Attending this cult-favourite Australian artist’s event is free. Some fans even make a profit from it
If you’re among Australian artist CJ Hendry’s cult following, it pays to attend one of her free events.
The latest, a pop-up activation in partnership with jewellery brand Pandora at Sydney’s White Bay Cruise Terminal, will see some attendees make a profit. Judging from the empty suitcases wheeled into the Juju & Friends preview event on Wednesday – including by Californian Lawrence Irodistan – the profits could be quite tidy.
“I flew in just for this event, so I can help my community of collectors attain this kind of stuff because obviously not everyone can travel to Australia, and we have a lot of CJ Hendry fans,” Irodistan says. “They will be super stoked to have these in hand.”
Irodistan, who hosts livestream auctions online for collectible items including Hendry’s popular rabbit-like plush dolls, arrived in Sydney on Tuesday night with two empty suitcases and the clothes on his back. He hosted his first auction on Thursday after filling up his bags “as much as possible” on Wednesday.
In the past, Irodistan has sold Hendry’s Juju blind boxes for up to three times the retail price, plus shipping and tax. Factoring in flights and accommodation, Irodistan is not sure if he’ll break even from this trip.
But Hendry’s activation runs from Thursday to Sunday, so he’ll have time to make multiple purchases before he flies out.
Hendry’s collections are usually limited edition, each designed exclusively for the specific event or online drop, never to be seen again.
If nothing else, showing his customers he can obtain rare and exclusive items is good for Irodistan’s brand. He’s not alone.
Days before Hendry’s activation opened its doors to the public, an international reseller advertised in a Facebook group – one of many where thousands of members resell or trade Hendry’s collectibles – that she would be bringing marked-up merchandise from Hong Kong and Singapore to sell to fans outside the Sydney venue.
Locals, meanwhile, were advertising personal shopper fees of $60 per customer, or $20 add-ons per item. One eBay listing priced a blind box, sold for $39 at the event, at $100 plus shipping – a mark-up of more than 156 per cent. Another reseller is flogging an inflatable carry bag, an exclusive design available free with certain purchases at the event, for $403.50 plus shipping.
Hendry is more than aware of the value of the scarcity mindset to her personal coffers. Some clients pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to house the custom hyperrealistic drawings that her more than 1 million followers will only ever see on Instagram.
That Hendry’s drawings are of everyday items, including plastic shopping bags, means some critics have lambasted her work as “expensive commodities”, as much as fans celebrate her democratisation of high art à la Jeff Koons.
Juju, and the fact its early collections were designed with the assistance of generative AI, has been just as divisive. Its more accessible price, however, has allowed Hendry’s “art is for all” approach to extend beyond the conceptual.
While the art that fans can finally afford to get their hands on after a decade of online voyeurism are mass-produced, each Juju collection’s unique designs, and a cap on the number of items fans can buy per transaction, increases the meaning to the figurines.
That is the bedrock resellers, knowing not every fan can travel to Hendry’s pop-ups, rely on. A current eBay listing has 10 plush Australian native flowers, sold by Hendry for $5 a stem at a Sydney pop-up in May, priced at $894.70 plus shipping. Does Hendry see that as a threat to her art for the masses ethos? Or to her bottom line?
“There’s a lot of artists who have their work resold ... this has been happening for decades,” says Hendry.
“I just find it a really uninteresting conversation. That’s the world we live in, and if that’s what people choose to do, great.”
The real value of her installations, Hendry says, is something resellers can’t provide, and fans can’t buy: soaking in the “vibe” with like-minded fans and collectors at the event itself. It’s priceless.
“Coming to the event in person is really important,” says Hendry.
Behind her, scores of children and their parents squeal and laugh as they play in the giant ball pit, and go down the slide from the top of the giant jumping castle.
“Especially now in the AI age, you can buy everything online, you can do everything online, you can communicate online, you don’t need to leave your house... the only way to be able to experience this is if you come.”
Entry is free to Juju & Friends. Held in collaboration with Pandora, it is at Sydney’s White Bay Cruise Terminal from November 5 to November 8. Hendry will bring her beloved Flower Shop installations to 14 cities across the world from November, including Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Perth in December.
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