A 29-year-old Kiwi is selling his $300,000 art collection to get on the property ladder.
Over eight years, Piers Abbenes built an art collection filled with paintings from Kiwi artists and photographers such as Ayesha Green, Michael Smither, Nigel Brown, Peter Peryer, Max Gimblett, Sylvia Siddell and Alison Pickmere.
"Some years ago, I started looking where the market wasn't," Abbenes said.
"Mostly out of necessity I bought in the overlap of a venn diagram that included art that I enjoyed and could afford. My approach saw me focussing on collecting groups of works, especially by artists with scarce written history. Collecting a group of work and seeing it together can tell its own story."
He began collecting in 2016 after travelling overseas. A portrait woodblock by Philip Clairmont and a 1968 Toss Woollaston watercolour were the two works that kicked off his "obsession".
Setting aside a large portion of his weekly pay to fund his passion, Abbenes gradually started trading in art, decorative arts and antiques, and gradually amassed hundreds of artworks.
"This is a remarkable single-owner collection in its own right but to come from someone so young is quite the anomaly. Despite not having the substantial means of other collectors, Piers has built something truly impressive through meticulous research, shrewd bidding and a determined single-mindedness. Amongst the many collectors who come through our doors he stands out as a rare individual," Webb's head of single-owner collections Caolán McAleer said.
His collection will go under the hammer at Webb's from July 24 to 29.
Newshub.
