Labels out to catch art thieves

From protecting boomerangs to paintings, the labels are proving particularly popular with indigenous artwork, where forgery runs rife. "In Australia, indigenous art is the prime target for art thieves because the market for indigenous art is enormous and widespread," said Peter Toyne, former attorney general for health, Northern Territory. "A recent senate enquiry found that between 30 to 60 per cent of material that's passed off as indigenous in Australia actually isn't." Toyne is a long-time associate of Mbantua Gallery and Cultural Museum in Alice Springs who were quick to use Identeart's labels to preserve work from further commodification.

Three unique features work together to make the labels foolproof; these include microdots which are laser-etched and carry information about the artist, gallery or art centre that has originated the piece, a chemical barcode called Datatrace which consists of non-destructive chemicals sprayed onto a material and a national database controlled by the federal government containing details of the artwork. "If a customer wants to check the authenticity of an item they can get the retailer to log into the database and check that the serial number on the label corresponds to the label online," Toyne said.

The technology will have benefits for artists and art dealers alike and will, Toyne hopes, result in a much more honest world. "Investors want to know that a work is authentic and be able to prove that to a buyer if they ever decide to sell," he said.

Meeting with the Western Australian arts minister, attorney general and indigenous groups, Toyne said that all expressed their support of the labels. "We're pretty happy given that we've only been up and running a few months," he said. "It's still evolving but we're optimistic."

Tim Jennings, director of the Mbantua Gallery noted that labels made by Identeart had the capacity to reach all sectors of the art world. "It's not just designed for indigenous art; it can be used for all types of art," he said. "It's the start of something very significant for art in general."

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