http://www.aboriginalartnews.com.au/ en-us Copyright 2008 Mon, 06 Oct 2008 18:40:33 +0930 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Australian Aboriginal artists whose paintings sell for millions of dollars internationally but who often struggle for money will get a lifeline through a royalty charge imposed on Friday on their resold works. In a pointer to the problem, a distinctive work by late indigenous artist Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri was last year sold to the National Gallery of Australia for A$2.4 million ($1.8mln) after being originally purchased by a dealer for just A$2,500. Many outback painters receive only meager payments for works later sold on by galleries or middlemen for thousands of dollars, often to collectors overseas or in Australia's major cities, the center-left government said. "By enshrining in law the right of artists and their heirs to receive a benefit from the secondary sale of their work, we are building an environment where the talent and creativity of visual artists receives greater reward," Arts Minister Peter Garrett said. Garrett, a former rock star, said a mandatory 5 percent royalty would apply to artworks sold for $1,000 or more. The resale royalty would apply to works by living artists and for a period of 70 years after an artist's death.]]> http://www.aboriginalartnews.com.au/2008/10/aboriginal-artists-gain-royalties-for-resold-art.php http://www.aboriginalartnews.com.au/2008/10/aboriginal-artists-gain-royalties-for-resold-art.php Newspaper Mon, 06 Oct 2008 18:40:33 +0930 Enter the competition.]]> http://www.aboriginalartnews.com.au/2008/10/new-competition-dreamtime-sisters-by-colleen-wallace-nungari.php http://www.aboriginalartnews.com.au/2008/10/new-competition-dreamtime-sisters-by-colleen-wallace-nungari.php Posts aboriginal art competition colleen wallace nungari competition Mon, 06 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0930 http://www.aboriginalartnews.com.au/2008/10/joseph-jurra-tjapaltjarri.php http://www.aboriginalartnews.com.au/2008/10/joseph-jurra-tjapaltjarri.php Australia joseph jurra tjapaltjarri Sat, 04 Oct 2008 00:10:24 +0930 http://www.aboriginalartnews.com.au/2008/10/wintjiya-napaltjarri.php http://www.aboriginalartnews.com.au/2008/10/wintjiya-napaltjarri.php Australia wintjiya napaltjarri Sat, 04 Oct 2008 00:06:20 +0930 View Papunya Painting - Out of the Desert exhibition View Papunya Painting - Out of the Desert exhibition slideshow]]> http://www.aboriginalartnews.com.au/2008/10/last-opportunity-to-experience-papunya-painting-out-of-the-desert.php http://www.aboriginalartnews.com.au/2008/10/last-opportunity-to-experience-papunya-painting-out-of-the-desert.php Media billy stockman exhibition long jack phillipus out of the desert papunya timmy payungka Fri, 03 Oct 2008 23:50:59 +0930 THE Australia Council will develop a voluntary code of conduct for indigenous art after a lobby group was stripped of responsibility because of "regrettable" delays and inadequate consultation. At the Cultural Ministers Council meeting in Alice Springs yesterday, arts ministers agreed to speed up work on guidelines the federal Government hopes will help reduce exploitation of Aboriginal artists. The Australia Council had not been directly involved with the code. The National Association for the Visual Arts had been developing the code for several months, and had planned to complete it by yesterday's meeting. Executive director Tamara Winikoff did not respond to a request for comment yesterday. State, territory and federal arts ministers were scathing of NAVA yesterday, saying in the final communique that the delays had been "regrettable" and the level of consultation was "inadequate". Federal Arts Minister Peter Garrett said the development of the code had been a long, complicated process that needed to be finished. "We're always trying to strike that right balance between providing people with sufficient information to make reasonable decisions in the marketplace and ensuring that we don't have excessive and continuing exploitation in indigenous art," he said. An Australia Council spokesman said the process would be "taken up a notch". He said the council would work with NAVA to finalise the code this year. Moves to develop voluntary measures followed last year's Senate inquiry into Aboriginal art, which recommended a code of conduct be established if problems remained after two years. The Howard government announced the inquiry after The Australian highlighted concerns about the exploitation of indigenous artists. The ministers also supported indigenous musicians with a $78,000 program to improve access to recording facilities. "There's