It's a Wrap! Two years after his death, the late Rod Menzies’ collection of Australian Aboriginal art has been sold in its entirety. Menzies’ flirtation with Australian Aboriginal art began in 1999, when he hired Melbourne specialist Vivien Anderson to break into the increasingly lucrative Aboriginal art market that had grown from $715,000 in 1994 to $5.4 million. Anderson held only 2 sales in 1999 and 2000. In 2003 Menzies charged Aboriginal art dealer Adrian Newstead with the task of heading Menzies’ Aboriginal art department. In a self-described audacious move, Newstead widened the range of art on offer, securing works through his extensive dealer network. With Christies and Mossgreen entering the market in 2004, Australian Aboriginal art sales grew from $6.9 million at the start of the millennium to $26.5 million by 2007 with 60% generated through Adrian Newstead’s Menzies, and Tim Klingender’s Sotheby’s, sales. In 2008, with the Global Financial Crisis, Newstead, and Menzies parted ways. The art bubble had burst and several competitors departed the field while others were in decline. The secondary market for Aboriginal art dropped year on year until it reached its’ nadir in 2014 at just $5.7 million. Nine years later in 2017, Cooee Art Auctions debuted, with Newstead and then business partner Mirri Leven at the helm. The venture began with a bang when Emily Kngwarreye’s Earth’s Creation I, sold for $2.1 million. The painting, which set the Australian record price for any Aboriginal artwork in 2017, is still the most valuable painting ever sold by any Australian Female artist. In its first year operating as an auction house Cooee’s sales topped $2.6 million. Leven is now sole owner of the gallery and, going forward, head of the auction house. With the death of Rod Menzies in April 2022, the Menzies heirs agreed to entrust Newstead with the task of disbursing the father’s extensive 240 work Aboriginal art collection. Though he had sold his share of Cooee art to Mirri Leven by February 2023, Newstead remained in his position as head specialist on The Rod Menzies deaccession sales Parts I and II, which were held in November 2023 and March 2024. The sales realised a total of $3 million incl BP with 100% of all lots sold.

EMILY KAME KNGWARREYE (1910 - 1996) Also known as: Kngarreye, Ngwaria, Emily Kame Kngwarraye Community: Utopia, Soakage Bore Outstation: Alhalkere Language: Anmatyerre Art Centre: Utopia Arts and Batik Anmatyerr woman Emily Kame Kngwarreye (Emily Kam Kngwarray) was born in Alhalker on the edge of Utopia cattle station. Preceding the start of her professional painting career in the late 1980’s, she worked as a batik artist for 10 years. Her career as a painter was as prolific as it was passionate; after only a few short years she had established herself internationally. She died in September 1996 leaving behind a profound and invaluable legacy which continues to grow. Emily Kame Kngwarreye, often referred to simply as ‘EMILY,’ had her name adjusted to Emily Kam Kngwarray ahead of the National Gallery of Australia’s 2023 retrospective. This contentious new spelling, described as aligning with “the most up-to-date conventions” will also feature in the artist’s solo retro-spective at the Tate Modern in London, scheduled for July 2025. Kngwarreye moved through a series of artistic periods in her short yet prolific eight-year career. From 1989 until 1991 she painted intimate tracking and animal prints interspersed under fine, sharp-dotted colour fields. These highly prized early works gave way to running dotted lines over ethereal landscapes consisting of parallel horizontal and vertical stripes representing ceremonial body painting. By 1993, she was painting floral images in a profusion of colour by double dipping brushes into layers of paint. In 1995 and 1996 Kngwarreye’s painting series ‘Anooralya (Yam)’ and ‘Sacred Grasses’ show her lineal body painting imagery yield to scrambling yam roots. Kngwarreye’s ‘Final Seres’ consisting of 24 revelatory canvases painted with large flat brushes just two weeks before her passing in 1996. LOT 17 Alalgura (My Country), 1994 89.5 x 151 cm; 93.5 x 154.5 cm (framed) acrylic on linen Estimate: $140,000 - $160,000 PROVENANCE Delmore Gallery, NT Cat No. 94J004 Australian & Oceanic Art Gallery, Qld Private collection, SA Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Delmore Gallery While her preoccupation was with both the life cycle of the yam and the women’s ceremonies celebrating its importance, Emily painted many interrelated themes using these subjects to illustrate her country as a whole. In an interview with Rodney Gooch, translated by Kathleen Petyarre, Knwarreye described her subject as ‘ Whole