Source : PERTHNOW NEWS
Australia’s largest art fair has returned, with seven-figure price tags on some stunning contemporary works.
Collectors and curators will file into a historic railway workshop in Sydney’s inner-city suburb of Eveleigh on Saturday and Sunday, where more than 100 galleries from across the globe are in attendance.
Some 500 artists from 33 countries are displaying pieces at Sydney Contemporary, adding to the whopping $154 million in sales generated at the fair in the past decade.
“It’s like we’re little puppies in a pet shop,” Sydney-based photographer Cybele Malinowski tells AAP.
“We’re just sitting here saying, ‘pick me, pick me, otherwise they’re going to put us down’.”
Her creations are on sale alongside works by English artist Phil Shaw, who has been commissioned in the past for former US president Barack Obama and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Shaw isn’t at the fair, but a London-based gallery has flown in an assistant and a historian to stand in his place.
Malinowski isn’t represented and will instead stand in her stall across the weekend, selling herself to passers-by.
Her work, called Deep Fake, is a photo series shot across Las Vegas and Los Angeles featuring aspirational rock stars who never realised their dream and instead work as celebrity impersonators.
They hide behind the mask of Elvis or Madonna, she says of her subjects.
She too likes to hide – behind the camera lens – and it makes a weekend of selling difficult.
“I don’t have a gallery behind me. I’m standing here selling my work, but also my ego – myself,” Malinowski says.
“This is the first time I’ve done anything like this.”
There was no budget when she shot a knock-off version of legendary musician Prince going grocery shopping.
She and her subject walked inside a supermarket and got to work, without asking permission.
It’s a guerrilla-style process, she says, and her hustle has paid off.
The fair’s director singled Malinowski’s work out at a preview event and she sold two pieces before the doors at the fair officially opened – a win in a vocation where many live below the poverty line.
Australia’s professional artists generate an average yearly income of $23,200 from their work, according to federal arts and culture advisory board Creative Australia.
Nine in 10 of those artists have a second job to remain afloat.
Hal Witney, for example, also works at a local council.
He’s set up near Malinowski – although he didn’t actually receive an invite to showcase his work.
Witney is displaying his work in the back of a truck he hired, parked on the street outside the event’s front entrance.
“I’ve always wanted to be in Sydney Contemporary, I guess,” he tells AAP.
“I’ve never had the opportunity, so I’ve done guerrilla art.”
Witney completed a letter drop to every house on the street, advising neighbours of his year-long vision.
He received a permit from the council that allows the rental truck to remain in the one-hour parking spot all weekend, blaring music he describes as “crowd-gathering”.
One gallery owner exhibiting work inside Sydney Contemporary passes by on her way out and wishes Witney luck.
“I’ve seen people do things like this in New York. It’s really cool,” she tells him.
No contacts were exchanged, no artwork sold.
“Because it’s outside the gates, it’s not seen as valuable,” Witney says.
“A lot of people who have money invest in art because they want a financial return.
“That’s why a large commercial gallery can give artists a bit of a boost. People see it as a safe bet.”
In the background where Witney stands, a sign looms large: “The artist has to live like everyone else.”
Attendees read those words from late pop artist Billy Apple, positioned above the fair’s entrance door.
Apple is the conceptual anchor for this year’s Sydney Contemporary program, his words a reminder that artists operate within economic realities; artistic value is not separate from systems that produce it.
The fair commissioned 10,000 copies of Apple’s famed poster, Art free for the taking, for attendees to take home – for free.
The commission is similar to those of other galleries that have displayed Apple’s work in the past – free posters that can now be bought second-hand online for up to $US1500.
