up here. Two of the paintings are now known under different titles from those given to them in Los Angeles: see below under Deluxe Space and House with Gate.

An installation photo later appeared (uncredited) in Vogue Italia.[2] Works are listed below in the sequence in the exhibition check-list, and with the titles under which they were shown in Los Angeles (all were priced at US$13,000, and sized at 70” x 54” = 175 x 135 cm).

Works shown:

Terrace Window (1999)

Illuminated Space (1999)

Home with Eucalyptus (1999) [Lovegrove]

Still Life Tulips (1999)

Urban Apartments (1999)

Freeway Exit (1999) (Buxton Collection, Melbourne)

Deluxe Space = Supa Interior (1999) (Buxton Collection, Melbourne)

House with Gate = Residence with Gate 1999

(photos: Arkley standing in front of Home with Eucalyptus; and Arkley and Callum Morton hanging Freeway Exit [both Arkley archive; photographer unknown])

[1] See biblio. for 1999 under Hickey, Muchnic and Pagel

[2] Oct.1999, p.228

Arkley’s archive also contains a substantial quantity of source material and working drawings for Nick Cave (1999): selected examples have been exhibited with the painting (see catalogue entry).

At his death, Arkley’s studio contained a rich array of source material and drawings for future works: see photo here (taken by Alison Burton, July 1999) showing a section of his Oakleigh studio work-space.

A simplified variant of Spray Veneer (1994), mostly in a narrow range of related blue, green and yellow tones, with vivid grey-blue line-work.

This work was auctioned by Sotheby’s in 2007, noting that it was purchased from Tolarno in May 1999.

Home with Brown Bush 1999 is based on the same composition, but features heavy black line-work and more strongly contrasting colours.

Provenance

• purchased from Tolarno May 1999 (acc.to Sotheby’s 8/07)
• P/C Melb. (acc.to Sotheby’s 8/07)
• auctioned by Sotheby’s, Melb., 27 Aug.2007, lot 40 (as Untitled, details, previous history as noted above; est. $20-30,000; sold for $24,000 plus buyer’s premium; ill.via AASD)

Produced in connection with the work on Nick Cave (1999), and subsequently exhibited on several occasions with the painting and other related works on paper (although usually showing the recto only – the lower image reproduced below). At the 2006-7 Arkley retrospective, however, both sides were shown, lending the final section of the exhibition a complex, brooding air.

The dark, introspective quality of both drawings opens up very different insights into Cave’s music (and Arkley’s late style, and perhaps, his state of mind) than the vividly coloured painting.

Provenance

• artist’s collection
• P/C Melb.
• acquired from the above, P/C Melb., 2018

Exhibited

• ACAF7 (7^th Australian Contemporary Art Fair, Melbourne, 4-8 Oct.2000), Tolarno stall
• National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, 14/12/01-17/2/02 (‘So You Wanna Be a Rock Star’): recto only
• Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, 8/02 (‘Nick Cave: the Good Son’): : recto only
• HA retrospective 2006-7 (shown in Melbourne only)
• Nick Cave exh., Vic.Arts Centre 2008: : recto only

Literature

• Spray (rev. edn., 2001), 142 (ill.: recto)
• Smith 2006 (ill.: endpapers)

This work, included in Arkley’s 1999 Los Angeles show, is a variant of O.Y.O.Flats 1987 and Modern O.Y.O.Flats (1988).

The colour here is higher keyed, and the trees in the earlier versions have been replaced by palm trees in varied shades of green. In Carnival, I suggested that this change may reflect the U.S.audience the 1999 picture was aimed at. However, Geoffrey Smith, in the catalogue entry for the 2007 auction of this painting by Bonhams, points out, with a supporting photo, that there are now palm trees outside the Carlton block of flats on which the work was based, suggesting that the motif has a basis in reality. Arkley’s original real estate source image for the composition (in his archive) included a eucalypt, as reflected in the 1987 canvas. Perhaps he noticed the change in the Carlton site sometime between 1987 and 1999? Or could this be a curious case of nature imitating art?

This painting has changed hands a number of times since the artist’s death, most recently at auction in Sydney in Sept.2012.

Provenance

• P/C USA -> P/C Melb. -> P/C Melb. (noted thus by Bonhams 4/07)
• auctioned by Bonhams  & Goodman, Melb., 23 April 2007, lot 681 (ill.; details as above, inc. previous history; sold for $144,000 inc. buyer’s premium)
• P/C Sydney (noted thus by Menzies 9/10)
• auctioned by Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, 13 Sept.2007, lot 232 (ill., details as above, including inscription; est.$160-200,000; sold for $165,000 plus buyer’s premium)
• P/C Melb. (noted thus by Menzies 9/10)
• auctioned by Menzies, Sydney, 23 Sept.2010, lot 30 (ill., details as above; est.$120-140,000; sold for $110,000 plus buyer’s premium)
• P/C Melb. (noted thus by Menzies 9/12)
• auctioned by Menzies, Sydney, 13 Sept.2012, lot 24 (ill., details as above; est.$90-120,000; sold for $115,000 plus buyer’s premium)

Exhibited

• HA Lovegrove LA, 7/99
• HA Gould 2/00, cat.11
• McClelland Gallery, Langwarrin, Vic., 10/02ff. (‘Suburban Echoes’: shown as P/C Melb., courtesy Gould Galleries)

Literature

• Carnival 84 and Fig.2.32
• Geoffrey Smith in Bonhams 4/07 auction catalogue, p.124 (as cited above)

This work, a simplified variant of Spray Veneer (1994) etc., is documented by a photo in Arkley’s archive, in the same batch of photos as the image of Colour Field Home 1999. See also House with Hedge 1999, also in this same small format.

The present canvas was previously listed in this catalogue as Untitled [House] (1999); many thanks to Geoffrey Smith for clarifying aspects of the work’s history (Dec.2022).

Provenance

• Private collection, Melb. (acquired from the artist)
• Gould Galleries (acquired from the above)
• Private collection (acquired from the above)

Exhibited

• HA Gould, Melb., 12 Feb.-12 March 2000, cat.14

This small canvas, previously known only via a negative in Arkley’s archive, was originally listed in this catalogue as Untitled [House #1] (1999). Its appearance at auction in November 2012 clarified several details, including the title and dimensions as noted here.

The composition is a simplified variant of Stucco House (1988) and Floriated Residence (1994).

Provenance

• Private collection, Melbourne
• McCulloch Gallery, Melbourne
• Private collection, Melbourne (acquired from the above in 2007)
• auctioned by Deutscher & Hackett, Melb., 28 Nov.2012, lot 9 (details, including previous provenance details, and ill., as included here; est.$45-65,000; sold for $66,000 including buyer’s premium)