Carnival in Suburbia: The Art of Howard ArkleyWhen he died suddenly in Melbourne in July 1999, at the age of 48, Australian painter Howard Arkley had just achieved his greatest successes, receiving international critical acclaim for his work at the Venice Biennale and in Los Angeles. Arkley enjoyed pop themes and imagery, like many of his 'postmodern' generation, but he also developed an idiosyncratic individual style, using heavy, air-brushed lines and vivid colour to produce stylised representations of everyday subjects. Carnival in Suburbia covers Arkley's work thematically, beginning with his best-known works of suburban imagery. Subsequent chapters examine his fascination with pattern, colour and line; a full account for the first time of his creative use of source material; and his collaborations with Juan Davila and other contemporaries. Finally, Arkley is identified as a 'carnivalesque' painter, intrigued by death, grotesque body imagery and masks. John Gregory, an art-historian by profession, was Arkley's brother-in-law. |
Contents
The heroism of suburban life | 15 |
Opening the doors to ornamentation | 67 |
Arkley and His Sources | 111 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
abstract Alison Burton architecture Arkley and Juan Arkley's Arkley's library Arkley's studio Art Gallery artists Ashley Crawford Australian Art Bakhtin Blue Chip Canberra canvases carnival carnivalesque catalogue chair Chapter clipped collaborative collaged colour comics compositions Contemporary Art culture death detailed discussion doodles door-format drawing elements Elizabeth Gower everyday example exh.cat Fabricated Rooms Figure forms freeway Gallery of Victoria Heide Howard Arkley idea instance John Nixon Juan Davila Klee late later line-work London mask Melbourne Mikhail Bakhtin Mills & Boon Mix n Match Modern Art modernist Monash University Museum Muzak Muzak Mural National Gallery Note ornament paintings pattern Paul Klee photographer Pop Art Portrait postmodern Prahran Primitive quoted source material St Kilda studio collection style stylised suburban house Suburban Interior suburbia suburbs Sydney Tattooed titles Tolarno Galleries Tony Clark tradition University Press Untitled urban variant Virginia Trioli visual diaries Zappo Zappo Head