These artnotes appear in edited form In Art Monthly Australia
Elisabeth Cummings, 'Pilbara Landscape' (detail) 2005, etching ed. 25, 23x29cm. Image courtesy of King Street Gallery on William & the artist.
Droit
de suite, a global perspective
Popular with artists but disliked by
dealers, Australia’s Resale Royalty Scheme (RRS) has attracted both favourable
and adverse comparisons with Europe, where Droit
de suite (literally ‘Right to follow’) has been in operation for several
years. Increased harmonisation is the goal, and Australian artists will soon be
able to claim royalties on eligible resales in EU countries. In the USA only
California has RR legislation, currently more often honoured in the breach than
in the observance, but this may be about to change. In October a group of
prominent artists, including Chuck Close, filed a class action against
Christie's and Sotheby's for violating the California
Resale Royalty Act. The auction houses have responded with a joint
resolution to dismiss the California statute as "unconstitutional".
The case continues. Late last year new national legislation (the Equity for Visual Artists Act) was
introduced into Congress, and has attracted high profile support from artists.
In the UK, new regulations came into
force in January, extending rights to the estates of artists deceased 70 years
or less, consistent with Australia and the rest of Europe, and is expected to
quadruple payments in coming years. A 2010 report (by the European Art Market
Coalition) found that in continental Europe, 74% of all royalties went to
artists’ heirs, 20% to collecting agencies and only 6% to living artists,
leading to claims the 70-year rule largely benefits the heirs of hugely valuable
artists like Picasso, Braque and Matisse. UK royalties range from 4% to 0.25%,
depending on the ‘profit’ figure, with a maximum royalty of €12k (payable by
the buyer). Damien Hirst has come out in favour, with David Hockney and Anthony
Caro signing an opposing petition. Dealers worry that extended rights will
further depress a flat UK art market, driving customers offshore to a resurgent
Hong Kong, which has no intention of introducing resale royalties.
Back home, the Federal Arts Ministry
has removed the irksome requirement for dealers to report non-eligible resales
under $1k. Since June 2010 the scheme has paid out more than $500k on over 3000
transactions, with two thirds of royalties going to Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander artists. This represents total eligible sales exceeding $10
million, a median sale price around $3k, and an average royalty around $150,
with the highest royalty to date being $44k on a sale price of $880k. The 5%
royalty (payable by the seller) applies to the second resale (after June 2010)
of works by Australian artists, for a period of 70 years after death, and
includes ceramics, digital artworks, fine art jewellery, installations,
paintings, photographs, prints and tapestries.
Headhunters and collectors
With two of Australia’s longest-tenured
gallery directors stepping down – Gerard Vaughan (13 years at the NGV) will
leave mid-year, and Edmund Capon (33 years at AGNSW) left in December –
succession plans have been on everyone’s lips for months. As of mid February, the AGNSW has announced Australian-born Dr Michael
Brand as its new director – starting mid year – a surprise to those who had predicted
him for the NGV job. Brand was Director of LA's Getty Centre from 205-2010, leaving before his contract ended because of differences with then board president James Woods (who died 6 months later). The Getty has been without a director since then. In another surprising development, the Getty has finally announced its new Director - another Australian, Dr Timothy Potts, current director of Cambridge's Fitzwilliam Museum, one-time director of the NGV and, bizarrely, a candidate who had been heavily tipped for Capon's job.
So who will get the NGV position? There was apparently a last-minute bidding war for the 54-year old Michael Brand, who will receive $445k a year, almost double Mr Capon’s $240k, and considerably more than QAG/GoMA director Tony Ellwood’s $385k. Bendigo-born Ellwood, a former NGV deputy director, has all along been persistently mooted as a contender for both positions, despite his having just renewed a 5-year contract, and his winning streak in Brisbane – last year QAG/GoMA led the field with 1.8m visitors, trailed by the NGV with 1.5m and AGNSW with 1.3m.
So who will get the NGV position? There was apparently a last-minute bidding war for the 54-year old Michael Brand, who will receive $445k a year, almost double Mr Capon’s $240k, and considerably more than QAG/GoMA director Tony Ellwood’s $385k. Bendigo-born Ellwood, a former NGV deputy director, has all along been persistently mooted as a contender for both positions, despite his having just renewed a 5-year contract, and his winning streak in Brisbane – last year QAG/GoMA led the field with 1.8m visitors, trailed by the NGV with 1.5m and AGNSW with 1.3m.
