Last year exhibitors were criticised for approaching the event as a clearing house for lower-priced works. This year the number of participants has almost doubled from the 2007/08 tally of 19 to 33 centres, and while there were clearly works priced to attract entry level collectors and tourists in town for the month-long festival, there were also notable exceptions in both strategy and display.
Tiwi Design chose to highlight a select few of their premier painters, including Jean Baptist Apuatimi and Maria Josette Orsto, and PR rather than direct sales was the strategy in this instance. It is notable, however, that the Tiwi Art Network had staged a concurrent exhibition of some 100 works at the Entertainment Centre that was selling very well and drew in crowds. The Kimberley centres showed a range of small to medium scaled work: Warmun Art Centre sold well on the first day, with a sea of red dots apparent in stark contrast to most other booths, and by day 3 had almost sold out. Along with a diverse offering from their stable of artists, Warmun also used the event to train indigenous workers in sales administration, who were to take up these roles at the centre.
Warlayirti Artists was the only centre to feature a group of works by a single artist: Lucy Loomoo Nungurrayi on day 1, Nora Wompi Nungurrayi on day 2, and Elizabeth Nyumi Nungurrayi on day 3, which gave the booth an air of gravitas and stateliness compared with the small clusters of colourful gems on offer in other desert booths. Papunya Tula also changed their display daily, although they were exhibiting a greater number of small works by a range of artists, and didn’t bother with red dots; and Warlukurlangu Artists was feverishly busy every day, with a rotation of large works by Shorty Jangala Robertson and Judy Napangardi Watson competing for wall space with smaller works.
It was refreshing to see representation of works by some of the less well known cultures, such as the Noongar from south western WA and East Gippsland artists from Victoria; and Tjanpi Desert Weavers provided a lively, diverse and highly affordable offering, which attracted attention and turnover. The increase in participants has ensured heavy foot traffic, and the space was at times difficult to navigate. One centre representative from WA was overheard lamenting that people were simply too busy to be able to commit to buying, but this wasn’t the experience at large. In general, the quality of the work was strong, weakest in the smallest desert canvases priced at the lowest end of the market. This seems to be in accord with Desart’s statement that art centres were retreating to quality in the face of the global financial crisis. (1) Further refinement in staging and strategy will assist the long term success of the fair, but the 2010 event should still be on all serious indigenous art collectors’ calendars.
NOTES
1. John Oster, quoted in “Aboriginal art flourishes despite recession”, The West Australian, 12 August 2009.
