The large 'fire sale' of my collection at Phillips Auctioneers in Sydney in 1997 caused many Australian contemporary artists to enter the secondary market for the first time. I was advised to keep some key works back and a few of these went up at Christies in Sydney in 2002 - 10 pages of that catalogue are here. Simon Wright prepared the texts that positioned just how important these works were to me and how they continued to inform the art that I collected. The reserves were high but reasonable because the uniqueness of the works, the set went to $36k in the room and I did have a $40k offer almost a year after the sale but I declined. I've also done a (photoshopped) installation view from the individual panel shots - here. Below are my notes in the urban_archaeology database:
Purchased from the 3rd solo show at Ray Hughes. To me these are something special because by this time Bob had produced all the Merles and Swanboros, by this I mean he had covered, wiped, splashed (and collected) paint on these square panels. This work, I see as the end of all that as it is just the (Royco) brush loaded with paint and systematically unloaded and cleaned on fresh canvas panels. See IMA Survey Exhibition catalogue I co-curated with Peter Cripps 1985 where this work was dealt with in detail.
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