Auction puts artist Hammond in the spotlight

By BERNARD ORSMAN

Lyttelton artist Bill Hammond became the hottest name in contemporary circles last night when one of his paintings sold for $200,250 - one of the highest prices for a living New Zealand artist.

The 1998 oil painting, Containers, was sold at auction by Dunbar Sloane in Auckland to the Sydney dealership Martin Brown Fine Art, which outbid four buyers inside the sale room and two other telephone bidders.

Auctioneer Dunbar Sloane said the work, painted in rich Italian green and gold, was Hammond at the peak of his powers.

In December, Peter Webb Galleries sold another Hammond painting for $178,000.

The highest price for the work of a living New Zealand artist was $206,250 paid by Te Papa for a 1965 diptych by Billy Apple, 2 for 25.

The highest price for a New Zealand painting is nearly $3 million, paid last year for a work by the late Colin McCahon. The painting and the buyer remain secret.

Hammond, who is a reclusive figure, last night laughed when the Herald telephoned him and told him of the price for the 107cm by 146cm work.

"At this sort of time I have to say no comment really, eh, I just paint them.

"I know everyone gets excited about the money," said the 54-year-old.

Asked if he considered the painting a good work, Hammond said: "I try hard every time."

Martin Brown, however, was much more forthcoming about the artist and the painting, typical of his 1990s work that looks back into New Zealand's environmental history, drawing inspiration from the work of the 19th-century ornithologist Sir Walter Buller.

Mr Brown said Hammond's "idiosyncratic vision" was of an international quality and up there with New Zealand's other leading artists, such as McCahon, Tony Fomison and Ralph Hotere.

The Sydney dealer said he had bought the painting for stock and would hang it at the opening exhibition of a gallery he planned to open in Auckland this year.

"That picture, I think, is Bill Hammond at his best," Mr Brown said.

The painting shows two birdlike figures walking down New Zealand, one carrying a Bible, portraying missionaries, and the other holding a pistol, portraying soldiers.

In one corner, there is a set of drawers containing birds eggs, and the painting contains several whimsical images such as the tail of a whale in a pool of water.

Mr Brown said $200,000 was "nothing" for a painter as good as Bill Hammond.

It was equivalent to US$80,000 and less than the A$400,000 to A$500,000 it would take to buy a top work by Australia's most expensive living artist, John Olsen.