ANGELINA PWERLE NGALE

Angelina Ngal’s works first appeared at auction in 2000 under the name she was formerly referred to, Angelina Pwerle. As one or two dealers who represented her prior to linguist Jenny Green’s revised nomenclature for Eastern Desert Artists (first introduced in 2005/6), market records for this artist can be confusing. She creates paintings for a number of dealers and galleries. Most importantly, these include Don Holt at Delmore Downs, the adjoining property to the north of her outstation (Camel Camp); Mark Gooch, Tim Jennings’ Mbantua Gallery; Bill Nutall’s Niagara Gallery; and Lauraine Diggins’ Fine Art Gallery. All but Nutall now refer to her as Ngal.

When an excellent rendition of her bush plum works sold for $6,325 in 2000 at Christies in Melbourne, it established her secondary market profile. Measuring 177 x 176 cm, this painting would be worth close to $30,000 today. By 2004 her auction record had risen to $14,000. This was once more set by set by Christies for a work of similar size. In just four years the unit price of her work had risen from $20/sq.cm to $46/sq.cm, a strong indication of her increasing reputation and the growing demand for her best works. Her current auction record was set by Lawson~Menzies in 2007 for the magnificent 150 x 374 cm canvas Spring Flowers at Arlpara 2007, which was a featured lot in Lawson~Menzies November sale (Lot 23). Its sale price of $38,400 reflected the fact that this Lauraine Diggins provenanced work had been strategically placed in the secondary market in order to underpin and firmly establish a benchmark for this increasingly important artist. In 2010 Deutscher & Hackett featured another magnificent example, measuring 183 x 183 cm and carrying Niagara Gallery provenance. The work carried a presale estimate well below its $25,000 primary market value. Nevertheless, the work sold for $17,400, a not entirely unsatisfactory result for the seller (who probably purchased it for a great deal less in 2000 when it was created), and a very nice pick up for the buyer. This work was displaced as her second highest record price in 2012 and dropped further to 4th by 2015 when Deutscher & Hackett’s disbursal of a work carrying Delmore Gallery provenance measuring 122 x 92 cm from the Laverty Collection achieved a price of $18,000. Four of the 5 works on offer in 2015 sold and this was followed early in 2016 with the sale of four nice sculptural pieces by the artist which had been in the collection of Peter McMahon. In June that same year Mossgreen established the artist’s 6th highest record with a lovely work sold from the Helen Reid collection. 2017 saw another work enter her top ten results, when Arnekwety Place Viii 2002, sold for $12,182, came in at 7th.

This is an artist whose stocks are rising as she emerged during the period 2007-2011 as a leading artist from her region. Both her success rate at auction and her average price (currently $5,217) are set to rise steeply as major works appear and begin to fill her top 10 results. This occurred in 2012 when two works entitled Bush Plum achieved $19,200 and $12,000 becoming her 2nd and 5th best results at auction at the time. Both were offered for sale by Bonham’s, which offered works from the superannuation fund of William Nuttall. Nutall, the owner of Niagara Gallery, had represented the artist for many years, and his decision to dump his collection due to changes in the superannuation laws ensured quality works could be snapped up at a bargain price. In fact, six of the seven works on offer in 2012 sold for a total of $38,925, an average of just $6,487 per work.

Angelina’s secondary market results are set to improve rapidly over the next three to four years. She is a talented and meticulous painter who has been given the opportunity to paint large scale works that have seen her regularly represented in the final selection of prestigious national art prizes. She is currently the120th most successful artist yet she was the 30th best performing artist in 2016. Her elevation into the top 100 is only a matter of time.

Photo credit: Lauraine Diggins Fine Art