always been quite a high level of music-making activity in rural and regional Australia," Mr Garrett said. "Particularly in indigenous communities, it seems to be a feature that there's a great deal of music about, but there are a great deal of issues around getting that music out to a wider audience." ]]> http://www.aboriginalartnews.com.au/2008/10/indigenous-art-code-group-sacked.php http://www.aboriginalartnews.com.au/2008/10/indigenous-art-code-group-sacked.php Newspaper Fri, 03 Oct 2008 12:46:20 +0930 Gene and Brian Sherman shone a light on Australian contemporary art for 21 years at Gene's Sydney gallery. Now, 600 fluorescent tubes are illuminating their new non-profit foundation. Indigenous artist Jonathan Jones's installation ``untitled (the tyranny of distance),'' wraps the tubes inside 500-square feet of aluminum frames, covered with blue tarpaulin. The display was commissioned by the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation (SCAF). ``Art foundations seem to be a worldwide trend,'' said Gene Sherman. ``Rather than give to an institution, people are often establishing their own foundations through which they can showcase their own collection.'' Enigmatic and beautiful from a distance, close inspection reveals the plastic tarpaulin cover -- a cheap illusion with a message. In Aboriginal communities, ``you see tarpaulin everywhere -- from people covering their houses after storms to other people using it for seasonal outstations in the country'' said Jones in an interview for the show's catalog. The project, on show until Oct. 11, was partly inspired by government efforts to restrict the movement of Aborigines in the Northern Territory, he said, ``about confining and controlling movement and freedom.'' ]]> http://www.aboriginalartnews.com.au/2008/10/gene-brian-sherman-shine-light-on-australian-indigenous-art.php http://www.aboriginalartnews.com.au/2008/10/gene-brian-sherman-shine-light-on-australian-indigenous-art.php Blog Fri, 03 Oct 2008 12:46:13 +0930 More than 150 Aboriginal artists have been cut down to just 16 to contest Australia’s richest indigenous art prize at the Art Gallery of WA next month. WA artists make up at least a quarter of the finalists in the new $50,000 WA Indigenous Art Award, with a number of others dividing their time between desert communities across the State border. The West reports: The announcement of the finalists yesterday erases the fingerprints of former premier Alan Carpenter, who had labelled the prize the WA Premier’s Indigenous Art Award when he launched it in June. Among the 16 contenders are Perth-based Shane Pickett, Jean Baptiste Apuatimi from the Tiwi Islands, Sydneysider Gordon Hookey, Turkey Creek elder Patrick Mung Mung, Brisbane artist and academic Fiona Foley and Balgo painter Patrick Tjungurrayi. They represent a diverse range of styles, from Apuatimi’s dots-and-line ochres to Pickett’s dreamy acrylic renditions of the six Nyoongar seasons and Hookey’s fired-up urban sloganeering. ]]> http://www.aboriginalartnews.com.au/2008/10/field-in-rich-aboriginal-art-prize-down-to-16.php http://www.aboriginalartnews.com.au/2008/10/field-in-rich-aboriginal-art-prize-down-to-16.php Newspaper Thu, 02 Oct 2008 21:27:15 +0930 Industry representatives and Aboriginal artists will come together in Alice Springs today to talk about issues pertinent to Indigenous art in Australia. Charles Darwin University (CDU) is hosting the one-day symposium, which will be an opportunity for participants to debate topics like ethical dealing and a new industry code of conduct. Slyvia Kleinert, an Associate Professor of Australian and Indigenous art at CDU, put the event together. "The title of the symposium is Mwarre Anthurre - that's a Nurabunda meaning right or proper art works, communities thrive," she said. "I think it promises to be a very exciting event. "It brings together a diverse range of speakers, Indigenous representatives and government agencies." http://www.aboriginalartnews.com.au/2008/10/alice-hosts-indigenous-art-forum.php http://www.aboriginalartnews.com.au/2008/10/alice-hosts-indigenous-art-forum.php Lecture Thu, 02 Oct 2008 12:23:50 +0930 I met Makinti ten years ago. I was overwhelmed by the complexity and subtlety of her paintings and through an interpreter she told me the story of the Hair String ceremony, says Sabine Haider, Director of Aboriginal Art Store. 'I find her body of work intensely feminine'. This painting is associated with the rock hole site (red) of Lupulnga, a Peewee Dreaming place, south of Kintore. The linear design represents body paint and spun hair-string, which is used for making hair-belts worn during the Womens ceremonies.

