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Of course, this is an opinion piece. I will be using generalisations. Given that there are always exceptions to the rule, there is a slight chance I won't be talking about you. So, here goes. Open any Australian art magazine and you will be bombarded with images of Aboriginal art. Page after page, this visual assault is slowly, but surely, being deeply embedded into the viewer's psyche. Evidence that Aboriginal art is a key art movement to emerge from the twentieth century is to be found in galleries and museums all around the globe. It is the only internationally recognised art movement to have come out of Australia.

This phenomenon called Aboriginal art has emerged in haphazard, chaotic and surprising ways. Early on, there was sporadic yet consistent interest from offshore. Yet, not surprisingly, there was minimal to no interest domestically. It would take more than a decade after the Papunya boards before there would be institutional and commercial interest shown within this country. But, even now, there is a begrudging, one could say, envious 'appreciation' of Aboriginal art. Talk about Freud and penis envy? Well, Australia has Aboriginal art envy...

This article appears in excerpted form. You can read the entire article in Art & Australia's Summer 2008 issue.