Storybook Sundial, Regent Arcade, Adelaide

Dimensions: 56 x 152 cm
Materials: Watercolour and ink on fine art paper

Regent Arcade captured my imagination in the mid 1990s, especially when going out with my cousins to see a film in the cinema once located there. Visiting Adelaide for trips from my farm based childhood was very exciting and memories of the city’s architecture are emblematic of those moments.

The arcade, I believe once housed a grand domed ceiling, a fresco-like scene of an endless sky, crowned with a gleaming sun motif. The blue of this visa I thought magnificent, and its smiling sun a hint at the sceptical of Versailles for the suburbs. In my memory we met under that dome on those nights, where for me the sceptical of city people and cinema met in an colourful milieu.

For this drawing I reframed from a Google search and I don’t have photos of such nights. I have tried often to find that dome again, but with no success. Therefore this drawing is based purely on an idea, a memory of Adelaide by this kid from the South East, about how much the city shines.

Artwork only available via collection at Adelaide City Library, and to visitors of the Library.

LG