Floriated Residence (1994)



Synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 203 x 153
The Vizard Foundation Art Collection of the 1990s, on loan to the University of Melbourne [1111.0023.000]

Widely regarded as one of Arkley’s masterpieces, this painting was first shown at Tolarno in 1994, and then purchased for the Vizard Collection, on the advice of Chris McAuliffe. It is analysed in detail in Carnival 75-77, emphasising the subtleties of its intricate floral patterning, the play on nature and artifice, and the complex optical and spatial paradoxes involved.

The painting has been extensively exhibited and reproduced, featuring prominently on the cover of the first edition of Spray (1997).

It also attracted considerable international attention when it was shown in Venice in 1999, and was widely reproduced at the time in the Italian media and elsewhere (e.g. in a London Financial Times story on the Biennale: Packer 1999).

Arkley had previously used this composition, to very different effect, in Stucco House (1988).

Provenance

  • Acquired directly from Tolarno Dec.1994 (ref.: HA 1993-6 stock-book: $10,000)

Exhibited

  • HA Tolarno 11/94 (‘Pointillist Suburb series’), cat.5
  • Vizard Foundation touring exh., Hamilton etc.. 1997
  • HA Venice 1999 (‘Home Show’)
  • Ian Potter Museum of Art, Univ.of Melbourne, 7/03 (Vizard Coll.exh.)
  • HA retrospective 2006-7 (all 3 venues)

Literature

  • Tolarno advertisement in World Art #1 (1995)
  • Spray 115 and front cover of 1997 ed. (ill.)
  • McAuliffe 1997: 5 (ill) and 10
  • ‘Giardini di Castello Australia’ (1999): ill.
  • Livingstone and Morrell 1999 (HA Venice exh.cat.), p.17 (ill.)
  • Packer 1999 (ill.)
  • Szeemann & Liveriero Lavelli (1999), p.9 (ill.)
  • Tantucci 1999 (ill.)
  • McAuliffe & Yule 2003
  • Carnival 75-77 (as cited above) and Fig.2.23