BROOK ANDREW

Brook Andrew has been a prodigious and conspicuous artist in the primary market only since 1996 and, despite producing thoughtful work of quality since that time, is most widely recognised for his now famous image Sexy and Dangerous, which has attracted an unusually high level of both commercial and political interest. The piece, created in 1996 in an edition of ten transparent digital images on Perspex, first sold at auction for $14,100 at Christies in June 2002 against an estimate of $6,000-8,000 (Lot 19). Another, offered by Sotheby’s in October 2004 estimated at $12,000-18,000 sold for $33, 400 (Lot 144) while just 18 months later in June 2006 Deutscher Menzies offered another copy at $20,000-30,000 and achieved $36, 000 (Lot 37). However when it appeared in August 2007 (Lot 111) at Bonham’s & Goodman Melbourne it carried a far more ambitious estimate still. Their optimism was rewarded in spades when it sold for a staggering $84,000 against the presale estimate of $50,000-80,000. With interest at this level, Sexy and Dangerous had joined Tracy Moffatt’s Something More to become one of Australia’s defining and classic iconic Aboriginal images. Since its first release in1996 Andrew reproduced Sexy and Dangerous in two separate editions. In June 2006 Deutscher~Menzies offered another smaller version at $20,000-30,000 and achieved $36, 000 (Lot 37). In 2008 another work Sexy and Dangerous II created by the artist as a duraclear print mounted on Perspex in 1997 entered the artists top 10 recording a sale of $21,600, his 5th highest result.

Since creating these Sexy and Dangerous images in the 1990’s, Andrew has experimented with new mediums and themes that impart a technological, and conceptual, sophistication. He continues to use slick materials to give his works an edgy and alluring finish, with his aim focussed at a far wider audience than the actual purchaser. The pop art aesthetic realised in Duraclear, Cibachrome, neon, and advertising materials demands attention from the viewer, while furnishing the artist with a range of reproductive possibilities, which he has seized upon. These have consistently proven to be his most successful works commercially. Never the less, many works are likely to struggle to hold the value placed on them in his representative galleries which have increased his prices steadily in line with his rising profile. While Brook Andrew is likely to continue to be one of the favourites of the curatorial, museum set, it is unlikely that any but a limited range and number of his works will continue to hold interest and grow in value on the secondary market. Screen prints and photography have been notoriously unsuccessful at auction for all but a handful of artists, now mainly deceased, unless the image and materials make a powerful and immediate impact. Andrew’s 2004 exhibition, Kalar Midday (Land of Three Rivers Series) comprised dark glossy photographs on Cibachrome, suggestive of a very subtle politic - a polemic pertaining to beauty, the politic of the black body. They had echoes of Bill Henson’s aesthetic about them however, unlike Henson, Andrew produced these prints in admittedly small, but limited editions. While these are likely to hold some interest for collectors it would be surprising if his 2005 works collectively entitled ‘Peace and Hope’ were to increase significantly in value over time. This collection of screen prints represents a return to Andrew’s fascination with packaging and advertising. The ‘blak’ humour, essentially a spoof on the commercial medium, was first exhibited at his galleries in Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney. A number of these have already appeared at auction to mixed success. While Lawson Menzies sold one, Against All Odds (Silver and Pink) 2005 for $2,400 in May 2007, Mossgreen Auctions found buyers willing to pay $1912 each for five of the six they offered in their November 2007 sale. However, another seven offered by a variety of auction houses failed to sell during 2007, and these radically altered his overall sales results in a year during which the number of his works that had appeared in the secondary market rose from 6 to 21. Of the 15 offered during 2007 9 sold thereby reducing his previous 100% sale record at auction to a still respectable 71%. And despite the phenomenal $84,000 paid for Sexy and Dangerous at Bonham’s and Goodman in August, his average price at auction actually fell from $18 837 to $14,644. It rose once more in 2008 , a year that saw only 3 of the 6 works on offer sell. Despite these three all entered his 10 highest records selling for an average price of $23,600. They were all previously successful images including two from the Sexy and Dangerous series. However another from this series failed to attract the $18,000-25,000 placed on it by Bonhams and Goodman in August (Lot 74) and, in what I think is the most telling indication of the interest in artistically successful samples from his oeuvre Man in Gold and Black 2005 depicting boxer Anthony Mundine and Proselytiser,2002 failed to attract buyers.

Works from the Sexy and Dangerous series now hold Andrew’s 5 highest prices as well as his 8th highest at auction while other subtly sexual images occupy a further two places in his ten highest results to date. The most important guide I suspect, to secondary market interest in his work was the failure of another image from the Sexy and Dangerous series. This failed to sell at Christies in London when offered with an estimate of GBP10,000-15,000. Once again the comparison to Tracy Moffatt is apt. Of the dozen or more works in her Something More series only the iconic ‘title work’ has sold for prices in excess of $150,000. The best of the others have fetched no more than $45,000 while many fail to attract any interest at all. This has led the artist, in what appeared at first to be the most bizarre of reactions, to forbid copyright permission on this one image alone, lest it lead to the perception that she is a one trick pony. While this is neither true of Moffatt or Andrew, who are both capable of powerfully interesting work, the success of these two images is both a burden and a blessing. Brook Andrew is now 38 years of age and has made a major impact during the past 10 years. While it is still far too early make any firm predictions in relation to his work, watch out for anything with a seamless finish and menacing, sexual or emotional undercurrent. I suspect that these are likely to set the market on edge whenever they make an appearance in the future.

© Adrian Newstead