Four Chairs (1981-91) [3/M]

The catalogue of the 1991 Arkley survey at Monash lists a set of four chairs, all noted as in the artist’s collection, with the details noted above.

An installation photo taken at the time for the Monash Visual Arts slide library (reproduced here) shows only three chairs, suggesting that the fourth was not completed in time for the exhibition: see below.

The three photographed in 1991 all include a triangular leg supporting the seat, and painted decoration with sprayed cross forms in various colours. Of the three, the current whereabouts of the purple and red chairs is unknown. But the central orange/green chair reappeared in a Deutscher and Hackett auction in August 2015, and is now held in the collection of the Art Gallery of South Australia: see Chair (1991) [3/M].

It seems probable that the fourth chair originally intended to be included in the Monash show is Untitled (Chair) (1991) [3/M], an unfinished example, with the same design and similar dimensions, auctioned in Melbourne in 2009.

NB Chair (1980) [3/M] was a separate, differently-structured work, also included in HA Monash 1991 (cat.21).

Exhibited

• HA Monash 1991, cat.81: details as above