Key Arkley works were included in several curated exhibitions, as listed below.
Late in the year, Arkley’s iconic Monash house Family Home: Suburban Exterior (1993) was used (with permission from the Estate) as a backdrop for a production of Kafka’s Metamorphosis at Melbourne’s Malthouse Theatre.[1]
Among publications of note was an edited survey of the history of Gertrude Street Contemporary Art Spaces, including reference to Arkley’s ‘Casual Works’ exhibition of 1988 (Day 2005, p.148).
In February, Arkley was one of several artists parodied/celebrated in Domenico De Clario’s ‘Seven Times Thank You’ exhibition at Arc One Gallery, Melbourne (Feb.-March: see the Age review by Robert Nelson, including a reproduction of the Arkley tribute, a purple variant of English Style (1987).[2]
Mosaic Entrance 1994 – a major canvas from the ‘Pointillist Suburb’ series – sold for around $135,000 at a Sotheby’s auction in Sydney in March, but Arkley auction activity was generally sporadic in 2005. Ultra Living 1992 surfaced at a dealer show in Melbourne at the end of the year.[3]
[1] See Gill, Herald Sun, 4 Nov.2005.
[2] Nelson, Age, 23 Feb.2005.
[3] Mossgreen Gallery, South Yarra, 30 Nov.-23 Dec.2005 (‘Fine Australian Art’: sale catalogue held in Victorian State Library)