… Sydney valuer and art consultant David Hulme, who writes about the market for the online Australian Art Sales Digest, says real estate is still as good a comparison as any to apply to the art market. Just as a great house in a great street will find a buyer willing to pay a good price in a depressed market, so too will a great piece of art.
”Good paintings will out,” Hulme says. ”Look at the case of Ben Quilty at Menzies [in Sydney] last week. That painting [Frog Torana 2003] had an estimate of $30,000 to $40,000 and it went for $66,000.” ….
Hulme and Wilson-Anastasios agree the market might be down from its heights before the financial crisis but it is now informed by judicious judgment rather than speculation. ”There are buyers out there, but a lot of the people who came in with the idea of art as a investment or superannuation plan have gone,” Hulme says. …
Article published in the Sydney Morning Herald, 14 December 2011.
