SALLY GABORI

For an artist whose first work began painting in 2005, Sally Gabori’s secondary market performance has been very strong indeed. Her first works at auction appeared in 2008 when 4 of the 5 works on offer sold for an average price of $4,336. In 2009 five works appeared and once more only one failed to sell and her average price jumped to $5280. By the end of 2010 her highest recorded price at auction was still the $7,800 achieved for a 152 x 101 cm work purchased at Deutscher & Hackett in 2009. Not surprising, as by then her works of equivalent quality were available from primary market galleries for less, and only her best works at Alcaston Gallery in Melbourne and Woolloongabba Gallery in Brisbane fetched equivalent prices.

The game changer in the market’s perception, and the willingness of collectors to pay much higher prices occurred in 2011. Three works, hung as a triptych in the home of uber collector and art patron Anne Lewis AO, sold at Mossgreen’s prestigious single vendor auction held at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Though they went to three different buyers they set theGabori’s three highest sales records at $29,280, $26,840 and a completely astounding $36,600. Having reaped the financial benefits of their mother’s astute eye for art, Anne Lewis’s offspring continued the family tradition as art patrons by successful bidding for the works themselves.

They thus kept a treasured part of their mother’s art legacy while propelling yet another artist to national prominence. All but the auction house buyer’s premium went straight back into their own pockets!

Between 2012 and 2015, 33 works appeared at auction of which only 9 failed to sell. This is still a very healthy success rate, and now with 40 of 54 works on offer having sold, her career average is 74%. With an average auction price of $9,206 Sally Gabori finally made it into the top 100 artists of the movement at 94th place by the end of 2015. A quite remarkable achievement given sales had only been recorded for a mere 7 years. There are many major works in the finest private collections. As these begin to appear at auction over the decades ahead, expect Sally Gabori to contnue climbing inexorably toward a place amongst the top 50 Aboriginal artists of all time.

© Adrian Newstead