Arkley drew constantly growing up and from 1972 he started exhibiting, winning prizes and getting noticed.  As a young man he studied painting and in the 1970’s gained a Diploma of Art & Design (Painting). Arkley is known for his iconic stylised suburban landscapes, houses, interiors, tattooing, wallpaper and comics.  He was drawn to pop culture and psychedelic imagery - awash with technicolour and a black outline. He used a paint spray gun and stencils in his practice.

In 1975 Arkley held his first solo exhibition.  He participated in group shows throughout the 1980’s and in 1991 Monash University held a retrospective of his artwork.

During the 1990’s he continued exhibiting and his style significantly evolved.

Howard Arkley held major public gallery exhibitions in 1995 at Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne and in 1997 at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.  He was commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra to paint a portrait of musician Nick Cave which he finished in 1999.  This creative period lead to his inclusion in the 48th Venice Biennale, Italy and a one man show in Los Angeles, USA in 1999.

Having gained recognition during the 1990’s unfortunately these were to be his final shows.

Upon returning to Australia in 1999 Howard tragically died aged 48.

Brett Lichtenstein didn’t make water-glided frames for Howard Arkley and they didn’t work together, however they knew people in common from the arts scene in 1980s/1990’s Melbourne. 

In 2008 Brett approached Kalli Rolfe, who manages the copyright and reproduction for the estate of Howard Arkley, to make fine art reproductions. Under Kalli’s stewardship we began digitising a selection of Arkley’s artwork to create limited edition, fine art reproductions - a relationship that continues to this day.