Howard Arkley Howard Arkley

Howard Arkley was a remarkable Melbourne born artist who believed that the rural and suburban culture of Australia influenced its art and was known for his airbrushed paintings of houses, architecture and suburbia.

Howard Arkley (1951-1999)

Born 1951, Melbourne Australia.
Died July 23 1999, Melbourne Australia.

He discovered art when he was 15 years old, seeing an exhibition of the works of Sidney Nolan. He was first exhibited when he was 24 at Tolarno Galleries, Melbourne, in 1975. Seven years later in 1982 he painted a tram for the Victorian Ministry of the arts.

Arkley collaborated with Juan Davila for an exhibition called Blue Chip Instant Decorator in 1991, at Tolarno Galleries in South Yarra. His exhibition called Fabricated Rooms with a 15 metre multipaneled series, was on display at the Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1997 and 1998.

Howard Arkley - National Gallery of Victoria Touring Exhibition
17 November 2006 - 25 February 2007
Level 3, The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia

The singular vision of Australian artist Howard Arkley (1951-1999) developed throughout a career spanning three decades. This retrospective represents comprehensively the evolution of Arkley's oeuvre from the early 1970s to the final major works with which he was represented at the Venice Biennale in 1999.


Howard Arkley - In The Pantheon

I first encountered a Howard Arkley painting at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney about 5 years ago. I never forgot it.

I heard more about him as his fame increased. But only now, after his death, am I making this web page, joining the stampede of people celebrating yet another dead artist: the Elvis syndrome.

Still, I don't feel bad about jumping on the bandwagon. His work is so good that nothing should stop it being disseminated.

LA Times Review

Howard Arkley's paintings depict the dreams stuff is made of. Warm, fuzzy, and of the moment, these airbrushed canvases give substance to the emotional connections city dwellers forge with their immediate environments. ..LA Times

Interview with Howard Arkley - JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY ART

Following is a transcript of an interview with Howard Arkley (1951-1999), done in 1994 at his studio in Oakleigh, deep in the sprawl of suburban Melbourne. Howard exploded the banality of suburbia in his hallucinatory airbrushed paintings.

His shopfront studio was chaotic - tubes of acrylic everywhere, colored-in photocopies and photographs of houses, bits of plastic lace tablecloth and other stencils - out of this the bright, garish canvases emerged, startling and meditative, familiar and strange.

I remember something he said during the interview:"I need you to help me find out something about the work that I don't already know."I liked that idea. Despite all of the Pop references there was a mystery that filtered through his work. Howard's paintings were the suburban dreamtime. Full transcript, see link below...

Research - Howard Arkley

ABC - The 7.30 Report story (04/01/2007) raises questions around the authenticity of a will signed shortly before his death. + Unable to find his birthdate anywhere, only the year?

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❊ Web Links ❊

➼ Howard Arkley 

➼ Howard Arkley - Online Gallery of Art

➼ Howard Arkley - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

➼ Interview with Howard Arkley - JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY ART

➼ Howard Arkley - In The Pantheon - The Stylofone Foundation

➼ Gallery of Arkley images - The Stylofone Foundation

➼ Obituary - Howard Arkley - The Age republished by The Stylofone Foundation

➼ Obituary - Howard Arkley - gap.net.au

➼ Biography - Howard Arkley - artnomad.com.au

➼ Howard Arkley Profile -- December 7, 1997 - NineMSN Sunday

➼ The 7.30 Report






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