This canvas, exhibited in Arkley’s 1999 show in Los Angeles, is a variant of a panel from Fabricated Rooms (1997-99), based in part on a template from Gold’s Instant Decorator (no.9: ‘Sunroom/Patio’).

In her Art News review of the LA show, US critic Suzanne Muchnic commented that ‘bold patterns on drapes and an upholstered chair in Terrace Window grow soft near the edges. The effect of this visual interplay is a sort of dreamland in which nothing is quite as simple as it seems.’

Provenance

• unknown

Exhibited

• HA Lovegrove LA, 7/99

Literature

• Muchnic 1999: 196 (quoted above; not illustrated)

First shown in Arkley’s 1999 Los Angeles exhibition as ‘Deluxe Space’, this painting later appeared in the Buxton Collection show at Heide (2001) as ‘Supa Interior’.

The composition, derived from one of the lounge room templates in Gold’s Instant Decorator, was first used for Plain and Fancy (1993) and one of the panels from Fabricated Rooms (1997-99).

Provenance

• P/C USA
• P/C Melb.

Exhibited

• HA Lovegrove LA, 7/99: as ‘Deluxe Space’
• HA Gould 2/00, cat.12
• Heide 11/01 (Buxton Coll. exh.): as ‘Supa Interior’ – see comments

Literature

• Muchnic 1999 (Art News review of Lovegrove exh.): ill. as ‘Deluxe Space’
• Crawford 2001 (Buxton coll. exh.cat.), 13, ill. as ‘Supa Interior’; described as ‘oil on canvas’

This picture, shown in Los Angeles, is a variant of Tulips and Spotted Vase 1986.

Provenance

• unknown

Exhibited

• HA Lovegrove LA, 7/99

Literature

• Carnival Fig.6.36

This painting, first shown in Arkley’s Los Angeles exhibition (as ‘House with Gate’), is a stylized variant of Cosy Clinker (1994). Correspondence in 2010 clarified the work’s history and current location.

Noted and reproduced in Carnival as an example of Arkley’s later taste for a grey outline.

Provenance

• P/C USA (acc.to Gould 6/10)
• P/C Melb. (acc.to Gould 6/10)
• With Gould Galleries, 2001ff.
• Purchased by the present owner from Robert Gould in 2010 (email correspondence from owner, Oct.2010)

Exhibited

• HA Lovegrove Los Angeles, 7/99 (as ‘House with Gate’)
• HA Gould 2/00, cat.9
• Gould Galleries, Melb., 2/01 (‘Modern Australian Art’, cat.20: details as above; ill.)
• HA Gould 8/01, cat.17
• HA Gould, Sydney, 3/02, cat.11 (ill.)

Literature

• Carnival Fig.3.21

This work was the star attraction at a charity auction of decorated cellos in August 2000, as detailed in various press reports (see e.g. Melbourne Age, 29 Aug.2000).

Arkley’s archive contains slides showing the work in progress (see e.g. Carnival Fig.6.33; and comments on p.185). The work reappeared at auction in 2009.

Provenance

• commissioned in 1999 for charity auction for Melbourne Chamber Music Competition, conducted by Sotheby’s, 29/8/00 (sold for $20,000)
• auctioned by Artemis, Melbourne, 4 Aug.2009, lot 259 (ill., sold for $5,000+)

Exhibited

• (exhibited prior to Sotheby’s auction 8/00)

Literature

• The Artful Cello (1999), 7
• Melbourne Age 29/8/00 (as cited above) and 30/8/00
• Herald Sun 26/8/00, 30/8/00 and 2/9/00 (Frank 2000 & Magilton 2000)
• Age 30/8/00
• Carnival 185 and Fig.6.33

A stylized tribute to the influential Australian musician whose work Arkley had followed since the late 1970s. The painting, commissioned by NPG director Andrew Sayers, has been widely reproduced and exhibited since 1999.

For detailed comments, see Gaston 2001, Ashley Crawford and Ray Edgar in the revised edition of Spray (and their remarks on the 2006 Arkley retrospective audio-guide), and Carnival 182; and for further details on Cave and his relationship with the visual arts (including Arkley and his circle), see also Keaney 2001 and James 2002.

