Brianna

​​​​​​Howard Arkley is an Australian Contemporary artist from the 1990s. Howard Arkley is most famous for his airbrushed styled artwork on suburbia (houses, streets etc) and architecture.His distinctive airbrush style developed over twenty years of experimentation and practice, captured and re-created true Australian contemporary art. Techniques- ​ Howard Arkley used many different techniques to create his paintings. He mostly used different styles with the airbrush to create different effects and different styles and sizes of stencils to create patternwork. When creating his pieces Howard Arkley would start by brain storming different ideas. He then would study photos of houses from magazines and real-estate brochures.He then would sketch the drawing using only a pen onto basic plain canvas paper as his outline. After doing so he would paint the large areas in flat colours. After painting the colours he would tape on different sizes and styles of stencils to paint using the airbrush. He always made sure the colours used to create pattern work were darker and more intense colours than the ones used to create the underlay, but keeping in mind the colours were still vibrant colours, the patterns usually covered the entire piece, but sometimes often seemed transparent. The trick Howard Arkley used was to create a balance between the lightness and the density. Tone was then used to alter effects. The airbrush bolder outlines were the finishing touch to the painting. Howard Arkley often used fabric designs to help create texture of his art work. Howard Arkley's colours on the painting were bold and they never started to become transparent or to seem to get lighter, for example; they never started off with a light colour and gradually got darker. The colours just stayed the same. His work was often described as abstract work and often looked very basic and simple. Howard Arkley used simple strokes to create the bold outlines. Materials-   Howard Arkley used many different materials to create art. Initally he used household items to create his work. Including; pens and pencils, paintbrushes and household paints. It was only after he had graduated in which he used conventional artists tools. The Main tools Howard Arkley used were; the commercial airbrush and synthetic polymer paints which were used to create the flat colours. Vipond paints were used on his furniture exhibition and choromacryl paints were used on the canvas paper. Howard arkley also used a commerical striping machine which was also used to create his thick black outlines. He also used acrylic paints for his stencil work, he often used flat paper.He used wire frames to create his set of fly wire screens. For stenciling he used stenciling lace and diffrent fabrics. Howard Arkley also used fabric designs to help create his stencils, he also used embroidery to help with patternwork as well. Howard Arkley used several photocopiers to copy collaged images which he then projected onto the canvas paper or flat paper. In the image above synthetic polymer paints combined with the airbrush have been used to create the base layer (flat colours including purple, orange, greeen, blue). He then worked on the plant which you can see behind the letter box, by combining a mixture of light and dark pinks along with a simple pattern, this plant has been traced using a stencil. The patternwork has been inspired by fabric designs, the pattern is continuous and he has used a mixture of colours to create the patterns. The final touch to this piece is the black outlines, in which Howard Arkley always does last ; using a ruler, an airbrush and black polymer paint. All Howard Arkley's tools are traditional art materials. 
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 Background Material- Howard Arkley's range of 'surburbia' started when he was very young. Most of his paintings are inspired by real -estate brochures, his neighbourhood, magzines and even his own home. The painting to the right is one of my favourite paintings that Howard Arkley has done,because of the pattern work and design. The patterns are a decorative design which I really like. I admire this work because it represents what an Australian house looks like. I like the decorative patterns added to the piece, it really changes the style of the house. The colours are so vibrant and cheerful which I thought uplifts the mood, and makes the painting look attractive instead of dull and boring. I think the surrealism of the painting is there but at the same time it looked abstract because of the incredible pattern work created. The focal point of the painting is the middle pillar just in front of the door. So many Australians liked Howard Arkley's artwork because of his surrealism and true beauty of Australian Suburbia and Architecture. He was different and his weird and wacky designs attracted so many overseas art dealers and collectors. The background of all his pieces was said to be from his family home, with numbers of new designs added to it from his artistic talent. I think his paintings always looked so simple and basic but they were filled with such amazing detail full of his pattern work which so many people including me enjoyed, I found this really fascinating. Howard Arkley's series of flywire screens which he also created was inspired when he was waiting for his mother to answer the door, the decorative patternwork on the flywire screens also helped him with new stencil designs for his paintings.The fly wire screens were inspired while on a trip to France where he photographed hundreds of art decorations from art galleries and street art, he also photographed french doorways. These photographic images formed the basis for his unique flywire screens stencil design. His furniture designs are another one of Howard Arkley's unique and ongoing series which was inspired by European art. I think he is a truly amazing artist because he had so many different dimensions to his art. His unique patternwork and designs included on every painting that he had created was different and gave his paintings an exciting uplift, that always captured my attention. I have a print of the painting " Deluxe Setting'" which sits in my lounge room this why I chose to do Howard Arkley.

