Paddy Bedford
AAMI artistc. 1922 – 2007
- Region
- Kimberley
- Community
- Warmun (Turkey Creek)
- Language
- Gija (Kija, Gidja, Kitja)
Region: Kimberley · Community: Warmun (Turkey Creek) · Language: Gija (Kija, Gidja, Kitja)
Paddy Bedford was born at Bedford Downs Station in the East Kimberley c.1922. He was given the name Paddy after the station manager, Paddy Quilty, a hard man, who was believed to be the instigator of the strychnine poisoning of Gidja Men at Bedford Downs in retaliation for killing a milking cow near Mount King several years earlier. Like many of his Gidja countrymen, Bedford worked for Quilty and others as a stockman for the majority of his life in return for rations of tea, flour and tobacco. These and other, often horrific, events are woven into the contemporary history of the Kimberley region and provided Paddy Bedford with a unique perspective informing an art practice that began in his late 70’s. Though he had been involved with ceremonial painting all his life, it was by chance that a gallery dealer happened upon some of his boards in a rubbish tip in the mid 1990’s. From such humble beginnings, Paddy began painting formally in 1997, with the formation of Jirrawun Aboriginal Arts. Initiated by Freddy Timms with help from artist Tony Oliver, the group which includes Timms, Peggy Patrick, Rammy Ramsay and others, has gained exponential notoriety and they have been ‘mythologised, almost like rock stars, by some of the country’s best writers’ (Bowdler 2005: 45). In tangible terms Jirrawun Arts has been able to provide the kind of individual support and promotion of its artists that art centers have difficulty emulating. Numerous shows were organised through the group, in which Bedford starred during his lifetime, including Blood on the Spinifex at the National Gallery of Victoria and True Stories at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. 'I’m a millionaire' Bedford shouted when he received his first cheque as an artist. Over the following decade his painting style developed from simple expanses of flat ochre to masterful luminous textured surfaces. Painting in a recognizable east Kimberley style in which plains of ochre are disrupted only by sparsely planted shapes, Bedford masterfully combined important ancestral Dreamings with depictions of his environment and contemporary historical events.
His health and dexterity at various times dictated the medium in which he worked. Introduced to gouache and paper after 2000, he created intimate works that were equally successful as those depicted in ochres. In both mediums, his paintings are imbued with authority and an absolutely distinctive individual language within the east Kimberley conventions. Characteristic of Paddy’s style are richly ochred surfaces with minimal arrangements of circular shapes, often centered upon a band, and delineated by white dots. Though important Dreamings such as the Emu, Turkey, and Cockatoo are present in many of his works, like the narratives of his family history they are not depicted in any figurative form. This is evidenced in the self-published book, Walk the Line, produced during 2004, in which Bedford depicted important sites and explored the culture of his people.
Paddy Bedford, an enigmatic octogenarian, stood out as a uniquely talented artist. He was amongst the few selected to contribute to the permanent installation at the Musee du Quai Branly in Paris and was honoured, during his lifetime, with the unprecedented recognition of a retrospective exhibition and a major catalogue by the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney during 2007, which toured nationally.
His work, most probably without intention, became embroiled in the ‘history wars’ between various social commentators and journalists after Keith Windschuttle, in his book The Fabrication of Aboriginal History 2002, questioned the veracity of Aboriginal oral accounts of such tragedies as the Bedford Downs massacre. Three years later Paddy Bedford exhibited a series of paintings based on the Bedford Downs massacre at the National Gallery of Victoria. The Blood on the Spinifex exhibition revealed a surprising attitude to the killings. Its power lay in the 'modesty of the voice, the quiet economy of the storyline, the sober lack of sentimental or rhetorical elaboration' (Nelson cited in Bowdler 2005: 46). It is testament to this wonderful old stockman and artist, one of the great Kimberley characters, that the truth distilled within his canvasses has brought broad acceptance amongst a majority of Australians as to the credibility of Gidja oral accounts of their traumatic encounters with white settlers.
Bowdler, Cath, June 2005 ‘Looking Forward, Looking Back,’ Artlink: Vol 25: No 2. 44-47.
Eccles, Jeremy, Spring 2006, ‘Jirrawun: A unique model,’ Art and Australia.
Hutchings, Patrick. 11 June 2005. ‘Of land, spirit and freedom,’ The Age: Review: 7.
Jopson, Debra, October 7 2003, ‘Sage brush keeps his landscape dots to a minimum,’ Sydney Morning Herald: 3.
Rothwell, Nicolas, 19 April 2003, ‘Beyond the Boab- Diamonds from the dreamtime,’ The Australian.