At the NGV, Allan Myers will step down as trustee president in
April, to be replaced by Naomi Milgrom. Mr Myers is considered a ‘traditionalist’,
whereas Ms Milgrom is a noted ‘contemporary’, who steps down as chair of Melbourne’s
ACCA to take up the NGV role.
Back in Sydney, Kevin Sumption has
replaced Mary-Louise Williams as the new director of the Australian National
Maritime Museum, leading the institution into its 20th anniversary year. Mr
Sumption was one of the founding curators of the ANMM when it opened in 1991,
and for the past three years has been the Director of Exhibitions &
Programmes at the National Maritime Museum & Royal Observatory (UK). Before
that he was Associate Director at Sydney's Powerhouse Museum, from 2001-2008. Finally, in Adelaide, Christine Morrow has been announced as the incoming director of the Australian Experimental Art Foundation (AEAF).
Art of War
The Australian War Memorial’s latest
official war artist, Ben Quilty, has returned from a tour of Afghanistan – the
fourth artist so far deployed to that zone of conflict, following Lyndell Brown
and Charles Green (2007) and Shaun Gladwell (2009). Quilty was attached to the
ADF’s Operation Slipper in Kabul,
Kandahar and Tarin Kowt during October last year. He described the trip as
“life changing”. “Afghanistan is hauntingly beautiful. The people who took care
of me there are an inspiration,” he said on his return. The NSW-based painter
will now produce a number of works for the Memorial’s permanent collection. In
other news, the AWM’s travelling show Perspectives,
featuring John Cattapan (Timor L’este, 2008) and eX de Medici (Solomon Islands,
2009) will tour to Artspace Mackay (until 25 March), QUTAM (21 April – 24 June)
and Townsville’s Perc Tucker Museum (6 July – 2 September). At the AWM is Russell Drysdale at war – a small exhibition coinciding with the
centenary of the artist’s birth, featuring seldom-seen work, on show until
early 2013.
OzCo
review
Yet another review was announced in
late December – this time of the Australia Council for the Arts, part of the
development of a new National Cultural Policy to be finalised this year. Angus
James and Gabrielle Trainor will conduct the review, the first since the 1980s,
to include OzCo’s links with other arts support agencies.
Touring
money
$1.17 million has been allocated to 11
arts organisations under round 37 of the Visions
of Australia touring program, and $540k to another 7 organisations under
round 9 of the Contemporary Touring
Initiative. Big winners include KickArts ($78k) for
The Outsider Exhibition; the NGA for
Fred
Williams ($97k), Stars of the Tokyo Stage ($142k) and Roy Lichtenstein
($176k); the AWM for Perspectives ($129k)
and IASKA for spaced: art out of place ($129k). Kultour gets $52k to tour Survivor (Dadang Christanto); Experimenta Media Arts gets $42k for Experimenta Connections, and Artisan – idea:
skill: product gets $51k for The Antipodean Steampunk Show.
Festival
fun
The summer/autumn festival season
nationwide features some excellent offerings for visual arts fans. MonaFoma
(Hobart) included three new commissions – by Australians Daniel Mudie
Cunningham and Nell, and Brit Susan Philipsz. Sydney Festival included a major new
commission, Travelling Colony by
Brook Andrew (Carriageworks) and the third instalment of Edge of Elsewhere (Campbelltown and 4A). Perth Festival features spaced: art out of place (Fremantle Arts
Centre until 11 March) and Hijacked
(PICA until 8 April). Adelaide Festival (2-18 March) presents its 2012 Biennial
of Australian Art: Parallel Collisions
(AGSA), the Adelaide International: Restless
(Samstag, AEAF, CACSA, FUCAG), and Deadly
(Tandanya). Back in WA, FotoFreo (7 March-15 April) presents a wide range of
photomedia, including No Worries: Martin Parr, Raghu Rai: My India and FutureGen 2012.
Australian Museum
The National Museum of Australia’s
exhibition Yiwarra Kuju: The Canning Stock Route, a quiet but steady
crowd-puller in Canberra last year, has transferred to the AM, Sydney, until 29
April. The exhibition tells the story of the route's impact on Aboriginal
people, and the importance of the Country that surrounds it, through the works
of senior and emerging artists and the stories of traditional custodians,
interpreted through their voices, art and new media. The exhibition is helping
the Museum to shake off an (undeserved) image of being mainly focussed on
natural history, and is part of a push to attract new and diverse audiences.
Tuesday evenings in summer feature the popular Jurassic Lounge (5.30 – 8.30pm, until 3 April) – with themed
events, bands, DJs cocktails, and more. www.jurassiclounge.com
