Art collectors swap Nolan and Whiteley for street art

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Art collectors swap Nolan and Whiteley for street art

By Louise Bellamy

There are hints about the couple who live in one of St Kilda's grand mansions before you even get inside. Stencilled in red in the front patio are the words ''don't be scared it's only street art'' by artist Dlux. Out the back there's a large painting on an external wall of a boy coming out of a tree by stencil artist Vexta, and a marble watering can by sculptor Alex Seton that, from a distance, looks fit for the tip.

Inside, every room including the toilets and pantry is chock-a-block with works by graffiti artists, many of whom have nudged their art out of lanes and onto canvases and internal walls applying the same techniques - aerosol sprays, stencils and installations. Sandra Powell and Andrew King call their acquisitions the Sandrew Collection and the artists they patronise and help promote ''family''.

St Kilda collectors Sandra Powell and Andrew King are selling works by Nolan and Beckett to support Australian street artists.

St Kilda collectors Sandra Powell and Andrew King are selling works by Nolan and Beckett to support Australian street artists.Credit: Wayne Taylor

This collection, the fruits of a successful fashion business, did not always comprise contemporary street art. Powell adored Joy Hester and Brett Whiteley. And King, reared in Beaumaris, loved Clarice Beckett's rendering of his childhood haven, along with Sidney Nolan.

But on March 19, their collection of some 90 iconic Australian works accrued over 25 years, including nine Becketts and five Hesters and Nolans, is being sold at Mossgreen, marking the couple's schism with their ''old'' collection. Their aim is to inject the money from the sale - estimated between $1 million and $1.5 million - into acquiring more street art and organising local and international exhibitions.

Joy Hester's <i>Child in Blue</i>. Estimated sale price: $25,000-35,000.

Joy Hester's Child in Blue. Estimated sale price: $25,000-35,000.

While parting with some works is hard, Powell says most have been in storage for years to make space for Ha-Ha, Reka, Rone, Vexta, Dlux, Dmote and Kid Zoom, whose street art is starting to be recognised worldwide.

After the auction, all that will remain of their ''old'' collection is Charles Blackman's Barbara Sleeping, a birthday present from King to Powell that she says she could never relinquish.

The turn in their taste occurred after they read British street artist Banksy's Wall and Piece and Getting Through The Walls by French stenciller Blek le Rat. ''We realised the rebellious, tough, inventive works of street art reflected the warts-and-all world the way we want to see it,'' King says.

Gaining the artists' trust, however, took time. King recalls when he started visiting Melbourne sites where the artists worked, he was shunned ''like an undercover cop''. Now the artists are frequent visitors, seek the couple's advice and are ''family, tight family'' and their art ''a vortex that keeps sucking us in'', King says.

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Imants Tillers' <i>Blossoming 8</i>, 2006. Estimated sale price is $30,000-50,000.

Imants Tillers' Blossoming 8, 2006. Estimated sale price is $30,000-50,000.

''With our old collection we were simply spectators and now we are active participants,'' Powell says.

While street art has been collected and exhibited by major galleries and museums for some time, King believes its popularity will only continue to grow.

''Most youth is simply not interested in the insularity and wankiness of much contemporary art,'' he says. ''They want what surrounds them every day. Huge tracts of Melbourne are effectively outdoor art galleries: art for the people, not just a select few.''

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