lot, that’s all, whole lot, awelye, arlatyeye, ankerrthe, ntange, dingo, ankerre, intekwe, anthwerle and kame. That’s what I paint: whole lot. My Dreaming, pencil yam, mountain devil lizard, grass seed, dingo, emu, small plant emu food, green bean and yam seed. ’ Posthumously, Kngwarreye’s phenomenal oeuvre was chronologically curated in Margo Neale’s groundbreaking exhibition, ‘Utopia: The Genius of Emily Kngwarreye’ at the National Museum of Australia in 2007 and The National Gallery of Tokyo in 2008. Her mammoth ‘Earth’s Creation I’ was selected by Okwui Enwezor to be exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 2015. In recent years, Kngwarreye’s work has experienced a further surge, in part due to a host of commercial and institutional exhibitions, including ‘Emily Kam Kngwarray’ curated by Hetti Perkins and Kelli Cole for the NGA and ‘Emily: Desert Painter’ held at the influential Gagosian Gallery Paris in 2023. The four mid-career works offered in this auction (Lots 1, 9, 17 and 72) are excellent examples of Kngwarreye’s work for Delmore Gallery, each a luminous celebration of her country. With her status as an elder and senior law holder of Country during a seminal time in social history, works of this calibre are becoming increasingly important to her artistic legacy. These works pay reverence to the sacredness of the Earth, the seasons, vegetation, her spiritual ancestors, and the ceremonies that Emily Kame Kngwarreye engaged with in her daily life.

acrylic on composition board (Masonite) 71.5 × 68 cm; 83 x 79.5 cm (framed) Estimate $110,000 - $140,000 PROVENANCE Painted at Papunya, NT, c. 1972 Seddell McLean, Vic acquired in the late 1970s thence by decent in 2010 Private collection, Vic D’Lan Contemporary, Vic Cat No. INV-TJAA-0006   EXHIBITED Significant-2023 Part One, D’Lan Contemporary, Melbourne, Vic, 2 June - 22 July 2023 Essay by John Kean This unusual painting appeared without a detailed provenance, its treatment and material qualities suggested that it might have been painted at Papunya 1971-1972. Its significance stems from the possibility that a renowned artist created it during the founding of contemporary desert art. While several of the painting’s pictorial elements are common to other early Papunya boards, others are unique and as a consequence, raise the bar required for positive attribution. Yet the object’s material qualities are compelling, for they are redolent of the properties of well-known and definitively provenance paintings produced at Papunya in the second half of 1972. While I was initially wary of its authenticity, the painting’s idiosyncratic iconography demanded attention. If a founding Papunya artist, as suggested, created the work, the painting would substantially expand the already impressive range and scope of treatments employed by the 25 artists who founded contemporary art in Central Australia. After detailed examination together with Luke Scholes, I concluded the painting was, in all likelihood painted by a founding Papunya artist. There follows a summary of the reasoning behind my contention. Period The painting is most likely to have been created in a period that Vivien Johnson has characterised by as the ‘interregnum’.1 The interregnum commences in August 1972, with the departure of Geoffrey Bardon; a teacher widely attributed with facilitating the emergence of painting at Papunya and concludes with the employment of Peter Fannin as the first art advisor under the Papunya Tula Artists banner in December of that year. Paintings produced during the interregnum are frequently experimental, for the artists were working in advance of the conventions that came to characterise Papunya Tula painting as a recognisable style. Moreover, the artists worked in the Men’s Painting Room without the intervention of a non-Indigenous advisor.2 Excited and working with extraordinary freedom, the artists innovated, inventing diverse approaches to the articulation of icons and decorative application. Some elements of these early Papunya painting, most notably, the imbrication of background patterns to form an expansive overall schema were used for a short period, then abandoned in favour of the now familiar dotted approach. Working as a collective, the artists called on elements drawn from ceremonial life, while taking inspiration from the innovations of the peers - the period resulted in a ‘blooming of a hundred flowers.’3   Many of the works created during the interregnum were subsequently documented and dispatched by Patricia Hogan, director of the Stuart Centre in Alice Springs, who at that moment, was the sole representative of the Papunya artists. Thus the majority of paintings produced during the period were lumped into Consignment 19, the largest and most diverse of the early consignments to have left Papunya. The stylistic mysteries of the consignment have yet to be fully disentangled.   