DANIEL WALBIDI

Daniel Walbidi is an artist of immense talent who was the driving force behind the burgeoning art movement at Bidyadanga in Western Australia's northern coastal region. He was just 17 years of age when he first approached Broome gallery owner, Emily Rohr, with the idea of starting a painting group. His elders included Weaver Jack, Jan Billycan and Alma Weibou, all artists who had been pushed toward the coastal mission of La Grange as severe drought and encroaching mining pushed his Yulparija countrymen coastwards.

In 2010, the year in which his works first appeared at auction, six works were offered and all six found willing buyers. The next year, Kirriwirri sold for $51,240 at the Mossgreen sale of the estate of Anne Lewis AO, and Winpa, 2007 achieved $41,800 in Sotheby’s Important Aboriginal Art and Oceanic Art Sale. The AIAM100 index for any artist is discounted until that artist has reached 20 secondary market offerings. For this reason, in spite of Daniel’s phenomenal success since 2010, and the fact that his average price was a very healthy $21,355, he was still listed fairly low on the rankings.

By the end of 2016, however, his offerings gad transcended the 20 work threshold and, as expected, his ranking jumped (see the section on Overcoming Anomalies in the Art Market Analytics section of this site). In addition, a new record price was achieved in 2016 when Kirriwirri 2013, sold at Deutcher & Hackett for $79,300. Not bad for an artist whose work first appeared at auction as late as 2010. Collectors take note. Here is an artist moving up in the charts with a bullet. Emily Rohr has had a waiting list for Daniel Walbidi’s work ever since his first appearance in exhibitions.

At the time of his stellar sales in 2011, it was reputed to have been more than 50 collectors ling. While the appearance of works on the secondary market should take the heat out of primary market interest to some extent, expect good works by this artist to continue to fetch a premium whenever they appear for sale. He is an exceptional talent and his paintings are destined to become one of the most sought after by any living artist.