As those that know me can attest, I have more than just a passing interest in Art, though what may be lesser known, is the fact that my late uncle, Andrew Crocker, was involved with the Aboriginal people of Australia and in particular with the Western Dessert Art Movement, during his tenure at Art Advisor to the Papunya Tula Artists company during the early 80′s.

It was therefore with great interest that I picked up Dollar Dreaming by Benjamin Genocchio and read it cover-to-cover this book, on a 6 hour return journey on my recent escapades in Turkey.

Inside the Aboriginal Art World

Visually well presented, the book takes the reader “inside the Aboriginal art world”, and, in a journalistic fashion, uncovers the events that made up the early days of the Aboriginal art scene, the individuals that shaped it, and the players that have most recently helped the Aboriginal art market to hit new highs as  contemporary art, worldwide, knows no bounds with its stock market beating price increases.

As described by the publishers themselves:

Dollar Dreaming explores how the Aboriginal art movement, born of isolation and deprivation in one of the remotest and harshest places on earth, has in little more than thirty years become a newly minted coin in the international art market, with paintings being exhibited and collected in Paris, Los Angeles and New York. In pursuit of the story, the author travels to visit and interview those individuals who are living through this extraordinary period of evolution – artists, dealers, curators, collectors, fakers and auction house staff – to convey through their words and experiences how the art form, and the international market for Aboriginal art, came alive. Dollar Dreaming is an authoritative, engaging and sometimes funny account of Aboriginal art today from one of Australia’s most respected art critics.

Of course, it won’t have escaped the attention of many, that the prices of Australian Aboriginal artwork have gone stratospheric in the last 2 decades, whilst at the same time, it may have equally been noted that the plight of the Aboriginal people remains, in spite of the on-going, and highly lucrative, trade in their cultural heritage, but the book itself doesn’t profess to have answers to this fact, rather simply choosing to shine a light on the current and past episodes.

A Personal Perspective

From my point of view the story told is an interesting one, both personally, but also from the perspective of an artist and collector, focused on the burgeoning street art market.  The book provides a nice counter-point to what I see happening in these parts with the urban fine art, and the involvement of various players in that process.  The parallels that can be drawn are striking, from the early days and the outcasts, to the present day with even the most notorious agitants drawn in tight to the bosom of the art establishment.

Equally, the book is engaging, with a slew of stories along the way, Genocchio tells many an interesting tale, some of which had me cursing, whilst others had me laughing out loud, much to the bemusement of fellow travelers as we hurtled through the tunnels beneath London town on the final leg of my trip home.  Who couldn’t resist laughing at the vision of Aborigines singing “Jesus loves men with hair on their chest” for months, as an unwitting missionary points to his chest to denote “Jesus loves ME” at the chorus of the respective hymn every Sunday.

All-in-all I found the book to be a worthwhile read, but it is also just one book in a series of books that you should be reading if you want to have a proper and well rounded understanding of the Aboriginal art scene and the ins-and-outs thereof: the internal conflicts of tradition and heritage, along side the external conflicts of self-interest and greed.

The book is super easy to read and no doubt could be picked up and put down chapter-to-chapter, without the need to worry about making it a quick read.  It runs in stark contrast of style and vision to Vivien Johnson’s book Once Upon A Time in Papunya, which I am currently reading, but it does provide real insight and is of value to an outsider looking in, interested in an initial understanding of the scene and its protagonists.

UPDATE:

You can see Ben talk about the book here.