Robert Rooney: Portrait Photographs 1978-87

Overview

Cruise through the chronicles of local '80s coolness with this star-studded portrait retrospective from Robert Rooney. A well-respected artist, critic and man about town, Rooney had a host of famous faces around him at any given time. Featuring 75 photographs, this exhibition documents those faces — the spectacular and more often than not bespectacled elite of Melbourne's '80s art scene.

Howard Arkley, iconic painter of suburbia (and sometimes Nick Cave), is one such face on show. Looking laid-back, hip and strangely baby-faced, the painter pictured above is indicative of the rest of the work in the collection. Rooney captured his subjects between puffs of a cigarette, over a quiet nightcap, or amidst the clutter of their artist's studio. It's an intimate set of works that give you an intriguing look behind the curtain.

Other people who feature in the collection include surrealist painter Peter Booth, former NGV director James Mollison, and landscape painter Fred Williams.