MELBOURNE, ASUTRALIA.- Christie’s auction of Contemporary Art, to be held in Melbourne at a fashionable warehouse location at 43-49 Elizabeth Street Richmond on 25 June, continues to indicate the burgeoning interest in this category established by Christie’s in Australia two years ago.  The local success reflects the world-wide trend of enormous success being seen in Christie’s Contemporary art auctions in New York and London.

Christie’s Annette Larkin, Associate Director and Head of Contemporary Art, Australia said “The rapid embracement of Contemporary art auctions in Australia has been very gratifying.  The quality and value of consignments has rocketed from a base of under one million dollars to more than double that in two years.  Naturally, this present contemporary catalogue has an eclectic mixture of styles and mediums from both Australian and international artists.  The sale affords works of interest to the established collector looking to fill gaps in their collections to the new ‘adventurers’. It is also pleasing to see consignments from major Contemporary art collections, including property from The Applied International Collection, The Arthur Papadimitriou Collection, The Corbett & Yueji Lyon Collection of Contemporary Australian Art all from Melbourne and the Malcolm Enright Collection in Brisbane.”

Both The Applied International Collection and The Arthur Papadimitriou Collection bring to the auction some significant paintings by indigenous artists – Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Ronnie Tjampintjinpa and Turkey Tolson Tjupurrula.  Most recently the Emily Kngwarreye works were viewed in an exhibition of The Applied International Collection which toured regional and city centres of Australia.

The Malcolm Enright Collection includes three important and rare early works by the Brisbane-based artist Robert MacPherson, “Untitled Series One, 1979” (estimate $120,000-140,000); “Royco,1977” (estimate $45,000-60,000) and “Three Frog Poems for ET” (estimate $35,000-45,000).  McPherson’s career was celebrated last year with a retrospective exhibition held at the Art Gallery of Western Australia and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney.  Other works from this collection include early paintings created by John Nixon, Jenny Watson and Stephen Killick.

Christie’s are delighted to be auctioning Peter Booth’s work from 1981 titled “Painting (Devil & Laughing Man)” which was included in many surveys of Australian art in European museums when it was initially created.  Booth offers Australian art, at the end of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first, amazing essays on the eternal conflict between good and evil.  Paintings from this period by Booth rarely appear on the market and as a result of this, and his upcoming retrospective scheduled next year at the new National Gallery of Victoria at Federation Square, it will be hotly sought after with an estimate  of $150,000-200,000.

There is a strong representation of photo-based works in this auction, reflecting the international trend in the collecting of contemporary art.  Works by Anne Zahalka, Brook Andrew, Fiona Hall, Patricia Piccinini, Julie Rrap and of course Tracey Moffatt.   Tracey Moffatt’s “Something More” series of six cibachrome prints and three black and white photographs (1989) has met with international acclaim and record prices at auction in recent years.  This is the first time the whole series will be offered on the Australian market and it carries a pre-sale estimate of $150,000-200,000. 

Howard Arkley is naturally well represented in the sale, two of his works are “Actuality (Is the Void Between Events)” (estimate $25,000-30,000) and “Tudor House, Fitzroy Gardens” (estimate $40,000-50,000). Paintings by Peter Atkins “Carved Wood [Blue Figures] (estimate $8,000-12,000), Jon Cattapan “Safehouse” (estimate $8,000-12,000) and Melinda Harper’s “Untitled” (estimate $8,500-10,000) are all works of great quality that are all available to collectors at approachable prices.

There are five assemblages by Rosalie Gascoigne which span her career including “Indian Summer” (estimate $70,000-100,000) from 1996 and “Herb Garden” (estimate $100,000-120,000) from 1982, the year she was invited to represent Australia at the Venice Bienale.

This auction is being undertaken in Melbourne and has a strong representation of Melbourne artists including Rick Amor, David Larwill, Brent Harris, Tony Clark, Jenny Watson, Charles Green and Lyndell Brown.