NAVA x Firstdraft: Auction Pricing 101

Join multidisciplinary artist Abdul Abdullah for a webinar hosted by NAVA and Firstdraft and learn some tips and tricks on pricing your work for auctions! Learn from a fellow artist what methods and frameworks work for them and how to find a balance between valuing your work whilst attracting bidders. 

Since 2009, the Firstdraft Auction has connected emerging and established artists alike with new generations of art collectors and supporters. This fundraising initiative provides artists with an opportunity to sell their work and support the organisation in raising money for our annual program. Firstdraft acknowledges that we aren't the only organisation that hosts auctions and are delighted to welcome anyone and everyone who may be struggling to sell work in the current market conditions. Though there is no one size fits all approach when it comes to pricing, we hope to support artists in understanding their rights, responsibilities and how to self advocate. 

With the 2024 Firstdraft Auction just around the corner, come learn from Abdul's personal experience and better understand how to optimise NAVA's Pricing Your Work guide. You will be able to submit any questions you'd like considered at the checkout. 

If you need Auslan interpretation or if you have a disability that requires extra support to enable your attendance, please contact Firstdraft's Communications Coordinator, Emma Cao at emma@firstdraft.org.au or call us on +61 2 8970 2999.

Who is Abdul Abdullah? 

Abdul Abdullah is an Australian multi-disciplinary artist. As a self-described ‘outsider amongst outsiders’ with a post 9/11 mindset, his practice is primarily concerned with the experience of the ‘other’ and is particularly interested in the disjuncture between perception/projection of identity and the reality of lived experience. Identifying as a Muslim and having both Malay/Indonesian and convict/settler Australian heritage, Abdullah occupies a precarious space in the political discourse that puts him at odds with popular definitions.
He sees himself as an artist working in the peripheries of a peripheral city, in a peripheral country, orbiting a world on the brink. His work has been censored by politicians who have accused him of attacking Australian culture, and once a member of the Christian Democratic party wrote that Abdullah wants to “convert young Australians” and that he “worships a moon god”.

His works are included in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia, The Art Gallery of New South Wales, The National Gallery of Victoria, The Museum of Contemporary Art, The Art Gallery of Western Australia, The Gallery of Modern Art, Artbank, the University of Western Australia, Murdoch University, The University of Western Sydney, The Islamic Museum of Australia and The Bendigo Art Gallery. In 2015 Abdul exhibited at Primavera at the Museum of Contemporary Art, and at the Asia Pacific Triennial at the Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane, in 2016 he exhibited at the Australian Centre of Contemporary Art and in 2017 he showed at PATAKA Art Museum in New Zealand and with Yavuz Gallery at Art Basel Hong Kong and the Asia Now Art Fair in Paris. Most recently Abdul exhibited at MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum in Chiangmai, The National Gallery of Australia as part of Infinite Conversations, Art Basel Hong Kong, The Armory Show NY, the 2020 Adelaide Biennial and was shortlisted along with his brother Abdul-Rahman Abdullah to represent Australia in the 2019 Venice Biennale. In 2023 Abdullah was included in the inaugural PORTRAIT23 at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra, and The National 4 at the Art Gallery of NSW.

Photo: Claudia Chinyere Akole © 2022

ID: A graphic illustration in shades of pink of two people exchanging money over a plinth that holds a sculpture.