New Room 1993



Synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 173 x 135
Signed, dated & titled verso
Collection unknown (last auctioned August 2025)

This work was acquired in 1994, together with Neapolitan Delight 1993 [lounge-room]. There is a slide in Arkley’s archive, and the work was also reproduced on the cover of Art & Australia in 1997.

The compositional source is a detail from the “Traditional Living Room” template in Gold’s Instant Decorator. Here, however, by contrast with several other Arkley interiors from this period based on Gold’s book, there is a relatively restrained approach to pattern and colour, and a stronger formal emphasis through the focus on a limited number of furniture elements.

Provenance

  • Tolarno Galleries, Melbourne
  • The Sigg Collection, Switzerland, acquired from the above, April 1994
  • Auctioned by Deutscher and Hackett, Melbourne, 27 August 2025, lot 17: ill. and details as shown here; est.$800,00 – $1.2 million; sold for $2,025,000 (inc.buyer’s premium)

Literature

  • Art & Australia 34.3 (1997): cover ill. (courtesy of Tolarno)