Another consequence of the independence with which the founding artists operated during at the interregnum was the freedom with which they could sell their work to whom they pleased. A select group of customers consisted of an assortment of non-Aboriginal settlement workers and government officials. Other buyers were found among the visitors who stayed with friends and family members working at Papunya. As a result of these arbitrary acquisitions, an unknown number of undocumented paintings left the community to be transported to disparate locations, where they hung on study walls, or stored for decades, unsighted in a dark cupboard. Now, a full half-century after their acquisition, such paintings are occasionally uncovered in the estates of those who lived at or visited Papunya - undocumented jewels whose provenance is lost with the passing of a painting’s original purchaser. In these instances, the authenticity of a particular work must be assayed by the object’s material, iconographic and stylistic qualities. Such is the case with this mysterious board. Materiality The humble materials used in this work are typical of the interregnum. The Masonite substrate was a proprietary product used in many buildings on the community. Bardon and the artists had developed the restricted palette typical of paintings produced at Papunya. The paint in this work - black, deep red-oxide and white - is typical of works produced in the Men’s Painting Room in 1972. Notably, each line and dot is created with a stroke of carefully thinned paint. Despite having painted for such a short period, the artists approached their task with confidence. A close examination of any detail of the work reveals the direction and pressure of each stroke. The brushstrokes are typical of the most proficient of the early Papunya artists. The paint is often semi-transparent, and modulation of tone (both between various marks and within a single stroke of the brush) is critical to my confidence that the painting was created at Papunya in 1972.   Variations in transparency and the frequency of the dotted surface produce an uneven, shimmering surface typical of artists of this period. Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula first developed the effect of massed dots to evoke shimmering meteorological qualities associated with the Water Dreaming at Kalipinypa.4 The proficiency required to produce such attractive shimmering effects narrows the number of artists likely to have produced this work. Inspired by Warangkula’s ground breaking innovation, Anatjarri Tjakamarra, John Tjakamarra, Kaapa Tjampitjinpa, Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri, Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri, Timmy Payunka Tjapangati and Yala Yala Gibson Tjungurrayi produced exceptional paintings whose icons were embedded in a scintillating field of dots.   The back of the current work is cryptic, for there are no catalogue numbers or gallery labels to suggest or confirm the painting’s provenance. A simple baton has been attached to the Masonite from which a rough copper wire has been slung. The support structure is aged, unassuming and improvised. This utilitarian treatment is consistent with a work that has been purchased directly from the artist and hung with little fuss by the painting’s purchaser.   Iconography This painting’s unique iconography is especially intriguing. When I was made aware of the painting in mid 2022, (via digital photographs taken on mobile phone), three dominant, rather eccentric icons initially raised my suspicion - they felt just too odd. Firstly, the large black negative space, with its crooked line and curious grouping of outfacing bird prints (small red arrows) is striking, yet unfamiliar. Further the helicopter blade-shaped icon at the painting’s centre is quite unlike anything I had previously seen in a Papunya painting. Surely no one who wanted to fake and early Papunya board would use such uncharacteristic icons. Thirdly, the ‘pear-shaped’ object at the bottom of the board felt more familiar but took some untangling, before I could begin to interpret its form.   After some time however, I recognised that the general form and striated decoration of the pear-shaped object corresponded with character and incised treatment of a pearl shell pendant, such as those traded across the desert from Broome to be used as objects of power in rainmaking ceremonies. The identification of this object as a pearl shell informs my subsequent interpretation of the work. When understood as representing a pearl shell, the overlapping ‘umbilical’ line could be read as a hair-string belt to which the nacre was attached, particularly if the loop (adjacent and immediately right of the top of the proposed shell) provided a means of attachment, through which the other end of the hair-string would be tied around a performers’ waist.   