Room with Pink Chair 1998



Synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 150 x 120

Signed, dated and titled (in black fibre-tipped pen on verso, l.r.)

Collection: unknown (last auctioned Sept.2019)

First documented in the Arkley exhibition held at Metro 5, Melbourne, in 2002 (without any indication of an earlier provenance). In August 2016, Ashley Crawford supplied a letter indicating his memory of the work in Arkley’s studio; subsequently, copyright permission for its reproduction was approved by the Arkley Estate, ahead of a possible sale, and the work was added to the present catalogue.

The composition is based on the same theme as Suparoom 1992 (a lounge setting, here reversed). The stencil pattern on the chair appears in several of Arkley’s later works, notably on the panel to the left of the dining setting in Fabricated Rooms (1997-99).

 Provenance

  • P/C Melb. (according to correspondence with Arkley Estate 5/14)
  • with LookArt, Melb. (correspondence with the Arkley Estate and Arkley Works, Aug.2016, verifying details and forwarding photo as shown above)
  • auctioned by Menzies, Sydney, 26 Sept.2019, lot 38 (details and ill.as shown here; est.$350-450,000; sold for $429,545 inc.buyer’s premium; catalogue essay by Rodney James)

Exhibited

  • HA Metro 5, Melb., Feb.2002, cat.no.6 (priced at $200,000; incorrectly listed as dating from 1997, and measuring 176 x 135 cm)