ART AUCTION AS A SECONDARY MARKET MADE MILLIONS

By Margaretta wa Gacheru (composed nov 15, 2023)

This year’s Art Auction East Africa was a highly anticipated affair. For not only was it the first time the auction would be held at the Circle Art Gallery, from where it was actually hatched by the founder of both Circle Art and the Auction, Danda Jaroljmek. In previous years, Danda had taken the event to fancy five-star hotels. But having recently moved the gallery to a new and more spacious arena, it made sense to bring the auction home to Circle as well. However, it’s still an experiment. “We finally have a large enough space to hold the auction right here,” said Danda who now has been able to not only curate the auction but also hang it with time and space to spare. She’s also able to control the lighting and sound as well as the filming of gallery exhibitions and the auction itself.

The experimental nature of this year’s auction extends to the fact that practically all the sumptuous mix of 45 paintings, prints, drawings and sculptures has come to Circle, using it as a secondary (or resale) market. “That is what we had expected the auction to eventually become,” she noted, adding that collectors have various motives for delivering their art for resale. For some, it may simply be that finances are tight at home, and whereas the collector might or might not have actually bought art for its investment value, knowing that art invariably accrues in value over time, its sale at auction would bring in some much-needed funds. What many collectors realize is that rather than trying to sell a work of art by themselves (and making a pittance in the process), they can earn a whole lot more if their art sells at auction. If it doesn’t sell, that is another story. And several works didn’t sell for whatever reason. In some cases, we saw how fickle the market can be. For instance, why did Ancent Soi’s Feeding Flamingos sell, but his Hat Maker did not? And why did Rosemary Karuga’s lovely collage get ‘bought in’ while her sculpture sold for far more than the top most ‘estimated value’ of her work. Her sculpture’s sale is what the audience who attend auctions in person come to watch. It’s the notorious ‘bidding wars,’ fought between competing bidders who professional auctioneer Philson Wamoja has to field. His job is no easy task since he has to watch those who are fielding on-line bidders as well as those on the phones and audience members who may also be part of the ‘war’. Fortunately, for every artwork that didn’t sell, there were pieces that either exceeded the estimated value or sold above the minimum estimate. For instance, Yony Waite’s impressionistic Migrants End sold for USD10,096, above the higher estimate. So did the Tanzanian artist Francis Imanjama’s Giraffes by selling for $2583. And so did another Tanzanian, David Mzuguno’s Jungle; by selling at USD4579 he too exceeded expectation. Of course, Richard Onyango’s I Love Africa painting of himself with his beloved Drosy sold for more (at USD4696) than expected. Onyango and Drosy especially are epic characters in Kenyan coastal art. The gallery was expecting both E.S. Tingatinga paintings to excell in value after previous bidding wars surprised everyone who witnessed the ferocity of that bidding. Neither painting exceeded the maximum estimate of USD15,000; but both got up to USD14088, so that can’t be considered bad news. Another one who didn’t quite go over the top was Shabu Mwangi. His Bedsitter painting didn’t reach the suggested maximum estimate of OSD5000. But it did sell for USD4461, which came pretty close. Two other sales that exceeded expectations were Ugandans Livingston GK Nkata’s Namanwe Forest at USD4109 (not USD3500) and Fred Mutebi’s A Dream at the Pealing Place for USD2818 (not USD2000). Ultimately, it was the two sculptures that most dramatically exceeded expectations and vindicated the value of both the artists and their works. Rosemary Karuga’s terracotta Mother and Child sold for USD9509, not the KSD7000 expected at best. And Gakunju Kaigwa’s Kisii stone Chai Motto went for USD7748, not the USD4000 anticipated. There was a sigh of relief especially after Kaigwa’s bidding war since there were several buy backs prior to his sculpture’s success. In all there were 45 lots that got auctioned (or not) by professional auctioneer Wajoma. They came from Uganda, Tanzania, Sudan, DRC Congo, Ivory Coast, and South Africa. And in total, they made USD…..