The painting’s background treatment feels more familiar. I contend the conjunction between the expansive underlying zigzag pattern and the pearl shell reinforces the painting’s subject as a Water Dreaming, and point towards a likely artist. But before jumping to any attribution, it is important to emphasise the underlying zigzag pattern is more redolent of the Pintupi art of the Western Desert than it is of the Anmatyerr artists of Central Australia thus eliminating at least two potential artists listed above.   Of the Pintupi painters, Johnny Warangkula is most powerfully associated with the Water Dreaming themed paintings, nonetheless Warangkula’s Water and bush tucker story (1972) possesses several similar features to the current work by an unknown artist: these features include a pearl shell shape (the imbricated shape at the painting’s centre), attenuated undulating lines (top) that are similar to the zigzag lines in the recently un-covered work, and a scintillating dotted surface. While I am confidant the current work is not by Warangkula, the correlation of shared attributes described above indicates its subject is probably Water Dreaming. The elimination of Warangkula further reduced the list of likely artists to Anatjarri Tjakamarra, John Tjakamarra, Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri, Timmy Payunka Tjapangati and Yala Yala Gibson Tjungurrayi.   Of the above artists, Mick Namarari painted several Water Dreaming subjects, however he tended to utilise a form of relaxed symmetry that is entirely absent this painting. Moreover, Namarari’s paintings generally reach a more harmonic resolution than is the case with the current work. In contrast, Timmy Payunka Tjapangati always sought varity to his subject manner over the search for aesthetic resolution. Like Namarari, Timmy Tjapangati created Water Dreaming paintings during the period in question; see ‘Big Rain Story’ and ‘Ngapa Tjukurrpa’ (Water Dreaming). Further, Timmy Tjapangati painted with a notably individuality, surely a defining quality of the artist who created the work under question. Further weight as to Timmy Tjapangati being a probable artist comes with the painting’s combination of geometric elements from the Western Desert with the more familiar dotted treatments, an identifiable property of several of Timmy Tjapangati early boards. Returning for a moment to the painting’s curious ‘pearl shell’ element, the organic shape of the associated hair string ‘belt’ is reminiscent of several biomorphic figures in Tjapangati’s paintings and painted artefacts. In summary, the proficiency, subject manner, together with the combination of disparate stylistic traditions, and the eccentricity exhibited in this work are distinguishing attributes that can be found in Timmy Tjapangati’s paintings of the 1970s.   Timmy Payunka Tjapangati was a mercurial figure, sometimes camping to the west of Papunya though frequently travelling several hundred kilometers to the northwest to stay with relatives in Balgo. Tjapangati was an exceptional artist who, until the last phase of his career did not paint in a consistent style. His edgy paintings, while difficult to corral into a single neat category, are quite unlike those of any other Pintupi artist. According to my reasoning, the eccentricity of this work, which in all probability represents Water Dreaming suggests that it was painted by a singular artist, who even within the experimental excitement of the Men’s Painting Room was brave enough to stretch the emerging conventions. Timmy Payunka Tjapangati was a proud man of high degree. Of all the individuals present at the Men’s Painting Room during the interregnum, I believe Timmy Payunka Tjapangati was is most likely to have painted the current work.   1 Vivien Johnson, Once Upon a Time in Papunya, University of New South Wales Press, Sydney, 2010.   2 See Bardon’s description of his own interventions in Geoffrey Bardon and James Bardon, Papunya: A Place Made After the Story: The Beginnings of the Western Desert Painting Movement, The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 2004.   3 See Kean 2023, Johnson 2010, Bardon 2004, Scholes 2017   4 Kean, 2023

