Bondi Beach penthouse fit for a Brett Whiteley masterpiece

Luxury car dealer Steven Nasteski had no sooner bought his Brett Whiteley masterpiece On The Water than he realised he didn’t have anywhere to hang it.

On Friday he rectified that, buying one of the Lighthouse apartments atop the Bondi Pacific development.

“I always wanted to buy a property in Bondi Beach to display this work, but it’s set over six panels and 7.5 metres long, so finding the right place wasn’t easy,” said the Coogee-based Nasteski, who is married to former actor-turned-singer Alisa Gray.

Indeed Nasteski had told the agent he wouldn’t buy the apartment if he couldn’t fit his famed artwork in it, and it was only by moving the staircase and the lift in the apartment that an 8.5 metre wall space opened up to fit the work.

“It’s the most fitting space for the artwork, overlooking the iconic beach it portrays,” he said. 

Nasteski’s purchase on Friday coincides with the Victorian Supreme Court hearing into whether a Whiteley painting Nasteski’s formerly owned, which he bought in 2009 for $1.1 million, Orange Lavender Bay is a fake or not.

Art restorer Mohamed Aman Siddique and dealer Peter Gant are on trial on charges of obtaining and attempting to obtain financial advantage by deception by selling fake Whiteley paintings for millions.

Also under the spotlight in the case is the $2.5 million artwork Blue Lavender Bay that was sold to Sydney Swans chairman Andrew Pridham in 2007.

While Nasteski won’t disclose how much he paid for his far more valuable art work On The Water, known as Whiteley’s last before he died in 1992, he did say the “masterpiece was the most expensive sale of an Australian piece of art”.

“The question is, is the apartment worth more than the art?” Nasteski asked.

That argument is likely to go unresolved for now because neither Nasteski nor the agent who sold it can reveal the sale price.

The penthouse last traded in 2012 when it was sold off the plan for $10.34 million.

Rob Page, of Black Diamondz Concierge, listed it earlier this year with a $10.8 million to $12 million guide, but is gagged by confidentiality contracts from disclosing the sale price.

Page refuses to reveal the vendor’s identity, but records show it is owned by foreign company Arama Property Investments, which is registered to the British Virgin Islands and is linked to high net worth Chinese-English poker player Tom Hall.