Exhibitions- Howard Arkley's first exhibition was held at Tolarno Gardens in April, 1975, it was called " White- Black Paintings" because all of Howard Arkley's paintings at the time were black and white, it was only later on he started to experiment with colour, Arkley was 24 at the time. In 1976 he was awarded the Art Francaise Fellowship, wich was a real honour. In 1982, Howard Arkley exhibited his "Popsim" series at the National Gallery of Victoria, this was the same he released his famous "Primitive"' painting, which featured amazing linework. In the year of 1988 Howard Arkley exhibited his casual work includng his working drawing and sketches at 200 Gertrude Street Gallery, the same year the NGV purchased his tatooed head painting. in 1991, Monash University held a retrospective of his work. In 1991-1993 he held his 'surburbia' paintings at the Blue Chip Show. 1999 was his biggest year, career wise because he was chosen to represent Australia in The Venice Biennale overseas, The Venice Biennale is described as the "Olympics of Visual Art". After his death many art galleries around Australia have held exhibits of " The Life of Howard Arkley", these galleries include The National Gallery of Victoria, The National Gallery of Australia, The Ian Potter Centre in federation Sqaure, The South Australian Gallery and The Art Gallery of New South Wales. Art Galleries around the world have also exhibited work of Howard Arkley including a special decorative gallery in France. Life- Howard Arkley was born on the 5th of May in 1951 to parents Gwen and March Arkley, he grew up in Surrey Hills, a suburb east of Melbourne. He attended Surrey Hills Primary School, and then Box Hill Technical School. Howard Arkley first became interested in art at the age of 15, when he went on a family trip to The National Gallery of Victoria and saw the artwork of Sidney Nolan, another well known Australian artist. So inspired by Sidney Nolan's artwork, the next day Howard Arkley borrowed his father's household paint and started to copy images from catalogues and magazine. As a student Howard Arkley's artwork was like Picasso's paintings, they were abstract,covered the whole page and included a lot of linework. After completing high school, Howard Arkley attended Prahran College of Advanced Education to complete a three year course. It was there that his lecturer and artist Fred Cress introduced him to the airbrush, which later became Howard Arkley's trademark for using, he used it like a pen and only produced print work. After completing the course, he went on to do a Diploma of Art and Design in painting, where he learnt new techniques and started to create paintings in 'suburbia'. Howard Arkley also obtanied a diploma of Education to teach painting, he taught Prahran College of Advanced Education. Because of Howard Arkley's rise to sudden fame, he was asked to paint tram 364 for the Victorian Ministry of Arts. Howard Arkley married Alison Burton in 1989 and moved to Warrigul Road, Oakleigh. Two weeks after returning from the Vience Biennale Howard Arkley was found dead in his Oakleigh studio with a suspected heroin overdose. After his death all of Howard Arkley's artwork went to his family estate. 





 

Bibliography- []

​ 1. Gregory, John, 2006, "Carnival In Suburbia: The art of Howard Arkley", Cambridge University Press, New York, United States of America. 2. Crawford, Ashley. Edgar, Ray, "Spray- The work of Howard Arkley, Fine Art Publishing Pty Ltd, St Leonards Sydney, NSW.