Unwrapping and discovering new artworks as they come in is one of our favourite parts of what we do here at Art Leven [formerly Cooee Art]. In the packing room today, we have works from Mirndiyan Gununa Artists on Mornington Island, Warakurna Art Centre and Martumili Artists. If you'd like a sneak preview, visit the gallery or contact our helpful team . Region: North Queensland Country:  Lookati (Bentinck) Community:  Mornington Island Language:  Kayardild Art Centre:  Mirndiyan Gununa Artists "This is my Country on Bentinck Island at Oak Tree Point. We call it Lookati in our Kayardild language. I was born here at Bilmee, Dog Story Place.“I paint the story places, all different places, true story places. We learned these from the old people. We learned what’s not for touching. They tell us what it means. We do this so we can pass these stories down to our grandchildren while we’re still alive. They love to hear our stories because of the olden time Dreamtime stories and dancing. There are lots of things that I remember to tell in stories.“I am happy to show other people My Country and Culture. It brings a smile to my face when I finish an artwork and see a part of me on it.”   - Birmuyingathi Maali Netta Loogatha Region:  Western Desert Country:  Ngaanyatjarra Lands Community:  Warakurna, Wanarn & Patjarr Art Centre:  Warakurna Art Centre The Western Desert is considered by many to be the birthplace of the modern Aboriginal art movement - usually referring to the style many define as ‘dot paining’. It was in Papunya that the first group of Pintupi elders began using acrylic paint to record aspects of their culture on canvas in the early 1970s. Papunya was predominantly made up of Pintupi, Luritja, Walpiri, Arrernte, and Anmatyerre peoples, displaced by the Australian Government to the ‘settlement’ 240 km northwest of Alice Springs (Mparntwe).   "This painting is about Dorcas Bennett’s Mother’s country. Her mother, Nyurapayia Nampitjinpa, “Mrs Bennett” painted extensively on this subject and here Dorcas reflects on her mother’s work and country and her own connection to this part of the lands." Per Warakurna certificate Region:  Pilbara, WA Country:  Percival Lakes, WA Community:  Parnpajinya (Newman), Jigalong, Parnngurr, Punmu, Kunawarritji, Irrungadji and Warralong Art Centre:  Martumili Artists "Pirrkili is a rockhole surrounded in all directions by permanent tali (sandhills), located east of Nyayartakujarra (Lake Dora) and south of Punmu Aboriginal community. Linyji (claypans) such as Pirrkili were traditionally visited more often during the wantajarra (wet season) when they were filled with water. "This site lies within Nyanjilpayi’s ngurra (home Country, camp) through her uncle and grandmother, and forms part of the area which she knew intimately and travelled extensively in her youth. The Western Desert term ‘ngurra’ is hugely versatile in application. Broadly denoting birthplace and belonging, ngurra can refer to a body of water, a camp site, a large area of Country, or even a modern house. People identify with their ngurra in terms of specific rights and responsibilities, and the possession of intimate knowledge of the physical and cultural properties of one’s Country. This knowledge is traditionally passed intergenerationally through family connections. Painting ngurra, and in so doing sharing the Jukurrpa (Dreaming) stories and physical characteristics of that place, has today become an important means of cultural maintenance. Physical maintenance of one’s ngurra, like cultural maintenance, ensures a site’s wellbeing, and is a responsibility of the people belonging to that area." per Martumili Artists certificate.

Indigenous and Oceanic Art Collection Part I Wednesday 8th November 2023 Feature Lot Emily Kame Kngwarreye - Earth's Creation II LOT #29 Emily Kame Kngwarreye (1910 - 1996) Earth's Creation II ,1995 synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen 318 x 251cm (9 panels of varying sizes) EST: $400,000 – 600,000 Emily Kame Kngwarreye was born at Utopia station in a remote desert community almost 300 km north-west of Alice Springs. Before beginning her professional painting career in the late 1980’s, she worked at Utopia as a batik artist for around 10 years. Her career as a painter was as prolific as it was passionate, and after several years she had established herself both locally and internationally. She died in September 1996 leaving behind a remarkable story of inspiration, a profound and invaluable legacy to the art world. Emily went through many different individual styles during her short eight-year career as a professional painter. By the 1990’s early works with intimate tracking and animal prints interspersed with fine dotted colour fields, gave way to running dotted lines over cloud-like ethereal landscapes, and parallel horizontal and vertical stripes, representing ceremonial body painting, in a wide array of colours. Within