Michael Parekowhai a bright spot in a tough sale at Art + Object in Auckland

By Briar Williams in Auckland, on 02-Apr-2015

The first sale of the year at Art + Object was billed in the presale literature as ‘tightly focused’ and either by necessity or choice, the sale was diminutive in the number of lots, just 63 in total.   

The room was quiet with many seats still available when the sale started, and was in sharp contrast to the highly successful Ron Sang auction just a few weeks ago where it was standing room only.  The auction ticked along pretty slowly at the beginning with lots of phone and absentee bidding to make up for the lack of room attendees.  

The first sale of the year at Art + Object in Auckland on 1 April was quiet with lots of seats still available when the sale started, and was in sharp contrast to their highly successful Ron Sang auction just a few weeks ago, writes Briar Williams. The highlight of the sale was the result for Michael Parekowhai's Tu Tama Ra which was subject to a good old fashioned tussle in the room where two determined bidders battled it out. The work sold for $140,000 hammer against a low estimate of $80,000, creating a

The highlight of the sale was the result for Michael Parekowhai's Tu Tama Ra (Lot 27 ),  which was subject to a good old fashioned tussle in the room where two bidders, art consultant Trish Clark and and the eventual winners, an elegant couple battled it out, calling out the bids to the auctioneer.  

The powder coated steel relief deals with issues around image appropriation and the use of Maori imagery in art.  These sentiments have been some of the most referenced in recent New Zealand art history, concepts also explored by artists such as Dick Frizzell and Gordon Walters.  With the Michael Parekowahi retrospective just opened in Australia (QAGOMA), it was very timely that this work sold for $140,000 hammer against a low estimate of $80,000, creating a new auction record for the artist.  

Another pleasing result was for the Bill Henson photograph, Untitled No.20 2000/2001 (Lot 15 ).  The auctioneer, Ben Plumbly advised that the vendor of this work was from Australia, and had sent the photo from Sydney.  Given the size of the work, it was a leap of faith on their part to consign it to an auction in New Zealand, so no doubt they would have been very happy when the work sold for $34,000 against a low estimate of $30,000.  With that result, perhaps more Henson photos will find their way to NZ collections.

An interesting inclusion in the sale were two works by the expatriate artist Felix Kelly.  Given that the International Art Centre has pretty much cornered the market for his work, it was curious to see them included here.  These lots were perhaps a little looser in handling than we are used to seeing and the interest just wasn't there at the estimates quoted.  Both works, (Lot 56 ) and (Lot 57 ), both called Untitled were passed in at $4,500 against a low estimate of $6,000

Looking back at the results after the sale, parts of the sale were tough from the auctioneer’s perspective with most of the other higher priced lots failing to sell on the night.  No doubt post sales will improve the total today but as of last night the sale cleared 42% by lot and 32% by value.  The hammer price including buyer’s premium of 15% was $567,467.50

 

Sale Referenced:

About The Author

Briar Williams is an Art Valuer and Auctioneer who has worked in the primary and secondary markets of New Zealand and Australia for over 15 years. In Melbourne she managed a commercial gallery and was a valuer at Leonard Joel Auctioneers & Valuers before becoming Head of Art there in 2009. Most recently, she was the manager of the art department at Mossgreen-Webb's in Auckland and currently works as an art writer and consultant.

.