The digital world might be the next frontier in art, but it will never supersede painting says Hamish Coney.
Rebecca Fox talks to the art auction house managing director about how to get a foot in the art market.
Contemporary art work and photography are making big gains in the New Zealand art world, but it is still the country's ''old masters'' which pull in the big dollars at auction.
About $20 million in art has been sold at auction in New Zealand during each of the past three years and it was works by the likes of Charles Goldie, Colin McCahon, Rita Angus or Frances Hodgkins - ''well established artists in the canon of New Zealand art'' - that achieve the highest price at auction each year, Hamish Coney, Art+Object managing director says.''
It takes a very long time for most New Zealand art works to get up there in terms of value,'' Mr Coney said in an interview.
He and his partners, including former Dunedin man Ben Plumbly, run Auckland based auction house Art+Object, which focuses on modern and contemporary art.
He was invited to Dunedin recently by the Friends of the Dunedin Public Art Gallery to speak about New Zealand's art world.
''If you want a really good Ralph Hotere, a collector would have to be spending in excess of $200,000. A work sold last April fetched $257,950.''
A Colin McCahon work on paper fetched $263,810 at auction last year.
''Not a big canvas, a work on paper.''
The highest price for one of his works at auction was achieved in 2011, $571,875, which was the most significant McCahon that had sold since early the previous decade.
''A McCahon like that comes up once every 10 years.''
Another example is Gordon Walters' work. In 2013 a record auction price was achieved - $439,710 for a 1971 acrylic on canvas - and a year later another work done in 1965 sold for a new record of $433,825.
However, that did not stop New Zealand's contemporary (post 2000) art market from making great strides, he said.
''We are starting to see contemporary art moving through the gears. Not very long ago we would have never countenanced a contemporary work selling for $160,000.''
Yet in April a Michael Parekowhai powder coated steel work sold for $164,150 - doubling the value of the previous best price for his work, he said.
Other key artists were also achieving record auction prices for their work such as a Seraphine Pick work going for $58,625 or an Andrew McLeod for $43,380, although that had since been surpassed.
Bill Hammond was leading the charge for major contemporary artists with a number of sales of more than $200,000, such as a work sold for $322,435 in June 2011.
New Zealand artists are also being seen at major art events such as the Venice Biennale and in curated shows at major international galleries.
Art work was also sold through dealers, but unlike auction houses, which register their sales with an independent body, there was no record of their sales, so it was harder to measure, he said.
There were about 40 to 50 galleries of significance in New Zealand and the top 10 galleries would sell an estimated $30 million of art a year while the rest would sell a similar amount combined, he believed.
That meant the total size of New Zealand's art market was an estimated $75 million to $85 million.
The downside of the increasing value of such works was the art becoming less accessible to the average New Zealander, he said.
Statistics showed the average price for an art work was $4233 in 2014, compared to $2812 in 2005 or the high of $5841 in 2012.
That meant there was a lot of art which sold for less than that but it meant buyers had to ''hunt them down'', he said.
''You have to educate yourself, you have to decide what you like.
''The auction house handled the Les and Milly Paris Collection in 2011 which was an ''incredible story'', he said.
Their collection included major works by Milan Mrkusich, Geoff Thornley, Michael Smither, Colin McCahon, Don Binney, Allen Maddox, Don Driver, Brent Wong and Gordon Walters.
They bought their art when they were young, when he was a family lawyer in suburban Wellington.''
They basically invested cannily, although I'm sure they did not think they invested. They had courage to see something and say: 'Yes, we'd buy it'.
''So it was possible to build a collection on a ''Ford'' budget rather than a ''Ferrari'' one, he said.
All it took was to develop an interest around an affordable price point.
Some people form ''art groups'', each member putting in money to create a ''war chest'' from which they buy so many works a year.
It could have its trials - good communication and rules were essential - but it was a good way to start if less confident and to educate yourself, he said.
Mr Coney advocated photography as a great place for a collector on a budget to start.
''Photography is more affordable generally speaking and one of the lovely things is, it's the only area where you as private collector can collect alongside a public gallery.''
As photography was mostly editioned, it meant galleries could pick up copies, leaving only a few for the public domain.''
As soon as a gallery acquires a work it adds significant value to it as a collectable art work.
''It's a lovely thing for a private collector to say: 'I've got one and so has the gallery of New South Wales - aren't they clever'.
''There was also a great range of photographic art from analogue to digital.
''Photography is a really broad, fascinating movable feast.''
That was reflected in the increasing sale prices for photography, which surprised even those experienced in the sector, he said.
''When we started the business in 2007 we'd joke if we could sell photography for $10,000 that would be an indication collectors would be coming out to play and that photography wasn't sitting in a low value ghetto.
''We are now selling photos for $40,000. We never thought that would be possible five years ago, three years ago even.''
A Michael Parekowhai photo sold for $41,035 in August, a record for one of his photographs.
The year before another of his works sold for $24,035 and Fiona Pardington's Ake Ake Huia set a record for her work, of $30,380, in 2010.
Photography was now trading significantly in New Zealand's art market as the barriers between a photograph and a painting had dissolved in the minds of buyers.
''New Zealand photographs are regularly fetching $10,000 plus - that is a relatively new phenomenon.''
Also for the more adventurous collector, there was the emerging video art option.
As New Zealanders had always been early adapters to technology there was plenty of interesting video art around, he said.
''It's a great place to start for people with kids. It's on a disc or stick so kids can't mangle cake into it.''
Another great way to get into art was to attend an art fair.
They were growing in popularity, the Auckland Art Fair attracting 15,000 visitors and the Sydney Contemporary Art Fair, which starts today, expected to attract nearly 30,000 to view its 90 gallery showcases.
''They are the best place to go to see a great deal of art and are a great way to train your eye to what you respond to, what you like, and how new media is starting to impact on the art world.''
Overall, the New Zealand art market was ''steady as she goes'', having climbed to a new peak of $20.9 million in 2013, surpassing the previous best of $19.3 million in 2003.
''Since 2007, not withstanding the GFC [Global Financial Crisis], the market has held together pretty well and has demonstrated itself to be quite robust.''
That was fundamentally because, unlike most other markets, there was no debt in the New Zealand art market.
Like any investment, buying art needed to make a buyer feel they had made a sound investment.
One of the growing trends to build confidence and long term value in art was provenance, having emerged in the past two or three years, he said.
''It confers genuineness and status which travels with that art work as it leaves that collection and adds significant value. Collectors are prepared to pay a premium.''
As it was ''real money'' people were shelling out, they were pretty cautious, keeping the market ''real''.
''It's not really subject to the gyrations of other marketplaces where debt impinges.
''Our little solid New Zealand, it is a little bit boring; no wild fluctuations and a generally upward trend.''
Australia in the same period was a different story. It was still miles away from its previous market peak of $234.2 million in 2007.
''In that three year period the market went up 75% in one year and then dropped back 65% the next year.''
A sign the New Zealand market was in ''pretty good health'' was the top 10 sales averaging about the $3 million mark in the past three years.
Art auction statistics
• New Zealand 2014 art sales at auction (peaked in 2013 at $20.9 million) $19.6 million
• Australia 2014 art sales at auction (peaked in 2007 at $234.2 million) $112.7 million
NEW ZEALAND
• 2014 average price (peaked 2012 at $5841)$4233
• 2014 number pieces sold 4637
• Top sale price 2014 $408,250
• Top 10 artists sales total $3 million
