Art Market Report: Art + Object - Important Paintings & Contemporary Art November 2025
Heading into the final auction of the year at Art + Object, the mood was of quiet confidence. In a year when single owner sales have really dropped off the radar, A+O have offered three, adding a handy $2.75 million to their overall sales total for the year, and standing them in good stead to celebrate their 20th year in business in 2026. A well curated selection of contemporary art which was beautifully presented and installed in the auction house found its way to the catalogue, and it was a welcome inclusion to see a featured selection of studio glass consigned by one of New Zealand’s foremost glass practitioners, Ann Robinson from her personal collection.
At the Art+Object sale in Auckland on November 27, Tony Fomison’s Christ (Lot 40 ), a gently rendered sensitive portrait of the artist’s Christ figure, attracted multiple, mainly room bidders who engaged in a very quick-fire bidding war to take the work from $100,000 to the final hammer of $182,500 in about two minutes.
Domestic scale sculpture is very popular in New Zealand, especially at A+O who seem to have a consistent pool of buyers for these works. Lotted early in the sale a small bronze by Paul Dibble Moving Forward (Lot 10 ) was a great option for those clients who love the form of his most popular works but aren’t in the market for a two metre outdoor piece. Two internet bidders competed strongly for the work to realise $19,000. Barry Lett’s Vivian Dog (Lot 11 ) provided an opportunity for buyers who are keen to secure a seminal work from the artist’s practice. The linear bronze dog in a small edition of 15 is sought after by collectors and it reached $16,000 against a $10,000 low estimate.
Three Robin White prints from the 1970s in rare pristine condition had mixed results early on. Harbour Cone (Lot 3 ) looked as fresh as the day it was printed and was an absolute must buy for collectors. It was bid to $10,000 – double the low estimate. It was very surprising therefore that the earlier lot Harbour Cone from Hooper’s Inlet (Lot 2 ) in the same condition was sold subject at $5,500. On the Beach, Otago Peninsula (Lot 8 ) depicting a classic New Zealand villa in landscape, sold right on the reserve at $5,000.
An unusual painting by Alan Maddox attracted multiple room buyers on the night. It’s difficult to categorize a work by Maddox as unusual as he basically painted using the same X motif for his entire career but this painting Untitled (Lot 28 ) had a blue/grey background rather than the more regular white canvas. It was well bid from a start at $28,000 up to $37,000 by collectors in the room.
When an artist rarely deviates within their artistic practice, it can be difficult to offer several works in the same auction as there can be a sense of sameness about them despite differences in scale and colour palette. Like Alan Maddox, Judy Miller has become highly recognizable for a single motif, in her case, loose gestural swirls. Of the three paintings included in the A+O sale, which represented the artist’s practice over two decades it was just the smaller work Tonight the Stars will be Out (Lot 52 ) which successfully sold on the night at $13,000, just under the low estimate.
Working in similar manner, young superstar artist Grace Wright had a surprising dip in the secondary market interest for her work after a stellar start to her career. With waiting lists in operation for her works on the primary market, the few that appeared at auction always sold well, but this time it wasn’t to be for Fate Undecided Yet Wouldn’t You Like to Know (Lot 63 ) which went unsold.
It is hard to call a work by Tony Fomison beautiful, but his Christ (Lot 40 ) may be one of the closest of the artist’s works to claim that title. This was a gently rendered sensitive portrait of the artist’s Christ figure, and although it didn’t have the high chiaroscuro, Fomison is noted for, the simply grey palette and cropped view of the face make it unmistakably by the artists’ hand. A lot of Fomison’s best work can be termed ‘challenging’, but a painting like this proves that there are lots of buyers for the easier works as well. Multiple bidders, mainly in the room engaged in a very quick-fire bidding war to take the work from $100,000 to the final hammer of $182,500 in about two minutes.
There was similar strong interest in a screen by Ralph Hotere, Aramoana, Koputai (Lot 45 ). A few of New Zealand’s top artists such as Pat Hanly, Ralph Hotere and Colin McCahon all made hand painted screens in the 1970s and while they come up for sale from time to time, they are usually more conservatively estimated than a comparable painting. This work was no exception; it came to auction with an estimate of $80,000-$120,000 but good bidding between the room and the internet saw it sell for $125,000.
Top price on the night went to a sculpture by Paul Dibble, which is becoming something of a regular occurrence whenever one of his large bronzes is in a sale. There seems to be no end of clients who are keen to acquire one of these monumental and highly recognizable outdoor pieces. Off a low start of $120,000 it was an old-fashioned absentee bid left on the book which secured The Voyager (Lot 38 ) for $197,000. When almost everything now is online, it was a nice vote of confidence and show of trust from the client to leave a substantial bid well over the reserve of $160,000, essentially declaring their hand before the sale had even started, something that rarely occurs in the current market.
Another nice touch during the sale was when auctioneer Ben Plumbly offered a heartly congratulations to their competitor, International Art Centre and artist Peter Stichbury for achieving an auction record at IAC earlier in the week, for the artist’s painting Savannah. In a very small industry which is highly competitive in nature, it was a genuine and unexpected gesture, which was appreciated by the audience and regular auction watchers.
There were some very high-quality three-dimensional pieces contained in the auction including the aforementioned Ann Robinson collection. Of the four pieces consigned by the artist from her personal collection, three were unique, experimental pieces which included later embellishments directly onto the glass. Both the landscape bowls (Lot 19 ) and (Lot 20 ) sold for $30,000 each which was the low estimate for each.
There was more competition for Barry Brickell’s Large Spiromorph (Lot 12 ), a substantial fired terracotta form of his own invention. Sinuous and at once anthromorphic, this work was in beautiful condition, just the right amount of weathering from sitting outside. Purchased from the artist directly in 1995, this work hadn’t been on the open market before and it had a lot of interest, the pre-bidding taking it directly from $10,000 to $17,000. A knockout bid on the floor was successful at $18,000, equaling the auction record for the artist.
The sale realized $1,674,200 and cleared 60% by lot and added onto the $11.5 million A+O have already transacted this year in a slow market is an extremely impressive result. With a single vendor sale for the estate of popular artist Greer Twiss scheduled for early 2026, it looks to be a busy 20th year in business for Art + Object.
Article originally published for Australian Art Sales Digest - www.aasd.com.au