Saturday, February 11, 2012

Australian Art Notes: February 2012




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. 
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

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