Artist Keith Looby and his work have been unjustly erased, film producer Sean Murphy says. Looby's awards include the Archibald Prize (1984). He lived in Canberra in the 1970s and the 1990s, and was named Canberra Artist of the Year in 1992. Looby's works have been exhibited by many galleries in Australia and overseas. But, Murphy says, Looby's works have been removed from both private and public galleries around Australia and he is largely unknown to the new generation of curators.

Murphy is co-producer of Looby, a documentary about the artist. Murphy's father Des - a former ABC journalist who was a friend of Looby and was co-producer Merilyn Alt's husband - started work on the film but died six months into production.

Murphy says Looby has alienated many in the art world.

"He pits himself against a sometimes real, sometimes imagined conspiracy of establishment figures - ie curators, gallery trustees - and artists that broadly fall under the 'charm school'. That is, image-makers concerned with creating things that look beautiful - rather than confronting."

Murphy says what Looby regarded as "good-humoured intellectual sparring" - including a 1989 exhibition portraying artists and curators in "compromising, school-boyish poses" - did not go down well and led to him being ostracised. He says, Loobu is "now known - if he is known at all - and dismissed as a troublemaker while amazing works gather dust in storage facilities around the country."

A spokesperson from the National Gallery of Australia says it has "three paintings and seven works on paper (including History of Australia, a work in six parts) by artist Keith Looby in its Australian Art collection. His work has been on show as part of the permanent collection but is not currently on display. There are around 160,000 works in the National Collection. Due to the scope of the collection and space limitations, at any one time there are only about 2 per cent of works on display. Displays are regularly refreshed to maximise works that are shown."

Murphy calls this a "cut and paste" response although he acknowledges the gallery gave the filmmakers access to Looby's artwork.

Senior curator at the National Portrait Gallery of Australia Chris Chapman says the gallery has two Looby portraits, "a really great one" of artist Jan Senbergs and one of former ALP national secretary David Combe. The latter was last on display in 2006 and he hopes to put the Senbergs portrait on display "in the future".

Canberra Times art critic Sasha Grishin, who knows Looby, says the artist has has "quite often sabotaged his own success ... I do think he's an incredibly underrated artist ... He's certainly an artist with a unique voice that should be heard."

The filmmakers hope Looby will help that happen.