[MSN] Fears Aboriginal art is stolen to order

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Fears Aboriginal art is stolen to order
February 18, 2007

Galleries of indigenous art say police are not doing enough to track down thieves who have made off with many valuable works in multiple heists. Mark Russell reports.

A GANG of brazen thieves of Aboriginal art are thought to be stealing to order for collectors overseas.

The gang, whose members wear balaclavas and white gloves, have used bricks and crowbars to break into three galleries since December 2005. They hit one gallery three times and another twice.

Their haul so far is estimated at more than $250,000 of paintings believed to be destined for overseas where demand for Aboriginal art is high.

The latest heist took place at the Aboriginal Galleries of Australia, in Spring Street in the city, about 3.30am on February 1 when the gang broke in through the front window and stole paintings valued at more than $50,000.

They hit the same gallery about the same time a year earlier, stealing paintings valued at more than $120,000.

Gallery manager Nic Plant feared the gang would not be caught because police did not put a high priority on investigating art theft.

"They are treating it like an icecream store robbery," Mr Plant told The Sunday Age.

He hoped the paintings stolen in the latest break-in, including works by well-known artists Michael Nelson Jakamarra and Minnie Pwerle, would be difficult to sell on the black market.

"Ten years ago, a lot of gallery owners would have thought, 'Well, we're safe, we're not going to be robbed, people don't break into galleries.

"It wouldn't be on the top of criminals' hit-lists to do an art gallery because often there's no cash in a gallery and there's not much you can do with stolen art.

"But things have changed because we've been hit twice and we're not the only gallery that's been targeted.

"For them to hit us twice shows they obviously didn't have a hard time selling the stolen paintings last year.

"Someone out there is buying stolen art."

Mr Claude Ullin, owner of the High on Art Aboriginal Gallery in Armadale, which has been hit three times, said police were not taking the thefts seriously enough.

Mr Ullin disturbed the thieves as they loaded stolen paintings on to a truck during the first robbery in December 2005, causing them to run off with just one painting, valued at $18,000.

"I've been attacked three times," Mr Ullin said. "How many more times do I have to be attacked before something is done about it?

"It's also, of course, costing me a lot of money to put in more security."

Mr Ullin said the fact the thieves were wearing white gloves could indicate they worked for someone in the art industry.

He said it was possible the stolen paintings were being sold overseas.

Art theft expert Dr Ken Polk, a professor of criminology at the University of Melbourne, said the gang might be exploiting the lack of an Australian register of stolen art.

An international register covering more than 145,000 art works, antiques and valuables has offices in London, New York and Cologne. The register, set up in 1991, includes 562 Picassos, 356 Miros, 309 Chagalls, 231 Dalis, 203 Durers, 209 Renoirs, 174 Rembrandts, 159 Warhols and 108 Matisses.

Dr Polk said Australia lacked such a register because commercial gallery owners believed it was too expensive to maintain.

He said this had left art galleries vulnerable to theft.

Dr Polk was puzzled by how the Melbourne gang could sell each stolen painting without a provenance that set out its history.

"You might be able to get away with making a fake provenance for one or two stolen works, but to have any volume of stolen work going on to the legitimate market is very difficult.

"It sounds like someone has found a way to steal the art and put it on to the market.

"If you've got a well-known painting, say a Cezanne, you simply don't put it on to the Melbourne market because any reputable dealer is going to ask you, 'Well, where did you get it?'

"You might be able to get away with it once by saying it was up in granny's attic but after that, no. If you do it two or three times, people are going to ask where is this stuff coming from?"

Dr Polk said it was also possible the gang was stealing to order for a private collector known as a "gloater", a person willing to possess and enjoy stolen art.

Mr Plant said the gang had taken nine paintings from the gallery walls and 40 smaller paintings from a table during the February 1 theft but had left behind other valuable pieces, including a painting by Ronnie Tjampitjinpa titled Tingari valued at $18,000.

Mr Plant did not know why the paintings had been left behind but speculated the thieves probably thought they were too recognisable and harder to sell.

In last year's theft, the gang smashed their way into the gallery and stole 13 paintings, including one worth at least $40,000 by Emily Kame Kngwarreye titled My Country. The paintings, including works by Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula and Freddie Timms, had been rolled up and were about to be shipped to New York for an exhibition.

On January 9, the gang shattered the glass front door of the Aboriginal Gallery of Dreamings, in Bourke Street in the city, and stole 20 unframed paintings.

Ten days later they hit the High on Art Aboriginal Gallery which was previously broken into in October 2006 and December 2005.

A police spokeswoman said the investigation was continuing.

She denied detectives were not treating the matter seriously and warned art dealers to be on the lookout for anyone trying to sell Aboriginal paintings.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or go to www.crimestoppers.com.au
Hit and run

Paintings taken from the latest gallery to be hit, the Aboriginal Galleries of Australia, included:

¦ Bush Melon Body Paint by Minnie Pwerle $8000.

¦ Kangaroo and Possum Dreaming by Michael Nelson Tjakamarra $4800.

¦ Caterpillar Dreaming by Lorna Fencer Naparralla $3500.

¦ Body Paints by Myrtle Petyarre $3400.

¦ Women's Ceremony by Jeanie Bruno $2800.

¦ Bushlands by Bill King $2500.

¦ Big Water by Richard King $1800.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/