Also depicting the sacred rock holes and sand dunes of her country, Walungkura’s colourful and vibrant canvasses include stories of the old “devil devil” woman “Kutungka” as she traveled through the lands surrounding Papunga, 70km west from Walungkura’s country of Kintore. As the “devil devil” made her way to Muruntji, she visited women’s underground cave sites and waterholes, and so the story tells, killed and ate tribesmen along the way!

What is common to both these senior women’s painting is the authenticity, vibrancy and vigour with which they record the sacred ceremony and sites of women’s country in the Western Desert. What is unique to each are their interpretations and masterful styles, developed over years of artistic practice and handed down through 1000’s of years of pure conceptual tradition.

Brenda Colahan, 2006
Manager Barrack Gallery

Women's Business opens at Barrack Gallery on Thursday 17th August and continues until Friday 1st September 2006.

Media View

Pictures from Home

"The works of modern Aboriginal artists are now among the most exciting being produced in Australia. They stand alone as pieces of modern art but to many collectors, especially those from overseas, the Aboriginal and spiritual element is what makes them desirable"

Starter guide
$30,000+
Ronnie Tjampitjinpa's 1993 painting, The Kadaitja Man (Law Enforcer), marks the bold new style much-loved by modern collectors. Some of his more recent works are valued at about $120,000. (Excerpts)

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James Cockington Sydney Morning Herald, Money Section Art Market Insight, 26 July 2006

Barks that bite

"International collectors accounted for more than half the sales at Sotheby's Aboriginal art auction last week." 

"The collectors who spoke to The Australian Financial Review are upbeat about the future of Aboriginal art in the northern hemisphere now that more institutions are providing a reference point."   (Excerpts)

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Susan Owens, Australian Financial Review, 10th August, 2006

The Art Oracle: Ronnie Tjampitjinpa, Pintupi people

"An innovator, Ronnie developed and perfected the "linked dot" technique in the 1990's to create surfaces of unparalleled vibrancy. This method of painting sets his work apart from most other Papunya painters of his generation, who tended to use separate dotting, and seems to have influenced many of the current generation of painters in the Kintore region."

"To my mind, he has developed into one of the group's most important painters..."  (Excerpts)

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The Art Oracle by Michael Reid, The Sydney Morning Herald - Good Weekend Magazine, 14th-15th July, 2006

Art bubble draws new generation

"According to the Australian Art Sales Digest, local sales at auction were worth $27.1 million in 1995, a decade later in 2005 they topped $93.1 million, and this year, if first half sales of $47.2 million are any indication, they could get close to $100 million.

"Over a shorter period of five years to 2005, art grew by 7.3 per cent a year, while shares fell by 2.4 per cent."

"There doesn't seem to be any evidence that the art market will experience a significant downturn in the near future, it is much more stable than it was a couple of decades ago," (Excerpts)

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Katrina Strickland, Australian Financial Review, 19th July, 2006

Living canvases blossom abroad

"Dreaming Their Way: Aboriginal Women Painters was launched last week at the National Museum for Women in the Arts in Washington DC and the responses have been extremely positive."

for a long time the latest thing in American art has also been the latest in international terms. The prosperity and power of the United States, the reach of its media and markets, makes this inevitable."  (Excerpts)

*Dreaming Their Way: Aboriginal Women Painters includes works by Ningurra Naparrula

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John McDonald, The Sydney Morning Herald - Spectrum,
8th July 2006

Canvassing the market

"Ralph Hobbs, Art Director of art investment brokerage Art Equity, says rental portfolios can earn up to a 10 per cent return annually. This is an unusual way of exploiting investment art but one that is proving enormously successful."  (Excerpts)

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by Emma Gardiner, Virgin Blue Voyeur (Inflight Magazine),
August, 2006

Top Performers

• Kathleen Petyarre
  A work by Kathleen Petyarre titled MOUNTAIN DEVIL LIZARD 1995 more than doubled its low end estimate at the July 31st Sotheby's auction in Melbourne. The acrylic on linen measuring 122x122cm achieved $43,200. The highest auction price for a work by Kathleen is $47,800 set in 2005.
• Judy Napangardi Watson
  Prices for paintings by Judy Watson have been increasing in the primary market with many significant works currently priced around $20,000-$25,000.
  Judy was chosen alongside Ningurra Naparrula as one of eight Aboriginal artists selected to paint the interior of the new Musee Quai Branly in Paris. She is also included in the exhibition, Dreaming Their Way currently showing in Washington DC, then traveling to New Hampshire.
  Art Equity has secured a number of collagraphs from Watson's limited edition titled Mina Mina Jukurrpa (see above left). This the second print edition produced by the artist in conjunction with Master Printmaker, Paul Smith. Watson is the only Aboriginal artist to have produced an edition of prints of any kind. Given the artist's national and international recognition and her representation in major public and private collections, including the National Gallery of Victoria, AGNSW, these extremely well priced collagraphs allow a rare opportunity to enter the market for work by this significant artist.
• Katy Woodroffe
  Katy Woodroffe achieved a near sellout show at Barrack Gallery last month. Her mesmerising imagery and masterful technique has attracted not only art buyers and collectors but critical acclaim both here and overseas. Between July and September this year, Katy has been selected as a finalist for the following awards: City of Hobart Art Prize (28 selected from 124 submissions) - winners announced August 18th; “Fifty Trees of Launceston” (selected artist and opening speaker); International Print Biennial, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea (winner announced September 7th); and the Fremantle Print Award (winner announced September 8th).

