Mbantua Aboriginal Art Gallery

Lovely selection of paintings from Utopia, plus other interesting items on display and for sale. Very knowledgeable and informative staff member on the day we visited. We learned a lot about how galleries such as this support their community of artists. Many thanks Simone. Note: the gallery still has a large sign round the corner from Todd Mall, but has now moved to Elder Street. Worth seeking out.

The shop, the staff and paintings were lovely, one member of staff (possibly the manager) gave us a history of the aboriginal painters they have works on.

However I did get the sense of exploration with regards to how much the paintings cost and how much percentage goes to the artist and the welfare of First Nations people. This was somewhat confirmed as we were told that a painting that the gallery owner had bought for himself was sold for 2.5 million to an American businessman. Not great as the artist had sold the work for a fraction of that, then the gallery owner waited for her to pass away so the price jumped. How much of the 2.5 million went to her family and First Nations community, I fear non. Also why didn’t such an important painting go to the Australian National Museum, instead it’s on a wall in an American office somewhere.

PS I am aware that it is a business and profits are there to be had, but at what cost

Loved this shop so much I went back several times. I bought a lot of nick nacks/souvineers with aboriginal art. Really nice works. Staff were very friendly and helpful.

We went in to look at the beautiful art today and the staff there were terrible. There was a young lady in there looking and an older staff member (female) went up to her and said, ”You’ve been in here a long time do you need any help. ” The question wasn’t a genuine inquiry to help it was a tone that implied she didn’t belong there. The young lady turned and looked at her uncomfortably and said she was fine - I even turned to look because I felt bad for her.
The only customer that apparently deserved help were the older ones; anyone else didn’t even get a hello OR a good bye.
I wouldn’t recommend going in here.

A lot of bad comments here about the staff, but for me, there was no issues with those working in this gallery. Contrary wise, the young lady at the counter was very informative, amiable and kind.

My friend and I walked in to look at the art that the gallery had on display. While inside the gallery, we were approached by a staff member within the first minutes of looking and asked if we needed help, we replied that no, thank you and that we were looking. The staff member then went on to repeat our words in a mocking manner, giggled, and then walked away out of sight towards the back of the gallery. Within about five minutes of the previous interaction, we stopped in front of a map that shows where is Australia different tribes of Australian First Nations people come from and a different staff member approached us and, in a condescending tone, asked us if we needed help or were we just going to look at the map. The staff members that were on duty were obnoxiously rude and unless you’re going to make a purchase with the first 5 minutes upon arriving, I see no point of going since the atmosphere of the gallery is most unwelcoming.

Wir haben oft Aborignal Painting bestellt und der Service plus der Versandt waren einwandfrei. Hier mussten wir nur noch den Zoll bezahlen und es ging alles sehr schnell.
Christl und Matthias Reimann