Freeway Exit 1996



Synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 203 x 153

Signed, dated & titled on verso: Name Howard Arkley/ Title Freeway Exit / Date 1996 / Size 203 cm x 153 cm / Medium Acrylic on canvas

Private collection, Melbourne

Arkley’s Brisbane dealer, Peter Bellas, included this painting (listed as ‘Freeway’) as the centrepiece of his exhibition of the artist’s works in March-April 1996. It was subsequently acquired by Melbourne dealer Nellie Castan, and then bought by the present owner.

In 2016, on the basis of new information received by a correspondent, the details for this canvas were confused inadvertently with those for the similar canvas now listed here as Freeway (overpass) 1996. Many thanks to Melbourne gallery owner Scott Livesey for helping to sort out this confusion, and also for providing the details and photograph included here (early in 2019); thanks also to Peter Bellas and Nellie Castan for confirming the provenance shown here.

Both 1996 canvases were developed from the central section of the composition used for the large ‘widescreen’ painting A Freeway Painting (Over Pass) 1994 (see that entry for further details, including information on Arkley’s sources).

Other works in the same abbreviated vertical format include Freeway (Exit) 1995,  Freeway Exit (1999), and several works on paper, notably Freeway Overpass (1996) [W/P] (also included in the 1996 Arkley exhibition at Bellas Gallery).

Provenance

  • Bellas Gallery, Brisbane
  • Acquired from the above by Nellie Castan, Melbourne, 1996
  • Acquired from the above by the present owner, also in 1996
  • With Scott Livesey, Melbourne, 2019

Exhibited

  • HA Bellas Brisbane 3/96, cat.4 (‘Freeway,’ SPP on C, 200 x 150; priced at $10,000)