PATRICK OLOODOODI TJUNGURRAYI

While Patrick Tjungurrayi has been an artist since 1985, it is the works he has painted for Papunya Tula since 1997 that have become by far his most collectable. This is a very recent phenomenon with the majority of his successful works sold between 2005 and 2008 during which 13 of the 24 works offered have sold for an average of $13,208. While every single one of the 7 paintings on offer between 2001 and 2003 failed to sell his reputation , in the secondary market at least, id bult on the 7 works sold of 8 offered between the beginning of 2005 and the end of 2006, and with only 6 of 16 paintings selling during the following two years his importance as a collectable artist is likely to depend very much on whether he is able to create enough high quality major works while he is active as a painter given he is now in his mid 60’s. Certainly there are some very promising signs that his career in the primary market and his rating at auction is set to increase sharply over the next decade. In what I consider the most important indicator his 10 highest results , have all been achieved since 2005 with the top 5 averaging $21,938 while his next 5 average $10,001.

Prior to 2007 his record price stood at $14,400 for an atypical untitled work created in 2000 for Papunya Tula Artists. The work measuring 122 x 183 cm. sold at Lawson-Menzies with a presale estimate of $14,000-18,000 in May 2005 (Lot 133) however when it appeared once more at Lawson-Menzies just 30 months later in November 2007, (Lot 176) it carried a hefty $22,000-25,000 and, despite having held his record, failed to find a buyer.

By this time Lawson-Menzies had set a new record in their May 2007 sale, which currently stands at $43,200. Warriya 2003, a Papunya Tula work measuring 183 x 152 cm. was estimated at $40,000-50,000 (Lot 15). In June Joel’s Fine Art sold another work, Kaliangu 2002, for $20,891 against an estimate of $18,000-25,000 (Lot 74) while Sotheby’s achieved $17,400 for Yunula in November (Lot 56) so that by the end of 2007 the record price had been beaten three times despite successful sales for only 4 of the 8 works offered during the year. Interestingly 2 of the 4 failures were paintings sourced from dealers other than Papunya Tula and no Warlayirti Artist’s works appeared.

The highest price paid for a Balgo art centre work has been My Lilly 2001, a work measuring 150 x 100 cm. which achieved $11,400 at Lawson~Menzies in November 2006 (Lot 75). It is currently the artist’s 7th best result.

While Patrick Tjungurrayi’s records are still fairly scant it is his major works, which have dominated his results, with his lowest sales, and unsold works almost universally being smaller canvases. In all, 8 paintings have sold for more than $10,000 while 5 have achieved less than $5000.

Overall Patrick Olodoodi would seem to be an artist to watch carefully and collectors should stand ready to aquire anything with good provenance under $10,000-15,000. The 4 works sold in 2007 averaged $23,822 in price and lifted his career average from $6,063 to $11,528 in just one year, something to make any investor sit up and take notice. While his success rate at auction is a low 45%, having dropped from 50% in just one year, I wouldn’t take much notice, given only 33 paintings have appeared to date. Expect his statistics to improve rapidly and to see Patrick Tjungurrayi become one of the most collectable of all Papunya artists over the next decade.

© Adrian Newstead