Selling Aboriginal paintings

ew · Joined: 23 Feb 2010 Posts: 1 Location: Melbourne

Can anyone offer any suggestions as to how/where to sell or auction off Aboriginal paintings purchased on Ebay?

I've been enthusiastically collecting for over 6 yrs and my house just isn't big enough - anymore. I've approached auction houses: Leonard and Joel, Charleston's and Mossgreen, but they can't help as the work - to my knowledge does not come from art community centers.

This is very disappointing as I had always intended to sell the majority one day, keeping a few favorites. It's been a wonderfully journey BUT have I been completely naive in thinking that these pieces ever held any kind of investment value. I had always made sure the paintings came from the most reputable sellers on ebay with certificates of authenticity and photoes etc.

Demand on ebay for Aboriginal art is not as strong as it was 4 years ago meaning if I attempted to sell back via ebay the loss would be significant in addition to losing the cost of framing - it just doesn't make sense to re-sell on ebay. There must be a better way?

Is there any hope?

Stefan Maguran · Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 7:33 pm Post subject: Re - Selling Aboriginal paintings

There is always hope - wait until the GFC gets a bit further behind.
And never buy art just for investment, or, if you do, buy emerging artists.

artfound · Joined: 26 Dec 2008 Posts: 23

Well, IMHO majority of aboriginal paintings are made conveyor-like using the same old patterns and they repeat each other. Very few (hush-hush even of the BIG names) fall into the category of great art, so people would rarely buy aboriginal paintings by just looking at something and yelling, YES, I want it. Many buy them as mementos of their trips to outback. Most buy as investment, but I disagree with the previous poster as IMHO one has to be very careful and only stick to BIG names and good galleries in order to sell them well in future. Buying emerging artists is like playing roulette. One can win sometimes, but keep on playing and you lose all. Listing on ebay from $1 No reserve will give you about 80% of the realistic market value of painting and it is probably the best scenario, as auction houses charge you 30% anyway. So the truth is that if your painting are selling below of what you paid - too bad, you've simply paid too much.

MsM · Joined: 14 Apr 2009 Posts: 16 Location: Sydney

Ew, an unfortunate position to be in though you do have other options. You should consider contacting some of the other auction houses who offer a broader range works rather than focusing on those who auction the top tiers. I would recommend Davidson Auctions in Annandale or Lawsons (also in Annandale). Both will come up from a google search.

Good luck.

outofthebox · Joined: 17 Feb 2010 Posts: 9 Location: Western Australia

marri · Joined: 28 Aug 2009 Posts: 267 Location: Western Australia

Since your pieces were not from community art centres, you can bet your life that you will get more when you sell them than the artist did when s/he sold them. Carpetbaggers have been skimming art for peanuts for years from remote communities. Recently much of that art is sold on ebay. Your problem is a reflection of that. I have six or severn pieces from Tjukula, a WA community not far from Docker River. Of those I know one artist has since exhibited widely and the piece has probably increased in value. that is a painting by Nyarrapyi Giles. It might make a profit if I sold it in 20 years because it cost me $1000 at the community art centre. A good slab of that money went to the artist so I was very happy with the price.

In regard to the "assembly line - same old patterns" comment - its a bit unfair. As far as I can tell there are some artists (and I am talking about central desert) who paint the ceremonial patterns that were/are body or sand art. To do that you have to "own" the story. These patterns do not vary, as you would expect in a "nonwriting" culture and are collectable as much for ethnographic reasons as artistic. My painting by Nyarrapyi Giles (mentioned above) is in that category. The shame is these patterns lose their significance when taken out of context of the music/dance of the ceremony. There are patterns that may die with the artist because the story can only be passed on to certain blood relatives. There are other artists that don't own stories and reproduce generic stories like the seven sisters (done over and over by a host of artists).... lots of dots and stuff. These are knocked out quicly and all look pretty much the same. Then there are those doing contemporary work, which still usually dervies from their land/traditions but is broader in its scope. Even then I believe an artist can only interpret the land that s/he is "born to". Then of course there are thiose that break out of tradition entirely and address a range of social or other issues..... shane Pickett in WA comes to mind.

BUT yes, there is a lot of massed produced crap about.