Broadcast: ABC News Breakfast, The Mix

Born in 1951 in the Melbourne suburb of Box Hill, Arkley is perhaps best known for the eye-popping depictions of suburban homes rendered in electric colours that he created when chosen to represent Australia at the 1999 Venice Biennale. When he died of a heroin overdose on July 22, 1999, five weeks after his triumph at the art world's greatest exhibition, those suburban images assumed icon status in Australian art, overshadowing much of his other work. Howard Arkley (and friends...) was a 2015 exhibition at Tarrawarra Museum and Art Gallery that attempted to redefine the public image of Arkley by paying homage not just to where his work ended up, but where it evolved from: abstraction.