PADDY FORDHAM WAINBURRANGA

Paddy Fordham was one of Aboriginal Australia’s most unique and accessible characters who left an artistic legacy comprised of many truly great paintings and sculptures along with a great number of perfunctory works. His highest record of $55,200 was, in fact, achieved for a collection of 6 large bark paintings each of which would have been individually valued at between $5,000 and $20,000. These depicted The Payback System, Balangnangalang, Kinship, the Chicken Hawk and the Python, and Marriage. The collection was commissioned in 1987 by Glen Bird and held by private owner for 20 years prior to sale, These magnificent works were spread across a 4 page layout in Lawson-Menzies November 2007 sale (Lot 65), an unusual and rather extravagant advertisement for a lot which was estimated at just $55,000-60,000.

Other than this collection Paddy Fordham’s highest price is $15,600 and only 4 works in total have exceeded $10,000. This is disappointing for an artist who was capable of major works. However many of his finest pieces were painted in acrylic paint on full sheets of Arches cotton rag board and the Aboriginal art market has been reluctant to accept this medium in the place of the tradition mediums of earth pigment on Eucalyptus bark.

Paddy’s sculptural depictions of Balangjalngalan Spirits occupy 3 of his highest 5 results at auction and 10 of his top 20. The most successful of these was a magnificent 287cm high sculpture with a magnificent feather plume crowning its head, purchased directly from the artist by the former owners of the Katherine Hotel.

His works have a very high 73% success rate at auction and his average price of $4,270 is good considering the high proportion of sculptural pieces, works on paper and canvases that have been offered by an artist principally noted for paintings on bark. Of the 27 sculptures offered 25 have sold at an average price of $3,660 while the 5 works on paper that have been successful at auction have averaged $1,331 in value while the average price for a bark painting has been $5,013.

Paddy Fordham’s best year at auction was 2007 when a staggering 22 works were offered for sale of which 18 sold for a total of $114,720. Compare this to the following year when just 3 works were offered of which 2 sold. The reason however is simple. Lawson-Menzies withdrew from specialist auctions at the end of 2007 and they have been the unparalleled champions of Paddy Fordhams work having sold 25 lots for a total value of $169,667. Their closest competitors have been Elder Fine Art with 7 offerings, Deutscher-Menzies and Lawsons with 6 a piece. Mysteriously Sotheby’s are yet to offer a single work by this artist whose work is in many of the most important state and national institutional collections. Go figure!