• View featured artist Makinti Napanangka introduction
• View featured artist Makinti Napanangka catalogue
• View featured artist Makinti Napanangka slideshow

]]> http://www.aboriginalartnews.com.au/2008/10/lupulgna-by-makinti-napanangka.php http://www.aboriginalartnews.com.au/2008/10/lupulgna-by-makinti-napanangka.php Posts makinti napanangka Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0930 The Museum and Art Gallery on the NT (MGNT) declared itself well pleased by the positive attitudes after the first of three proposed forums it's holding on the future of the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards - the NATSIAAs or Telstras. The first event was in Alice Springs during the big Desert Mob weekend; later forums will be in Darwin on 17th Oct and via a southern teleconference at a yet-unnanounced date. MGNT Director, Apolline Kohen was, perhaps a little surprised that after all the concern in July when a number of desert art centres announced a boycott of this year's 25th anniversary NATSIAAs, there was little offered by way of practical suggestions as to how MGNT should discriminate against certain types of entries in the future. But she concluded that the forum's opening presentations about the complexities that already exist to get pre-selection of entries and the final judging as good as possible may have cut the ground from under some of the more aggrieved attenders' feet. Another factor may have been the presence of the man against whom the boycott was organised - John Ioannou, Business Adviser to the Irrunytju Art Centre. He was there with senior Pitjanjatjara artist Tommy Watson - pointing out that no other indigenous artist had actually bothered to attend. Kohen concluded with some pleasure that there was a clear acceptance in the hall that the Award continued to have a serious impact on both artists' careers and the indigenous art market. But one area of contention that may be developed at future forums is the issue of a public gallery operating a commercial event. For a variety of historical reasons, MGNT does issue a price list of all works on show in the Award - though the actual selling of the prize artworks is done by artists or their agents. If this was ended, would this drive dealers away from entering their artists' works; would it put artists off, for no sale could take place until 5 months after an entry; or could it even encourage ethical entries from dealers or art centres that would pay their artists on entry, confident that an association with the NATSIAAs would enhance the likelihood of sale later??? http://www.aboriginalartnews.com.au/2008/10/mgnt-cinsiders-future-of-telstra-art-award.php http://www.aboriginalartnews.com.au/2008/10/mgnt-cinsiders-future-of-telstra-art-award.php Feature Apolline Kohen Irrunytju Art Centre Museum & Art Gallery of NT Telstra Awards Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:32:04 +0930 In only its second year, the Northern Territory's Toga Contemporary Art Award is touring the Top End. It opens in Alice Spring tomorrow, moving to Tennant Creek in November and Katherine in December. Readers familiar with the Telstra Awards will assume that this is another indigenous art award. In fact, of the 33 finalists selected from 124 NT resident original entries, it's about 50/50 Black and white. But it was the Yolgnu artist Djirrirra Wunungmurra from Arnhemland who was named the winner of the $15,000 prize at a ceremony held at the Darwin Convention Centre back in June. The new Convention Centre and the Waterfront development where the first of 33 pieces of public art was installed at the same time, is a joint partnership between the NT Government and the Toga Group, guided by its Executive Chairman, Ervin Vidor, a noted Sydney art lover and collector. Djirrirra Wunungmurra’s 'Dhalwangu Gapu - 5 Memorial Poles' is a work that reflects the young woman's understanding of Yolgnu water rights in Eastern Arnhemland, capturing the different levels of salinity and silt contamination as they affect water flow. Encased in the strong lines of the water is a fishtrap made from paperbark. Other contenders for the Toga prize were Ronnie Tjampitjinpa's Untitled painting - a gorgeous return to form; Therese