Paddy Bedford, like Eastern Anmatyerre artist Emily Kngwarreye, produced paintings for no more than a decade at the end of his life. Yet unlike Kngwarreye, whose prolific output exceeded 4,000 works, Bedford painted sparingly, creating a concise, highly controlled body of work that has proven exceptionally potent in the market. At their best, his minimal, abstracted ochre paintings possess a power equal to that of Rover Thomas, founder of the East Kimberley tradition. Bedford’s physical limitations allowed him to produce major canvases for only a short period, restricting later production to gouaches on paper and smaller, more manageable boards and linens. His entire output was created for Jirrawun Arts apart from a small group of canvases produced during a 2001 workshop with Jack Dale; works that, although well-documented, sit outside the formal catalogue raisonné and continue to be discounted by the market.
Throughout his own lifetime, Bedford remained one of those rare artists whose secondary market prices did not reflect the prices paid for his works by collectors in the primary market. His exhibitions at galleries such as Raft (Darwin), Chapman (Canberra), Martin Brown and Grant Pirrie (Sydney), and William Mora Galleries (Melbourne) were always eagerly awaited events, but buyers were universally unwilling to let go of their prized purchases. The auction market remained thin, with non-Jirrawun works dominating the market and selling below $20,000. That changed dramatically following Bedford’s passing in 2007.
Since 2007, Bedford’s sales have been nothing short of extraordinary. His death triggered a major release of tightly held work, and with it, prices surged. From relative obscurity in the secondary market at the end of 2006, Bedford ranked the number one most successful by 2011 and today is 6th most successful aboriginal artist. 28 sales pass the $100,000 mark, with his top record being set as recently as 2022 with the sale of Mendoowoorrji Medicine Pocket 2005. This 150 x 180 cm painting, in black and white natural ochres, doubled its estimate to sell for $319,000 (Deutscher and Hackett). Its impeccable Laverty Collection provenance, with Jirrawun catalogue number attached, no doubt propelled its desirability despite its failure to sell in earlier appearances (2009, 10 and 14).
In early 2025, Dingo Dreaming 2001 (122 x135 cm) entered 10th in the top ten sales at $159,545, selling above its estimate, with Deutscher and Hackett. This followed another exceptionally good year, 2024 which saw two high end sales, Police Rock Hole 2002 nearly doubling its estimate to sell for $110,455, and Girrganyji the Brown Falcon 2000 selling for $1165,91 (Singer and Singer) a phenomenal jump from the $17,625 it achieved in 2003. There were no unsold pieces of the five and four works offered over 2024 and 2025, and this is close to the usual case with Paddy Bedford. Despite some adverse publicity around the nature of studio assistance, largely resolved within scholarship, his market has remained remarkably resilient. Enthusiasm for his work seems never to abate, with an occasional dramatic bidding struggle thrown in, as seen in 2007 with Joogoomoondiny – Gawler Gully 2004, his second top sale, which achieved $300,000 after a battle between eight determined collectors.
Recent years have strengthened his position further. The renewed institutional focus on his work, including the 2024 Frieze Masters, London presentation Paddy Bedford: Spirit + Truth, has brought international visibility to both his major canvases and his lesser known but deeply important gouache practice. The highest price paid for a gouache work was in 2023 when the 51 x 76 cm, Untitled 2004, sold for $24,545. With their more frequent appearance at auction in recent years, most gouache works sell between $10 and $15,000. Sales at mid-tier level ($50,000 –1000) reaffirm demand for high-quality Jirrawun works, though still not beyond reach and operating in a consistent tandem with established peak results. A significant number of works are still available below $25,000, including Miro-esque gouache on paper. These sales suggest a sustained appetite for works with strong provenance, publication history, and inclusion in major exhibitions, particularly those illustrated in the 2006 Museum of Contemporary Art monograph.
Since his death, Bedford’s finest works have outperformed all earlier records. Their sophistication, restraint, deep connection to Gija country, and relative scarcity ensure that demand remains unwavering. As the Estate continues to be represented by D’Lan Contemporary, building on the legacy set by William Mora, Bedford’s market is expected to remain strong, with a significant upside for important canvases from 1998–2004 and for exceptional gouaches as scholarship on this part of his practice expands. Paddy Bedford’s subtle palette and inspired sense of design, as well as his relative scarcity, ensures that his paintings will remain one of the most highly sought after of all Aboriginal artists.
Rank #6Cumulative AAMI 42.29
Annual AAMI rating by year — hover or tap a bar for the exact figure.
How the AAMI rating is calculated
The AAMI (Aboriginal Art Market Index) measures an artist’s auction performance each year. Each annual rating combines the value of works sold (total sales and clearance rate), the number of works offered, and the average price achieved — with adjustments that temper thin trading years and a rising annual price threshold, so results stay comparable over time. The yearly ratings are added together into an artist’s Cumulative AAMI score, which determines their rank in the index.