Australia, the film, debuts.

With great hoopla, the new epic film by Australian director, Baz Luhrman, was released in Australia this week.

We mentioned the film in a previous, pre-release article discussing it's relationship to Australian tourism efforts.

At the time, we joined a group of pre-nascent critics who were concerned, not about the film, but about its effectiveness as a tourism marketing tool.

Now, the film is in theaters in Australia and will shortly be released in the US.

Film critics give the feature mixed reviews. The Australian newspaper summarizes with, "Yet for all its flaws -- and Australia is not the masterpiece we hoped it might be -- the film is easy to take. This is partly because it looks so magnificent, partly because Luhrmann's vision is so stimulating and partly because the actors are, for the most part, so engaging in their roles."

The critic observes that the film appears to have been made more for overseas audiences, principally American, than for Australian audiences, containing cliches that make Australian audiences cringe or chuckle.

For the complete review in the Australian newspaper, visit this link -
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,24671640-16947,00.html

Tribal Artery's interest in this film springs from proprietors Bill Waites and Susanne Waites' affection for Australia, where we once lived, and our engagement with Australian Aboriginal art at TribalWorks.com. We hope the movie reflects the truth about Aboriginal culture that will increase understanding and appreciation among a worldwide audience.

Heads-Up for Australian Aboriginal Tribal Art Collectors

If the Australian Parliament passes it, an Australian resale royalty plan for visual artists will become law, effective July 1 2009. The royalty (5%) will be payable on the sale of works of art sold through the secondary market. The requirement will apply to works acquired by the seller after the law takes effect.

If a seller sells an original artwork acquired prior to July 2009, a resale royalty will not be payable. Any work acquired by the seller after the effective date and sold on the secondary market will require the seller to pay the royalty. If a work is sold on the secondary market after the effective date and it was acquired by the seller prior to effective date, no resale royalty payment will be required.

This well-intended law will be enacted to protect the interests of artists, especially tribal artists, in their work after it reaches the secondary market. (Incidentally, we have been down the road of well intentions before and we know where it leads.) It is a reasonable concern that a work that is purchased from an artist for a low price, which is subsequently sold for a much higher price, deprives the artist of gains from his or her growing reputation, and places gain in the hands of the reseller.

As with all such efforts, has the Law of Unintended Consequences been considered? Will requiring a 5% royalty payable to the artist encourage resellers to buy less art directly from the artist, especially new, emerging artists? Will prices increase to cover the obligation of the royalty? Will the increase in cost to the reseller lead him/her to close due to insufficient net income? What then will happen to the market for the art of indigenous Australian Aboriginal artists?


Obviously, the Australian law may not be applicable anywhere else. I believe they will not be able to require it from us, since we are located in the United States. Although work that Australians buy from us to have shipped back to Australia, will fall within the law if they purchase it after the effective date (scheduled for July 2009.)

Bottom line for the readers of this blog is the warning that it is better to buy Australian Aboriginal art now instead of post-July, 2009. Such purchases will be protected from the requirement to pay 5% when they sell the art to another party. We have several beautiful works by well known Australian Aboriginal artists for sale on our web site at http://www.Tribalworks.com With our US location, we can serve clients all over the world without royalty charges.


Incidentally, Australian Aboriginal Tribal art is growing in popularity in the US, witness this article at http://www.ny1.com/content/ny1_living/86698/australian-art-carving-out-a-niche-in-new-york/Default.aspx. And we at Aboriginals: Art of the First Person have just shipped several major pieces to a buyer in Europe.

Postpone your intended purchases at your peril.

Fritz Scolder Retrospective at IAIA

Based on last evening's opening at the Institute for American Indian Art, a show featuring the works of Native American artist, Fritz Scholder, will please art lovers of all persuasions.

It was a pleasant evening in the gallery at IAIA. Cool temperatures encouraged attendees to mingle in the inviting IAIA courtyard. Jeans and polo shirts mixed with formal-skirted women and escorts in jackets-and-ties. A table of canapes satisfied any peckishness that guests brought to the event.

But the real satisfaction came from an extensive array of Scholder's lithographs, etchings and paintings, reflecting his unique view of the relationship between contemporary America and its indigenous people. According to his biography, Scholder was not raised as an Indian. He was born in Minnesota in 1937, attended high school in Pierre, South Dakota and graduated from Ashland High School in Wisconsin. Scholder's Indian heritage was one-quarter Luiseno, a Calfornia Mission tribe.

After moving to California with his family in 1957, he began an artistic journey that included numerous shows, five honorary degrees, and participation jn exhibitions around the world. Along the way, after receiving a Masters in Fine Art in 1964, he joined IAIA as Instructor in Advanced Art and Painting, where his tutelage encouraged scores of beginning Native Artists to develop their talents. He left IAIA in 1969.

But the IAIA never left him. This connection was the motivator for IAIA to mount this extraordinary retrospective of Scholder's work. Scholder passed in 2005. His artistic legacy, focusing on the national cliché' about American Indians and the guilt of the dominant culture in reference to its relationship with the land's original owners, lives on with freshness and vitality.

If you have a chance to visit the Fritz Scholder show, which runs through February 19, 2009, you will find it a stimulating view of Native American sensibilities. By the way, be sure to spend some time in the IAIA's gift shop. It is in its own right an expressive survey of the fine works of many very accomplished Native American artists.

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Brought to you by Aboriginals: Art of the First Person and its allied online galleries at Native-JewelryLink, Native-PotteryLink and Zunilink.

San Francisco Tribal Art Show Review

A recent blog from Tribalmania reviewed the recent San Francisco Tribal & Textile Arts show in the San Francisco area.

The review was generally positive with reports of substantial sales by many dealer/exhibitors. Specifically mentioned were Joel Cooner, Vicki Shiba, Michael Hamson, Michael Evans and Tribalmania Gallery.

Not all was "upbeat' about the show, however. The reviewer speculated that sales were off by 10% to 20%, which was attributed in small part to US economic conditions and to greater degree to the weakness of the US dollar vis a vis the Euro, the currency of European dealers who are frequently sellers.

For a more complete reading of the review, visit this link.
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Offered as a public service by Aboriginals: Art of the First Person and its alliad online gallery at TribalWorks.com