Ritchie's naive work about acceptance of great hardship - not unrelated to the Intervention; Tobias Richardson's wacko bamboo skewer construction; and the Kuninjku Marina Murdilinga's woven tribute to the Moon Dreaming of her father, Mick Kubarrku http://www.aboriginalartnews.com.au/2008/10/toga-art-award-tours-for-the-first-time.php http://www.aboriginalartnews.com.au/2008/10/toga-art-award-tours-for-the-first-time.php Media araluen arts centre djirrirra wunungmurra katherine civic centre gallery marina murdilinga pyramid gallery ronnie tjampitjinpa therese ritchie tobias richardson togart contemporary art award Wed, 01 Oct 2008 19:56:11 +0930 Ricky Maynard is a Tasmanian Aboriginal photographer driven by a need to reveal his people’s true history. Ricky is sick of looking at books and listening to historians telling his people’s story from a white perspective. He believes his culture has never been given a human face and the true story has to be told now for the sake of future generations. He wants to win a political battle that began over 200 years ago, and he is using his art to do it. Portrait of a Distant Land is a film about an artist and his journey to photograph a physical and cultural landscape that is thousands of years old. At its heart is an epic tale of survival that finally dispels a 200 year old extinction myth.]]> http://www.aboriginalartnews.com.au/2008/10/portrait-of-a-distant-land-pt-1.php http://www.aboriginalartnews.com.au/2008/10/portrait-of-a-distant-land-pt-1.php Media Wed, 01 Oct 2008 12:50:47 +0930 Australia’s leading Aboriginal photographer Wayne Quilliam will be joined by a panel of experts to present and discuss his three most intriquing Indigenous photographs at the National Museum in Canberra on Sunday October 5. In association with the A Different Time: The Expedition Photographs of Herbert Basedow 1903-1928 exhibition, Quilliam and the panel will explore the ways images continue to be used by Indigenous and non-indigenous people, as well as their contemporary role as the starting point for historians, artists, curators and communities. “Demystify the myth and reality of Indigenous visual imaging is not only necessary but essential to the understanding of who we are as a people. The human element of photographs is emotive and provocative, it inspires one to find depth, meaning and perhaps even a revelation that the vision captured by a ‘camera’ is more than just an image”, Quilliam says. “I'm intrigued by the differing perceptions of how Indigenous people are or should be represented in photographs in particular by my own people and other international Indigenous communities I work with. After recent trips to Mexico and Bolivia my own views have dramatically changed ” he adds. The discussion will be held in Visions Theatre National Museum of Australia ACT 2601 Australia Canberra. http://www.aboriginalartnews.com.au/2008/10/my-top-3-symposium-wayne-quilliam.php http://www.aboriginalartnews.com.au/2008/10/my-top-3-symposium-wayne-quilliam.php Lecture Aboriginal photographer wayne quilliam Wed, 01 Oct 2008 12:40:47 +0930 RADIO Larrakia is being investigated after a complaint was lodged with the Workplace Ombudsman. Aboriginal artist Dotty Fejo has complained about the indigenous broadcaster and community organisation's work practices after working there for two years. She said she had worked for the "media and arts section" of the organisation as an indigenous broadcaster and as an artist. She said she used to paint in a demountable outside the station. But Radio Larrakia chief executive Donna Odegaard denied the station employs artists and said Ms Fejo had been on CDEP before being employed as an indigenous broadcast training consultant last year. Radio Larrakia's website has a "Media & Arts" section listing a variety of Aboriginal paintings for sale - with the radio station's logo at the top.]]> http://www.aboriginalartnews.com.au/2008/10/increase-text-size-decrease-text-size-printer-friendly-email-to-a-friend-have-yo.php http://www.aboriginalartnews.com.au/2008/10/increase-text-size-decrease-text-size-printer-friendly-email-to-a-friend-have-yo.php Newspaper aboriginal art dotty fejo radio larrakia Wed, 01 Oct 2008 12:30:24 +0930