Zappo; and source material (1988 and earlier) [W/P]







(a) Main drawing: Synthetic polymer paint on 2 sheets of paper mounted on cardboard, 171 x 121 overall

(b) Source material: collaged pen and ink, photocopies, textiles and off-set printed matter on cardboard (in framed panel), 120.5 x 84.7

Queensland Art Gallery (a & b above); additional components in Arkley archive

Installation photos taken at the Brisbane installation of Arkley’s ‘Casual Works’ exhibition (1988) document the original arrangement of this material.

The main work on paper and a selection of the source images were purchased for the Queensland Art Gallery in 1989: see now Gregory, ‘Howard Arkley and “Popism”’ (2007), and photos reproduced here.

Some additional components of the source material shown in 1988 are preserved in Arkley’s archive, mounted on clear plastic, notably a large cactoid head (related to the head at lower left in the main work on paper), and several smaller source images and doodles, including three of Arkley’s original Mills & Boon pages.

Provenance

  • QAG components acquired 1989 for $3,000 (correspondence in Arkley’s files)

Exhibited

  • HA ‘Casual Works’, 200 Gertrude Street and IMA, Brisbane, 1988
  • HA retrospective 2006-7: both QAG components, dated 1983-88 (shown in Melbourne and Brisbane)
  • HA TarraWarra 12/15-2/16: both QAG components: as ‘Studies for Zappo 1983-88′ (b above) and ‘Zappo 1988′ (a above)

Literature

  • Gregory, ‘Howard Arkley and “Popism”’ (2007): 220-21 (inc ills.)