a year she began using larger brushes than previously and by 1993 she began creating floral images in a profusion of colour by double dipping brushes into layers of paint resulting in variegated petals in hepatic profusion. Her formal body painting line images yielded to the serendipity of scrambling yam roots and, in the final months of her life, to colour fields painted with large flat brushes that are simply brilliant in their assuredness and utter simplicity. While her preoccupation was the life cycle of the Yam in all of its seasonal manifestations and the women’s ceremonies that celebrated its importance and their responsibility as its custodians, Emily painted many interrelated themes and species. In her own words, she painted: ‘Whole lot, that’s all, whole lot, awelye, arlatyeye, ankerrthe, ntange, dingo, ankerre, intekwe, anthwerle and kame. That’s what I paint: whole lot. My Dreaming, pencil yam, mountain devil lizard, grass seed, dingo, emu, small plant emu food, green bean and yam seed.’ In 1995, Fred Torres (Aboriginal art dealer and son of Emily’s niece, Barbara Weir) initiated a workshop on the Utopia clan lands in which Emily created the masterpieces, Earth’s Creation I and Earth’s Creation II. The workshop was held during a period in which Emily was creating wildly colourful canvases by double-dipping brushes into pots of layered paint. Despite her age, Emily’s physicality was evident as she painted. Often with a brush in each hand she simultaneously pounded them down on to the canvas spreading the bristles and leaving the coagulating paint around the neck of the brush to create depth and form. In preparation for this workshop Torres and Weir prepared large canvases by hand-sewing individual panels together in such a way that Emily could paint a single painting that could later be unpicked and stretched onto several interlocking and adjoining frames. Of these, Earth’s Creation I, the major triptych measuring 632 x 275 cm, was included in her touring retrospective exhibition curated by Margo Neale for the Queensland Art Gallery in 1998. The painting was offered for sale in 2017 and sold for $1.056 million. On the request of the National Museum of Australia, Earth’s Creation I was subsequently loaned to tour in Tokyo and Osaka in Japan in 2007, and exhibited at the National Museum in Canberra in 2008. It was exhibited in the Great Hall of Parliament House in Darwin before heading to its new home in Alice Springs. In 2015 the work was exhibited in the Giardini Central Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale,“All the World’s Futures”, curated by Okwui Enwezor. Earth’s Creation I, was subsequently sold at auction in 2017 through Cooee Art for $2.1 million, breaking the record it had set in 2015 for the highest sale price achieved by an Australian female artist. Earth's Creation II, the work on offer here, was painted in the same workshop. The palette is cooler and the overall impression more subdued, yet it lacks none of the spiritual intensity and vision of her larger work. The reduced palette of predominately blue and white, with touches of red, gives the impression of floodwater after rain. From every part of the work, its sublime orchestration engages the eye with dazzling energy and flowing movement. The painting is a luminous celebration with a mystical, ethereal presence. It’s about her life, her story, her country. It’s about her universe and the mythologies that inform the Dreamings. Filled with mystery, it pays reverence to the sacredness of the Earth, the seasons, vegetation, people, the epic adventures of her spiritual ancestors, and ceremonies that she daily engages with in her life. Together, Earth’s Creation I and Earth’s Creation II can be seen as companion pieces. Both works exhibit an assurance in execution that was based upon Kngwarreye’s inseparable link to her country and its ceremonies. Provenance Dacou Gallery, SA Cat No. SS1197158 (A - I) Private Collection, SA Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, November 2007, Lot No. 60 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Comprising 9 panels - each panel inscribed verso: SS1197158 (A - I) indicating that this was created during the same special bush workshop during which 'Earth's Creation I' was painted. Accompanied by a copy of a certificate of authenticity from Dacou and 9 images of the artist creating the artwork. Sydney Opening Gala Thursday, November 2nd | 6 - 8pm 17 Thurlow St, Redfern Viewing November 3rd - 8th | 10 - 6pm Auction Night Wednesday, November 8th | 7pm AEDT

WHO x WHO – a collaborative exhibition  between Art Leven and their Thurlow Street neighbours  ANIBOU.  and Strutt Studios , continues until the 28th September.

