AFR, 22 May, 2024
by Elizabeth Fortescue
As much as any other Australian sale, [Leonard Joel's annual sale] Centum is important because the artworks are often by less established and younger artists with the potential to have market “longevity”. In other words, Leonard Joel believes these artists could help form the bedrock of the art market in future.
As such, the sale offers collectors the chance to buy in relatively early to what’s been coming out of studios and contemporary commercial art galleries in recent years.
Monday’s offering included Newcastle painter James Drinkwater, who has exhibited in New York alongside stellar names such as Sean Scully and Julian Schnabel. Drinkwater’s painting, Le Jardin Musee Henri Matisse, 2016, sold for $17,500 on an estimate of $12,000 to $18,000. All sale prices include a 25 per cent buyer’s premium.
Sydney artist Caroline Zilinsky’s The Haunting of Timothy Shaw, 2020, achieved $15,000 on an estimate of $8000 to $10,000, a good result given it was the first of the artist’s works to sell at auction. Melbourne artist Tom Adair’s Electric Bushland Beauty, 2021, a work that incorporates a lightbox, topped its high estimate of $15,000 to sell for $25,000.