In 2004, the painting was reproduced in a special Age magazine celebrating ‘150 Influential Lives’, doubling as a tribute to both Arkley and Cave (Foley 2004). Later, it was one of five paintings released in limited edition reproduction prints by Kalli Rolfe Contemporary Art: for details, see 2011.

Arkley’s archive contains an extensive corpus of source material, working drawings and work-in-progress photos. Study for Nick Cave (double sided drawing) (1999) [W/P] has been exhibited several times alongside the painting and selected source material.

Provenance

• commissioned directly from the artist via Tolarno; purchased 1999, with funds provided by L.Gordon Darling AO CMG

Exhibited

• Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 3-6/01 (‘Art > Music: Rock, Pop, Techno’) (see Rees 2001)
• National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, 12/01-2/02 (‘So You Wanna Be a Rock Star’): shown with selected source material and drawings
• Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, 8/02 (‘Nick Cave: The Good Son’), also shown with source material etc.
• HA retrospective 2006-7 (shown in all 3 venues)

Literature

• Art Monthly Australia, April 1999 (cover ill.; and see Kerr 1999)
• Art & Australia #37.1 (1999), 277 (ill.)
• Gregory 2000: 28
• Gaston 2001: 412-13 (inc.ill.)
• Spray [rev. edn., 2001]: 141-3 (inc. ill.)
• Keaney 2001 (‘So You Wanna Be a Rock Star’ exh.cat.), 14-18 (inc. ills.)
• Rees 2001: 66-67
• James 2002 (unpaginated)
• Foley 2004: 19 (as cited above)
• McCullough 2006: 791 (illustrating the entry on ‘Portraiture in Australia’)
• Carnival 182 and Fig.6.35
• NGVA Arkley audio-guide 2006 (comments by Ray Edgar and Ashley Crawford)
• Churcher & Quinn 2007: 136-37
• Chapman 2009

This work, shown in Los Angeles, is a close variant of Crisp and Tailored (1993).

The composition is based on part of the ‘Contemporary Living Room’ page of  Gold’s Instant Decorator.

Provenance

• recorded in a Melbourne P/C in 2006 (NGVA Arkley retrospective planning files)

Exhibited

• HA Lovegrove LA, 7/99

Until recently, the sole known source for this work, a variant of Hedge on Street Corner 1988, was a mediocre photograph found in Arkley’s studio archive after his death, labelled ‘House with Hedge,’ and apparently dating from 1999. Accordingly, while the photograph in itself secures the work as autograph, it was previously listed in this catalogue simply as House with Hedge (1999?), with doubt expressed about whether the work was on canvas or paper, and the suggestion that it looked rather cursorily executed.

However, in May 2015, details and better photographs were forwarded to Arkley Works, clarifying the work’s date, size, medium and quality, and providing firmer indications of its history. This relatively small canvas is the same size as Colour Field Home 1999 and Home with Brown Bush 1999, both also known only through archive photos until further information clarified their history.

Provenance

• Private collection

This canvas, shown in Arkley’s 1999 exhibition in Los Angeles, is a vivid variant of House with Native Tree [aka Established Garden] 1996, etc.

In August 1999, this work was reproduced in the Arkley obituary by Ashley Crawford published in the Bulletin; the photo is credited to Sherman Galleries, reflecting an unrealised plan for Arkley to resume exhibiting in Sydney (thanks to Amanda Henry of Sherman Galleries for information, Nov.2008). There are slides and photos in the artist’s archive.

In May 2014, information sent to Arkley Works confirmed that the painting remains in the private collection in Los Angeles for which it was bought directly from the Karyn Lovegrove exhibition in 1999.

Provenance

• Private collection, Los Angeles (purchased from Karyn Lovegrove 1999)

Exhibited

• HA Lovegrove LA, 7/99

Literature

• Crawford 1999: 110-11 [Bulletin]: see comments above

Arkley’s archive contains several photos of this work, including a transparency (labelled with this title and date), and a negative, in the same batch as a photo of Colour Field Home 1999 (also on the same small scale). The composition reprises High Fenced (1995) [W/P] and High Fenced (1996), in a cool mode.

Many thanks to Geoffrey Smith for providing additional provenance information as shown below (Dec.2022).

Provenance

• Private collection, Melbourne (acquired from the artist)
• Gould Galleries (acquired from the above)
• Acquired from the above by present owner, Feb.2000

Exhibited

• HA Gould Feb.-March 2000, cat.13