Rrrrrr Art 1994



Synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 203.5 x 152.5
Signed, dated & titled [on reverse, acc.to Deutscher & Hackett 8/14]
Private collection, Melbourne

An Arkley oddity, exhibited in the 1994 ‘Pointillist Suburb’ show, based on a lettering sample in his studio collection: see now Visual Diary D 42 (1995), for a reproduction of the relevant page.

Here, he toys with the ‘correct’ use of the airbrush to suggest a metallic sheen recalling automotive décor. A connection with the lettering on suburban house nameplates is suggested in Spray.

Provenance

  • Recorded in HA’s 1993-6 stock-book (noted as not sold in 1994)
  • Artist’s collection
  • Sold in 2000
  • Recorded in a Melbourne P/C in NGVA Arkley retrospective planning files c.2006
  • Auctioned by Deutscher & Hackett, Sydney, 27 Aug.2014, lot 53 (details as above; est,$60-80,000; sold?)

Exhibited

  • HA Tolarno 11/94 (‘Pointillist Suburb series’), cat.11
  • Benalla AG 1995 (‘Australia Felix’) (according to exh. list in S.1997:130 and 2001:148)

Literature

  • Spray 112 (with ill.; size given, implausibly, as 188.5 x 366)