PAYMENT OPTIONS EFT – Electronic Funds Transfer – Free of charge Cash and/or cheque – Free of charge Visa, MasterCard OR AMEX– Payment using a Visa, MasterCard or Amex online, via the phone or in person at the gallery incurs a 2% surcharge PayPal – Incurs a 2% surcharge Payment Plans & Lay-bys – Found the work you love but need some time to pay it off? Ask us for lay-by terms Art Money – Provides interest-free loans to buy for Australian citizens SHIPPING & DELIVERY OPTIONS Each artwork is unique and therefore each requires different packing and shipping requirements. Cooee Art organises freight of artworks throughout Australia and worldwide and provides quotes on a case by case basis. Contact the gallery if you would like to get a quote for packing and delivering a particular artwork to your home or work. The majority of paintings available at the gallery are able to be sent rolled or stretched. For example, an average size painting measuring 150 x 120 cm will cost: To send within Australia – Rolled and sent in a tube – average price $120 Stretched and delivered locally in Sydney – average price $150 Stretched and sent to Brisbane, Melbourne, Canberra – average price $275 To send overseas – Rolled and sent in a tube – average price $250 Stretched and crated – average price $1,200 For a detailed quote on any artwork simply fill in the inquiry form found next to each artwork with your address and phone number mentioning in the comment section that you would like a delivery quote and one of our staff members will be back to you shortly. STORAGE POLICY Cooee Art is able to store your artwork on site for 60 days of the initial purchase date, unless otherwise discussed with the Gallery Manager. If the artwork is not collected or shipped by then, we will charge a $5 per day per work storage fee. EXCHANGE POLICY We are all human and change our minds from time to time. Cooee Art offers to exchange artworks purchased by its clients for works of the same or lesser value within two weeks of the initial date of purchase provided the original artwork is returned in good condition. Any additional costs associated with the exchange such as framing, freight or delivery are the responsibility of the buyer. RETURNS POLICY We understand that buying a work of art is not something that you do every day. It can be especially difficult for those that buy an artwork without the opportunity to view it in person. Cooee Art offers any client that has not personally viewed the painting before purchase, a full refund if the artwork does not meet their approval upon delivery. THIS OFFER IS MADE UNDER THE FOLLOWING CONDITIONS: The refund is for the cost of the artwork itself and not for the extra freight and packaging costs associated with the sale. Artwork was not purchased on a Lay-by agreement or through Art Money The buyer must contact the gallery within 48 hours of receiving the artwork to inform the gallery manager of their decision to return the work. The buyer will pay for the cost of the return delivery of the artwork. The buyer agrees to return the artwork within two weeks of its arrival at their home or business address. The refund will be paid in full via EFT only if the artwork is received in the same condition as it left the gallery. LAY-BY TERMS When purchasing an artwork using a Lay-by agreement, the payments made towards the artwork are non-refundable. However, we can offer you the opportunity to transfer the payments and or deposit to a credit note. Giving you the opportunity to find the right painting for you. DEPOSITS Deposits on artworks are non-refundable but we will transfer the amount paid to another artwork or supply you for a credit for the full amount. MISCELLANEOUS This agreement will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of New South Wales, Australia. You irrevocably and unconditionally submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of New South Wales. If any provision of this agreement is found to be invalid or unenforceable by a court of law, such invalidity or unenforceability will not affect the remainder of the agreement, which will continue in full force and effect. All rights not expressly granted herein are reserved. DISCLAIMER All information on this website has been compiled from material currently available in the public domain. Its re-presentation is available without charge to subscribers in a manner consistent with the fair dealing provisions of the copyright act. Cooee Art P/L has attempted to make contact with the author and or creator of all the images used on the website. If the author and or creator of an image has been wrongly attributed, Cooee Art P/L is happy to make any necessary changes but will not be made liable to any copyright infringements.

Darwin 8-12 August 2024   (Perth, Melbourne and Adelaide Dates to be confirmed)   Our senior specialist team of Mirri Leven & Emma Lenyszyn will be travelling to the 2024 Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair & the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Art Awards (NATSIAA). We are taking appointments with potential vendors. If you are interested in selling your artwork or are just curious to find out its value, feel free to reach out.  Mirri Leven | Owner & Director 0416 379 691 mirri@artleven.com Emma Lenyszyn | Indigenous Art Specialist 0400 822 546 emma@artleven.com

Final Submissions for our First Nations Fine Art Auction | November 2024 After two back-to-back 100% clearance-rate single-vendor auctions, we are delighted to extend our invitation to consign for our next multi-vendor auction.   This November auction is already three-quarters consigned with only limited spaces open. We remain the only specialist auction house dedicated to showcasing our most celebrated Australian Aboriginal artists. We are proud to provide an unmatched level of advice and expertise, ensuring that each artwork receives the respect and attention it deserves.    If you have a single artwork or a collection that you are considering to sell, contact one of our specialists at the gallery for a complimentary appraisal or fill in the online artwork submission form by clicking the link below.