  Katy was also selected as the August 2006 Featured artist at the Henry Jones Art Hotel in Hobart which was rated as one of best 60 new hotels in the world by Conde Nast Traveler and dedicated to supporting Australian contemporary art.

• Euan Macleod

  Art Equity was privileged to release the first collagraphs from Euan Macleod's latest edition of 60 prints. The edition made in collaboration with Paul Smith, is a triptych plus an additional collagraph - making 4 prints in total. The extraordinary body of work took over 8 months to complete, using 10 plates and 80 colours. The photograph (below left) shows the Master printmaker and artist at work together on the plates, clearly illustrating the handmade nature of collagraphy.

  Macleod has an auction record of $23,500 against an estimate of $8-12,000 for an oil on canvas in September 2003. In the primary market, he’s achieving $15,000 to 30,000 for major paintings.

GOINGS ON

A New Face at Art Equity...

We are delighted to announce the recent appointment of Patricia Knapp to the Art Equity team. Patricia will head up our Corporate Art Rental business. She joins us with eighteen years experience in the art and design industry in New York and Sydney. For the last ten years, Patricia has been renting art to businesses throughout Australia and has a strong track record of drawing on her extensive knowledge of art and architecture to generate new and repeat business.

Art Rental Portfolios...

Art Equity Rental Portfolios have proven a boon to clients keen to diversify into the steadily growing art market and who also seek the generation of income streams. This key investment criteria has become a well-documented shortcoming in art investing not only in Australia but worldwide. Art Equity is the only known organization to provide a sophisticated income generating art investment product.

The service we provide to clients who purchase Art Equity Rental Portfolios is extensive and unique and it requires specialized expertise. This starts with the sourcing and vetting of suitable clients which often requires onsite appraisals. Orders are processed and the logistics including delivery, hanging, certificate of currency etc., are coordinated. We provide on-going management and tracking of the portfolio throughout the rental period and supply an annual statement to the owners of portfolios.

In order to provide optimum service to our clients, we have introduced a portfolio management fee (PMF) of $50 per artwork per annum. The PMF was made effective to all new Art Equity Rental Portfolios on Monday 24th July 2006.

an expert perspective

Paul Smith
Master printmaker

I have worked as an artist and printmaker for more than 20 years and established EStudio Editions on Scotland Island in the early 1990’s.  Here I collaborate with some of Australia’s most prestigious artists to produce high quality limited edition collagraphs.

I have recently completed the triptych with Euan Macleod.  It took over eight months to create and each single print utilised 10 plates, and 80 colours.

Euan worked directly on the plate by painting a rough image onto each plate. He then carved away the negative areas and coated the positive areas with a gel medium, which then hardens thereby creating a textural surface. The gel medium is similar to the marks made by the artist when painting with a brush or spatula onto a canvas or board.

Euan and I then worked in the studio mixing colours and proofing the plates until the first stage was achieved in the print. The second stage of printing proceeded where Euan reworked the plates, the same process as the first stage and then reproofing. This process continued until the edition was completed.

I enjoy working with Euan as he understands the subtlety of printmaking and has an open mind to the changes that naturally appear in the plates. When creating a print there is always an element of surprise.

In each of these images Euan continues to explore themes of mans presence in an overwhelming landscape. The surreal elements create a dreamlike quality in the works. The collagraph captures the painterliness and rich colour and brushstrokes for which Euan is famous in his paintings.

MARKET WATCH

Economic concerns surrounding rate rises and petrol prices, along with the Middle East crisis don't appear to have impacted spending in the Australian art market. Although it is possible these external issues may affect the local market in months ahead, commentators stress that good quality stock with excellent provenance will always sell.

Recent auction activity has seen new records set and prices well exceeding estimates for works by both leading and lesser known artists. Sotheby's July 31st Sale of Aboriginal Art totaled $3,940,860 in sales, although nearly one quarter of the works were passed in.  A Rover Thomas painting Bugaltji-Lissadell Country 1986, sold for $660,000 (incl.buyers premium) against an estimate of $400,000-$600,000. A Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri painting achieved $200,000 which was double the expected price.

Other successful sales in July, including Lawson-Menzies auction of paintings, and Bonhams and Goodman's Australian, International & Aboriginal Art sale collectively brought in around $3.3 million indicating another record total is on the horizon for 2006.

The Melbourne Art Fair has also reported record sales for their biannual event with $10.5 million hauled in over the four days. This was an increase of $2.5 million and 21,000 attendees on the 2004 fair.  Numerous exhibiting galleries noticed the increase in numbers of "30-something" visitors reinforcing the much publicised emergence of young collectors and investors of art in this country.

The International Art Market

International auction monitors, Artprice.com have recently announced that the global figure for total Fine Art sales revenue is 4 times higher than it was 10 years ago. Over the last twelve months the Artprice global index is up 16.5% with Contemporary art ranked as the most dynamic segment along with modern art, both achieving average price increases of 20%.

The Australian Art Market from A UK perspective ...

The progression in sales revenue reported by Artprice has essentially been driven by a sharp escalation of prices. According to Spencer Ewen, the market is seeing a trend of indiscriminate buying in the very top end of the market while lesser works by the same artists are being met with far savvier buyers. There, prices are not being inflated in to the same degree.

European and American buyers are identifying emerging markets with Australian and Asian markets attracting significant interest. The recent opening of the Quai Branly Museum in Paris has put Australian Aboriginal art firmly into the headlines of UK art news. Ewen is confident that the interest generated by this press will filter into other areas of Australian art.

Spencer C Ewen
Seymour's Art Advisors and Valuers
LONDON