News that the APY art centre has been referred for further investigation is a vindication of the important work done over many months, and in the face of enormous resistance and obstruction from the art establishment, by this paper’s writer Greg Bearup.
It is also an implicit rebuff to Nick Mitzevich, head of the National Gallery of Australia, and the “review” he set up to deal with the scandal – or rather to make it go away. This inquiry was always toothless: it was premised on the naive belief that people would tell you the truth when you asked them a question about possible malpractice. Predictably, it ended up an effective whitewash.
The more rigorous inquiry set up by the South Australian state government has evidently adopted a tougher approach, and has also taken seriously allegations of the bribery, pressuring and intimidation of witnesses. It seems inevitable, in the face of this new stage of the investigation, that Skye O’Meara will have to step down as director of the APY centre; that she has held out for so long against many demands for her resignation is testimony to the weak and ineffectual governance of the organisation, and of her influence over the board.
There have been many attempts to minimise this scandal. The NGA inquiry was ultimately able only to avoid a conclusion of malpractice by making an enormous concession and implicitly admitting that large parts of paintings sold as the work of well-known Aboriginal painters may in reality have been executed by white assistants “under their direction”.
This practice was defended by citing the use of assistants by European artists over the centuries. Such a defence is fallacious for three reasons: first, that the Western assistants belonged to the same culture as the masters and were their pupils; second, that everyone understood the structure and functioning of an artist’s workshop; and third, that autograph and assistant works were always valued differently.
In effect, because the whole mystique of Aboriginal art lies in the claim to irreproachable authenticity and a direct connection with ancient stone-age spirituality that cannot be passed on to an outsider – and of course because these “collaborations” have been kept secret and denied – the alleged practices amount to a serious deception.
But the whole story more broadly reflects the way that the Aboriginal art industry has grown, over the past half-century, into an enormously profitable trade in cultural commodities with little relation to aesthetic value or real social function; indeed, the works produced by this industry are made for sale to an audience outside their culture of origin, where they are either treated as investments, enjoyed as abstract decorations or fetishised as representing an alien and unintelligible spirituality.
White hands on black art: an investigation
‘She’d pick up a brush … she knows how white fellas view art’
A four-month investigation uncovers stunning new claims — and footage — over the level of white involvement in bringing APY Lands’ prized art to gallery walls | Watch the video
In the frame: APY art centre to face probe
The APY Arts Centre Collective faces investigation for possible criminal or civil charges after a six-month probe into the controversial organisation sparked by The Australian.
White hands, cash and ‘coercive control’
Indigenous artist Jennifer Inkatji had just started a new painting when she left Skye O’Meara’s studio for dialysis treatment. She returned to find it finished and up for sale | WATCH
APY art chief must step aside: integrity tsar
An investigation into the APY Art Centre Collective will ‘forever be under a cloud’ while manager Skye O’Meara remains, a public integrity advocate says.
Claims of white hands on black art: ‘Can I juice this one up a little bit?’
Serious claims and confronting video evidence about white involvement in the making of Indigenous art have been levelled at one of Australia’s most successful and prominent arts organisations.
Aboriginal art collectors should know exactly what they are getting
In an age when respect, integrity and authenticity are at the centre of community expectations, uncomfortable issues have been raised by serious allegations of what is happening in the studios of the APY Art Centre Collective in South Australia.
‘We won’t brush scandal under carpet’
The government minister driving an investigation into allegations of white interference in black artwork suspects some in the arts establishment ‘want us to brush it under the carpet’ but she has vowed to get to the truth.
Stretch to believe report has drawn a line under it
It is hard to feel that the NGA report has done much to allay the suspicions that hang over the APY Art Centre Collective paintings, let alone the management of the APYACC.
‘White hands’ centre given exhibition ban by Top End gallery
The Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory’s director Adam Worrall will not work with the APY Art Centre Collective following its expulsion from the Indigenous Art Code.
APY group expelled from Indigenous Art Code
It comes after a months-long investigation by The Australian revealed claims by APYACC studio staff and artists that white staff painted substantial sections of Indigenous paintings.
‘White hands concerns are valid’
NT Arts Minister has written to Tony Burke to push the ‘valid and numerous’ concerns Indigenous art industry leaders have about a SA-led probe into the APY Art Centre Collective.
This industry has grown without any serious critical oversight, breathlessly promoted but hardly ever properly assessed. Even before these revelations, it should have been clear how bad much of the APY work was – the enormous, hyperactive, spineless doodles that have consumed exhibitions like the Wynne Prize for landscape in recent years, and which in many cases look uncomfortably like pastiches of John Olsen’s abstraction.
A great many of these repetitive confections have been purchased both by our big galleries and by collectors, speculators and investors in self-managed super funds. It’s not often that you can parade your commitment to progressive politics, display your social status and make money all at the same time, so it’s perhaps little wonder that critical considerations, or even concern for spiritual and cultural authenticity, have been ignored.
And that is why this case is so important; it’s not just about one or two bad eggs, but a whole dodgy chookyard.
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