Neo-Porteria (1984) [W/P]

‘Neo-Porteria’ first appeared in Arkley’s ‘Cacti and Succulents’ exhibition in May 1984, one of six smaller works on paper documented by slides in the artist’s archives (with Roslyn Oxley9 gallery labels but no identifying titles), and the only one of the six sold from the exhibition. Careful comparison of the slides with the exhibition check-list (and reproductions and descriptions of the other examples) suggested that it was probably the work reproduced here. The Roslyn Oxley 9 website has since published its own record of the 1984 show (not available when I wrote my original entries), identifying the work shown here as ‘Euphorbia,’ and conversely indicating that ‘Neo-Porteria’ was the title of the work catalogued here as Lophophora (1984) [W/P]. However, I am not convinced by these identifications: for details, see my entry on the 1984 exhibition and the linked individual entries.

In 2008, Margaret Burgess, Campus Services Officer at the Australian Catholic University, contacted the Arkley Estate to inquire about the work, and in 2022 it was published in the ACU volume on its collection, with an essay by Jason Smith, accepting the present identification, noting its correct size, and including a recent photo (reproduced here).

[original 2010 entry substantially revised, August 2023]

Provenance

• Roslyn Oxley9, Sydney, 1984
• Acquired from the above (receipt in Arkley’s files, dated 5 June 1984)
• ACU Collection (before 2008)

Exhibited

• HA ‘Cacti and Succulents,’ Roslyn Oxley9, Sydney, 10-26 May 1984, cat.no.1 (size indicated as 77 x 107 cm)

Literature

• Smith 2022 (essay in ACU collection volume): as Neo-porteria, with size and photo as shown here