This month New Zealand artist Ayesha Green watched in surprise as one of her artworks fetched $48,000 at auction – $29,000 more than she sold it for just a year earlier. The hammer price was sizeable for an artist who describes herself as somewhere between emerging and mid-career, and if the country had a resale royalty scheme for artists in place, Green would have taken home a healthy paycheque to put towards her practice.
But, like all local artists whose work sells at auction, Green gets nothing.
New Zealand’s secondary art market is booming. In mid-November, Auckland’s Art + Object, where Green’s work sold, generated over $15m in sales – the highest grossing art auction in New Zealand history. Another new record was set with artist Michael Parekōwhai’s A Peak in Darien selling for $2,051,900, becoming the most expensive artwork by any artist sold in a New Zealand auction.
New Zealand has toyed with the possibility of a resale royalty scheme, which pays a fee to artists when their work is sold on the secondary art market. It was introduced as an amendment to the…
