Art Market Monitor

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Aboriginal Arts Center Thrives in Downturn, Creates Jobs & Interest in Culture

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D_Minyintiri

Australia’s Aboriginal Art market has been trounced by a combination of factors including changes in the laws governing retirement accounts that drastically reduced the money devoted to art investment in the nation. Sotheby’s Australia just held a lackluster Aboriginal sale but The Australian reports that some of the remote arts centers are thriving in still:

Last year, the centre’s 82 artists earned $1.2 million for their work, up from $391,000 in 2006. Tjala Arts chairman Frank Young said the centre was strong “because of the hard work of the old people.

“We know other Aboriginal artists are taking a hit in income at the moment, (but) Tjala Arts is still getting stronger with the money story, but also in the number of artists, and in the number of jobs it holds for Amata,” he said. […]

“Government talks about closing the gap — this is what the art centre has been doing for Aboriginal people for a long time and what it does every day; by creating jobs and also by keeping Anangu strong in culture,” he said.

Australian Retirement Rules Soften Aboriginal Art Market

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Australia’s new rules for art used as a retirement asset is causing ripple effects through the already weak Aboriginal art market. The retirement schemes are said to account for a large portion of Aboriginal art purchases over recent years. Now with strict rules against having the art on display and onerous storage costs, many are divesting including Melbourne dealers Bill Nuttall and Annette Reeves who will make $289,000 after selling three quarters of their 120-piece investment collection. Buyers will pay a total of $352,000:

Bonhams Aboriginal art specialist Greer Adams admitted “the higher end of the market is still a little tough at the moment”.

Ms Adams said most works went to private buyers but there was some bidding from institutions. More than six artist records were set, including a spectacular sale for a work shown in the 2007 Telstra Art Awards, Gurtha at Biranybirany by Rerrkirrwaa Munuygurr, which sold for $9000 (including the premium) off an estimate of $1500 to $2500. The stand-out result from the second part of the sale was Paddy Bedford’s Thoonbi, for $180,000 including the premium.

Indigenous Art Auction Falls Short (The Australian)

Rodarte’s Royalties for Aboriginal Artists

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Jeremy Eccles seems to be enjoying the trump in this story of the fashion designers whose prints were inspired by Aboriginal artists. The firm followed the principle of the droite de suite royalty in paying the artist’s estate for the use of imagery from his art:

For many, Rodarte‘s 2012 prints were nothing more than a pretty appropriation that’s gone a little further afield than New Mexico. But for Megan Davis, the academic who heads up the UNSW Indigenous Law Centre and is also a member of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the prints were an insensitive theft of her Australian Aboriginal culture. […]

Unfortunately, Ms Davis has jumped to a whole raft of unjust conclusions here. […] Indeed, a quick check with the Aboriginal Artists’ Agency which represents Papunya Tula Artists in this matter, confirmed the licence. “The widow of artist Benny Tjangala will see this use of his artworks quite differently to the professor”, explained Anthony Wallis of AAA. “She will appreciate the royalty flow over the next 12 months! “

Aboriginal Art Dress Spat (Aboriginal Art News)

Urban Aboriginals Make Art Too

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Photo: Rodney Dekker

An artist coming to Scope in New York this week has been getting a good share of press back home in Australia because he cuts against the grain of what most consider Aboriginal art. Here’s the Sydney Morning Herald on Reko Rennie:

“I’m an authentic Aboriginal but I’m not drawing dots. It’s been really amazing to share my connection to the country, community and family through imagery and iconography.” […]

He says the majority of Aboriginal Australians live in urban environments – and his art, which includes a vibrant hot pink kangaroo titled Big Red, aims to reflect that. “Everyone can relate to the kangaroo and internationally it’s a great image … but it also has a powerful relationship to our communities.”

The 37-year-old’s passion for art began as a teenager in the form of street graffiti and it was not until he was older that he realised he could use his talent “to express my identity as an Aboriginal man in an urban environment”.

More to Aboriginal Art than Connecting the Dots (Sydney Morning Herald)

Lost Aboriginal Painting Found in New York

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Sotheby’s in Australia has uncovered an Aboriginal painting that has been missing for a generation. It was in New York, owned by a woman who had no idea of the work’s importance or value:

A significant piece of Indigenous artwork thought to have been lost for almost 40 years has arrived back in Australia. The painting by renowned Indigenous artist Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri has been unveiled at the Sotheby’s Auction House in Melbourne. It has been in New York since 1975, when it was given as a gift to an American woman by an Australian family.

Possum Magic as Important Artwork Returns Home (ABC Online)

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