Cooee Art Leven would like to extend our heartfelt condolences to the family and the artists and staff at Warnayaka art centre, with the passing of Yampinyi Napanangka Simon. Yampinyi Napanangka Simon was a dear friend and dedicated artist and she leaves behind an immense artistic and cultural legacy.   Yampinyi Napanangka Simon works embodied a distinctive, singular aesthetic and her vivid paintings won admirers both inside and outside her tight-knit Warlpiri community.   The country that Yampinyi Napanangka Simon painted was a description of the landscape, yet was simultaneously defined by stories of its creation. Her style appeared to be grounded in abstraction and through the intersection of colour and free-form shapes and dots scattered in strings across the canvas, Simon described in detail the desert flowers, salt encrustations and natural features of Mina Mina, the home of her sacred Dreaming in the south- western region of the Tanami Desert.   "I was deeply saddened by the news but am so very grateful to have had the opportunity to spend so much time with Yampinyi Napanagka Simon over the years. When she first began to paint in the style she became known for, the other women at the art centre in Lajamanu laughed and called them ‘Rubbish paintings’. It wasn’t long until they saw galleries around the world selling out her exhibitions.   I will miss the excitement I got every time I opened a a new roll of her paintings as they arrived into the gallery covered in red dust. I will miss her wicked laugh she would share with her sister when us kardiya would do or say something silly but mostly I will miss the friend I had made all the way down the Buntine Highway back in 2012. We were fortunate enough to visit her as recently as last May, along with Sydney artist Neil Tomkins, for a painting workshop leading to her last exhibition. I was seven months pregnant during the trip. As she painted a romper for our unborn baby she, together with her sister Annie, decided on his name ‘Jimija (after Annie’s grandfather) Tjungarrayi.  Her artworks will continue to spread joy. To those lucky enough to share a home with one, cherish this vibrant window into a beautiful soul."    ngaka rnangku nyanyi - Mirri Leven

Government scheme to assist in acquiring artwork for your business As we approach the end of the financial year, we enter an ideal time to acquire an artwork for your office or small business. Take advantage of the end-of-financial-year immediate write-off by acquiring a piece from Cooee Art Leven’s expansive stockrooms. Artworks up to $20,000 qualify as instant business asset write-offs and can be claimed as a complete tax deduction if purchased by 30th June. This means you can claim the full cost of a beautiful, culturally significant artwork by a First Nations artist as a tax deduction in the current financial year. Get in touch with our friendly staff at the gallery for a personally curated selection of available art or for further advice and assistance. To visit our online stockroom click the link below and use the filters to adjust for your preferred budget and criteria. Read more about your eligibility here and please seek independent financial advice for information relevant to your business. View Gallery Terms & Conditions. From now until the EOFY, Cooee Art Leven will also be offering FREE unstretched shipping with any purchase world wide.

Location | 17 Thurlow Street, Redfern, NSW, 2016 Exhibition Continues until July 13th 2024 “My arts practice is my act of storytelling and reclamation, it is highly detailed in both style and cultural substance. I like to think my works represent a document in time to help connect both Aboriginal & non Aboriginal peoples to our rich Culture; our past, our present and our future.” Cooee Art Leven is excited to announce the opening of Konstantina’s latest exhibition ’WUMERA NANGAMAY - A SALT LAKE SERIES’ - an evocative collection of new works depicting one of the Gadigal songlines that connects the Gadi (Sydney, NSW) to Kati Thanda (Lake Eyre, SA). Konstantina (Kate Constantine) is a neo-contemporary Indigenous artist, re-imagining the traditions of her peoples’ artistic traditions and providing a modern narrative for all people to better understand a First Nations perspective as part of the fabric of Australia. Konstantina’s practice is heavily interconnected with her Mob and their oral histories and coupled with her esteemed academic research, her artworks are a physical manifestation of these stories and histories - a document in time to reconnect her people to their Country as described in her recently published book ‘Gadigal Ngura - Exploring a Gadigal Artist’s Love Affair With Her Country’ published in May 2024.