Art investing is something of a national sport in Australia though the buying is generally concentrated in Australian art. Now we get the first hint that the collapse of the market for Aboriginal art may be less connected to government schemes to make sure artists receive a royalty from secondary sales than competition from other regional schools.
Tamara Winikoff, director of Australia’s National Association for the Visual Arts, makes the connection between the decline in Australia’s market for Aboriginal art and the rise of Chinese Contemporary:
“Investment can be faddish,” she said. “Certainly we know that there’s a very, very substantial interest in contemporary Chinese art. That seems to be presenting something of a challenge to Indigenous Australian art in terms of the major collectors.”
