Auction house owns studio and runs indigenous ‘alliance’

A CONTROVERSIAL auction house accused of trading forged or “misattributed” Aboriginal art is part of a group of companies.

To go with Mimi Art Gallery certificate of authenticity for FAKE a Tommy Watson painting. Picture of Tommy and a painting that is NOT his. SUPPLIED

A CONTROVERSIAL “pop up” and online auction house accused of trading forged or “misattributed” Aboriginal art is part of a group of companies that also runs a painting studio in Alice Springs, an art wholesaler and a proprietary indigenous art “alliance”.

The company, Arthouse Auctions, has collected millions of ­dollars from at least 80 sales around Australia since 2011, including over $90,000 from canvases that experts allege are fakes, online records show. At least 10 Aboriginal artists are embroiled in the potentially career-damaging scandal. Arthouse has defended its reputation, and the authenticity of the work it sells.

Australian Securities & Investments Commission records show Arthouse Auctions is a trading name belonging to a $1 company called Lily Group Pty Ltd. Both Arthouse and Lily Group list their principal place of business as an address in Lilyfield, Sydney.

Lily Group has one director and shareholder, Giovanna Fragomeli, who is Arthouse’s managing director and national head of art. Lily Group also owns the trading name Mimi Art Gallery, a business listed as operating from premises on Elder Street in Alice Springs.

A certificate of authenticity ­accompanying an allegedly forged painting sold by Arthouse as ­attributed to Tommy Watson bears Mimi’s logo, Ms Fragomeli’s signature and the same Alice Springs address. No one answered the door at Mimi’s premises, a warehouse in an industrial area, when The Australian visited ­recently.

Mimi’s website offers a “100 per cent guarantee of authenticity ­because we actually produce the artworks in our studio in Alice Springs ... Be aware of buying ­Aboriginal Art from online ONSELLERS … it is through these such companies that fake art can be offered,” one page proclaims.

Mimi’s homepage carries two prominently displayed logos: the “Australian Dreamtime Art Official Authenticity Seal”, and the logo of an entity called the Indigenous Art Alliance.

ASIC records show ADA is a business name owned by Ms ­Fragomeli and another man, Avdo Tabakovic, who Arthouse’s website names as that company’s ­national auctioneer. ADA is responsible for wholesaling art produced by Mimi, according to Mimi’s website.

IAA is another business name belonging to Lily Group, ASIC records show. It shares a business address with Arthouse Auctions. Web pages bearing Ms Fragomeli’s name and linked to Mimi’s website describe IAA as an entity promoting ethical business practices in the Aboriginal art industry. Arthouse withdrew from the Indigenous Art Code, the main industry regulator, last year.

“Artists who work with Mimi Art Gallery are granted automatic membership,” one IAA page states, followed by a list of names. Watson is not among those names.

Social media pages connected to Mimi advertise two paintings attributed to Watson, both featuring descriptions that include the phrase “Painted 2013 Mimi Art Gallery”.

Ms Fragomeli has not responded to questions about the apparent inconsistency. Pictures of the Watson canvases advertised by Mimi look identical to two sold by Arthouse last year for a total of $17,250, according to online records. Those canvases have been identified as alleged fakes by art consultant Ken McGregor and members of Watson’s immediate family group. When contacted by The Australian, Ms Fragomeli said Mimi comprised several art galleries that consigned to Arthouse Auctions. She declined to name any others, citing confidentiality concerns. She had not responded to detailed questions, put last week, by the time of publication.