Riteroom (1998)

First exhibited in the 1998 Sydney Biennale, this work is a study in spatial and optical paradox, based on a template in Gold’s Instant Decorator (no.2). For a detailed analysis, see my comments in Carnival, commenting on the blend of elegance and unreality in this sophisticated late canvas.

In Arkley’s ‘Sampling’ exhibition (Nov.1998), it functioned as a kind of large promotional image for the stylized homewares on display.

Arkley’s Visual Diary 44 (c.1994-96) contains a Polaroid photo of this work in process, showing a sprayed work-on-paper vase of flowers (extant in the artist’s studio material) affixed temporarily to the table-top. This detail was not included in the final work.

This painting was one of five subsequently released in limited edition reproduction prints by Kalli Rolfe Contemporary Art: for details, see 2011.

Provenance

• gift of the Art Gallery of South Australia Foundation, 1999

Exhibited

• Sydney Biennale 18 Sept.-8 Nov.1998
• HA Tolarno 11/98 (‘Sampling’), cat.2 (as coll. AGSA)
• HA retrospective 2006-7 (shown in Melbourne only)

Literature

• Australian Art Collector #7 (Jan.-March 1999), p.28 (incorrectly titled ‘Roomrite’)
• Spray (rev.edn., 2001), p.138 (ill.)
• Carnival 32 and Fig.1.21