Untitled [installation] (1981) [3/M]



Synthetic polymer paint on canvas and wood, vinyl floor tiles, 90 x 240 overall

{no longer extant in this form}

When exhibited at the Australian Perspecta exhibition in Sydney in May 1981, as shown here (via photos taken at the time), this installation comprised 50’s (1979), Arabesque 1979 [Curvilinear], and 3 of the chairs (T, V, X) later incorporated into Muzak Mural – Chair Tableau (1980-81) [3/M].

Slides in Arkley’s archive dating from March and May 1981 document other alternative configurations, using Bodgie 1979 and Arrows and Crosses 1980 instead of one or both of the canvases finally chosen.

This installation was evidently a precursor for Muzak Mural – Chair Tableau (1980-81) [3/M], as finally resolved in July 1981, and subsequently purchased for the NGV (for further discussion, see main entry for that work under 1980; and comments in Carnival 64).

Provenance

  • (see comments above)

Exhibited

  • Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, May 1981 (Australian Perspecta), cat.nos.13-15

Literature

  • Murphy 1981 (Perspecta exh.cat.): 40-41