4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Valued art, but not valuable
Fayum Coffin Lid Portrait, from Me, According to the History of Art, by Dick Frizzell, 2019, is on show at Eastern Southland Gallery. Photo: Ella Scott-Fleming
The works on show at the Eastern Southland Gallery have one thing in common: they did not cost the collector a cent.
"Seriously Valuable Art" running until September 14 in the main, curved-wall of the gallery, features the works of an unnamed collector from Christchurch.
The exhibition argues that art need not be expensive to be beautiful, important and life-enhancing, the press release said.
Nothing in the show, featuring prints, paintings and sculpture from the past 100 years and beyond, has cost the collector a "huge amount" of money.
Artists can be generous, and market forces are not always kind to the later, historically recognised creatives, the release also said.
Buried in the show, however, was a secretly pricey work, and gallery-goers were encouraged to guess which fetched more of a price on the international market.
Each piece was labelled with humorous comments by the collector including Dancing Frogs by New Zealand painter Joanna Braithwaite.
Underneath, the collector simply said, "A tribute to the French?".
The coffin portrait by famous New Zealand pop artist Dick Frizzell was accompanied by an amusing exchange as the artist and collector were friends.
The label said the collector remarked that the portrait resumed the "adorable" big-eyed depictions of women and children by 1950s kitsch icon Margaret Keane.
The artist was not flattered by the comparison, the caption read, but the two remained good friends.
A talk by art historian and collector Mark Stocker, who may or may not be the mysterious collector, organisers said, was planned for August 24, at 2pm.
Mr Stocker will guide the audience through the selected works and share insights into what was worth collecting — and what was best left behind.
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