PROTON-NEUTRON, 1979
HOWARD ARKLEY
synthetic polymer paint on canvas
203.5 x 78.5 cm
signed and dated verso: H Arkley 79
Collection of Chandler Coventry AM, Sydney
Private collection, Melbourne
Howard Arkley, Tolarno Galleries, Melbourne, May, 1979, cat. 11
Howard Arkley, Coventry Gallery, Sydney, March 1980, cat. 1
Crawford, A. and Edgar, R., Spray: The Work of Howard Arkley, Craftsman House, Sydney, revised edition, 2001, p. 29 (illus.)
Gregory, J,. Carnival in Suburbia, The Art of Howard Arkley, Cambridge University Press, Melbourne, 2006, pp. 54–57, 100 (illus. back cover and p. 100, studio photograph p. 57)
Arkley Works electronic catalogue raissoné reference: http://arkleyworks.com/?p=911
'The culmination of Arkley's approach at this time, in terms of source material, technique and composition, is Proton/Neutron, 1979. He recalls the source of this work as being a coffee-shop table top in Chapel Street. A solid red background with abstracted curves in white and black covers the surface in a repetitious pattern. Proton/Neutron was created with a commercial striping machine used for car detailing, which Arkley had bought in New York. As he had done with the spray gun, Arkley found the striping machine to be an instrument of industrial production that he could effectively co-opt.'1
1. Crawford, A. and Edgar, R., Spray: The Work of Howard Arkley, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1997, p. 31 DH1136