Selected works from RMIT Culture collections and International Collections

Howard Arkley, Suburban Exterior, 1983

Knowing that Arkley lived in Oakleigh, the same suburb I grew up in elicits a feeling of familiarity with the house depicted in Suburban Exterior. Additionally, as I have moved back home during the pandemic, suburban Oakleigh life seems particularly mundane and banal due to all the restrictions. Yet, Arkley portrays the Melbourne home with a sense of energy and liveliness which is a reminder for me not to be so harsh on the suburb I grew up in and consider the uniqueness in the everyday.

Howard Arkley

Suburban Exterior, 1983

©The Estate of Howard Arkley, Courtesy Kalli Rolfe Contemporary Art Synthetic polymer paint on canvas

159.8 x 120 cm

Purchased by the Phillip Institute of Technology, 1984 RMIT University Art Collection

Phillip Institute collection, RMIT University Art Collection