Moving pictures
By Hamish Coney,
Hamish Coney sees signs of a new force in our art market
[Art]
New Zealand’s highest-profile art collector, Jenny Gibbs, was asked a few years ago for some hot tips on the next big things in the art world. Gibbs probably gets asked this question every day of the week and is too smart to name names. What she did say, though, was that new arrivals in the market could do worse than to take a gander at photography.
Good advice, apparently. Over the last few months we’ve seen Webb’s first dedicated photography auction and the launch of Hannah Holm’s genre-defining Contemporary New Zealand Photographers. These are the foundations of a major art investment market and a defining moment in our art world—what economic gurus call a ‘tipping point’.
To understand this, we need to isolate the art from the market. After all, is Colin McCahon New Zealand’s greatest artist because he’s the most expensive, or vice versa? Either way you won’t get much change from half a million dollars if you want a top work by Titirangi’s finest.
I’m sure what Gibbs means is that the photography market offers that rare combination of both quality art and affordable prices.
First up, let’s look at the art. Gibbs’ tip, Webb’s auction and Holm’s book all suggest we can assume that contemporary art photography has reached the point where the range of practitioners and the depth of quality has become wide and deep enough to warrant more widespread attention.
But which photos? Photography is fundamentally different to an art medium like painting. The humble photo started out in life doing stuff like recording politicians or ships being launched. It’s taken time and plenty of critical panelbeating for the notoriously picky art world to take photography seriously.
“It’s taken time and plenty of critical panelbeating for the notoriously picky art world to take photography seriously.”
But Holm’s book is useful as a guide, listing 20 leading practitioners such as Peter Peryer, Anne Noble, Laurence Aberhart, Yvonne Todd, Mark Adams, Marti Friedlander and Fiona Pardington … I can’t list them all, you’ll have to buy the book, which Roger Parsons of Parsons Bookshop says is the fastest-selling art book he’s ever stocked. “The right book at the right time.”
Second, let’s consider the market. Overseas, collectable photography is an established market. The current world record for a photograph at auction is $1,200,000 for German Andreas Gursky’s giant and iconic image of row upon row of sneakers. Across the ditch, Tracy Moffat’s Something More #1 recently sold for $140,000.
But in New Zealand, it’s still possible to begin building a collection of cutting-edge contemporary photography for hundreds of dollars. The top price for a New Zealand photograph was recorded last year when Michael Parekowhai’s large-format image Elmer Keith sold for $10,500. Clearly, there’s some ground to be made up, but at the moment the fledgling collector can start building a serious collection for the price of, say, one medium-sized work by Ralph Hotere.
It’s my opinion that the single biggest reason for a serious market for local photography is New Zealanders finally overcoming their reluctance to buy editioned art. Dominic Feuchs of Auckland gallery Starkwhite agrees. “Traditionally the original oil on canvas, signed with the maker’s mark and with a bit of blood and sweat and even the odd tear has been the ultimate object of desire for collectors.”
Almost all photography is sold as an edition, usually of between three and ten prints. The simple rule of thumb is less is more—small editions cost more per print and, as fewer prints remain unsold in an edition, the price also increases.
New Zealand art collectors embracing photography has an economic payoff, of course, but it’s far more significant as a symbol of our rapidly-maturing and diversifying visual culture. The affordability—for now—also does the rare job of broadening the reach of art, something that photography has done from day one.
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