When 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.
- ISBN13 9780521868952
- Publish Date 1 November 2006
- Publish Status Inactive
- Out of Print 9 May 2016
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Cambridge University Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 226
- Language English