17 February, 2006

National Indigenous Art Competition

The Northern Territory Art Gallery says it will no longer automatically acquire the artwork that wins that National Indigenous Art Competition. Previously, the gallery held on to the work, and the artist got a $40,000 prize.

Gallery director Anna Malgorzewicz says the competition organisers and the sponsor thought that automatic acquisition could be deterring people from entering."Whilst everyone is quite proud of the prestige and the status of winning the award, the fact that we then automatically acquired it meant that for some artists who can now command amounts of money that are three or four times the amount of the prize money were reluctant to enter," he (sic) said.

from the abc
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Why would anyone selling works for $120,000 to 160,000 each be interested in winning a $40,000 prize even if it wasnt aquisitive? For that matter, what proportion of indigenous artists sell for $120,000 to 160,000?

amateur dot painters need not apply?



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