The International Art Centre goes down the hill to new location with a bang

By John Perry in Auckland, on 02-Jun-2016

The International Art Centre changed the date of their Modern and Contemporary Art Auction as to not clash with the opening of Auckland's Art Fair...... the first for 3 years ...as a consequence we ''art-o-holics'' are having a small but tasty feeding frenzy

International Art Centre's 'Modern and Contemporary Art' auction held in Auckland on 24 May featured just over 150 lots of mid to late 20th century and a healthy smattering of 21st century New Zealand painting and prints. The sale rate was about 65% by number with the top price of $60,000 going to an impressive large bronze sculpture of a Huia feather (above) from 2001 by sculptor Paul Dibble.

What with Mossgreen-Webbs bringing over for a weekend viewing of a comprehensive selection of Max Dupain photographs (a first of its kind) for photography collectors on this side of the Tasman sea, and Art + Objects large (240 lot) New Collectors Art sale on 1st of June, a few hundred metres of Australasian fine art and photography have been consumed by the needy, the committed and the brave

Auckland's notorious weather and some confusion over dates contributed to the small crowd at the International Art Centre's auction on the night of 24th May, but the Art Fair the following night saw the best of Auckland's art and party goers getting damp and windswept at the opening in the ''Cloud'' on Auckland's waterfront.

Perhaps the now infamous ''Cloud'' is not such a good venue to hold a major art event after all, but alternate venues are limited in New Zealand's biggest city with all its recent growing pains.

International Art Centre's auction featured just over 150 lots of mid to late 20th century and a healthy smattering of 21st century New Zealand painting and prints.

The sale rate was about 65% with the top price of $60,000 going to an impressive large bronze sculpture of a Huia feather (Lot 28 ) from 2001 by sculptor Paul Dibble.

Max Gimblett also sold well with his Both Light (2009) (Lot 25 ) selling for $55,000 and one of his classic quatrefoils entitled Fra Angelico-The Golden Rule (2007) (Lot 27 ) selling for $47,000, while a large format Dick Frizzell oil on canvas from 2007 entitled Red Sea (Lot 32 ) sold to a prominent dealer in the rooms for $34,000.

Post auction sales have upped the total sales for the auction to around the $650,000 mark with a couple of key works still under negotiation

The sale gave auctioneer Richard Thomson the opportunity to announce the news of a pending relocation in the spring to new purpose built rooms and gallery further down Parnell Road at number 202. What with this breaking news and a new expanded website now on line they must be doing something right on the night and during the daylight hours.

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About The Author

John Perry is known locally as a collector / consultant / curator/ educator and artist and is a former director of the Rotorua Museum of Art and History. For the last 20 years has worked as an antique dealer specializing in ''man made and natural curiosities'' from an old art deco cinema on the outskirts of Auckland. Over the last 16 years he has developed a multi million dollar collection of 19th and 20th century artworks for the Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust. He recently donated 120 artworks from his collection in various media to the East Southland Art Gallery in Gore. A committed ''art o holic'' he continues to develop collections of New Zealand and International fine art / folk art / ceramics and photography for future usage in a private/public ARTMUSEEUM of NEWSEELAND, not to be confused with Te Papa Museum of New Zealand.

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