DARWIN - The paintings costs buyers thousands of dollars, they hang on gallery walls the world over and herald some of the finest contemporary art in Australia.
But the studios for these wonders are sometimes squalid hotel rooms, rank and filthy, lost in the vast stretches of outback Australia.
Lured by minimal pay and the promise of a good feed, Aboriginal artists crank out paintings only to be trapped into vicious cycles of forced creativity.
Unable to pay motel bills or to hitch a ride back to their remote communities, the artists remain trapped in desert towns such as Alice Springs, sitting cross-legged on dusty floors in stifling heat, slapping oil on canvas, dots on a page.
Their meagre pay can be shared between up to 50 family members or spent on rent, food or grog.
The enforcers of this suspect but lucrative money-spinner - also accused of paying artists with viagra, second hand cars or drugs - are known as carpetbaggers.
They are the dodgy dealers of the murky Aboriginal art world, procuring the worst and most fraudulent art produced in Australia which they sell for a quick buck both at home and overseas.
"They're locking them up in sheds and making them paint Aboriginal art and just drip-feeding them alcohol," said William Tilmouth, the head of the Tangentyere Aboriginal council in Alice Springs.
"It's an appalling state of affairs."
Poor working conditions, unethical dealings, paltry pay, authentication, fakes and royalties were among the many issues investigated by a high-profile Senate inquiry over the last 10 months.
Tabling its findings in parliament last week, `Indigenous Art, Securing the Future' outlined a new direction for an industry beset with problems.
It also recognised the arid sands of the Northern Territory were the birthing ground for some of the most ground-breaking and miraculous art to grace the 21st century.
Indigenous-owned art centres and some independent galleries attempt to protect this explosion of creative genius, providing conditions appropriate for painters who should demand admiration and respect.
"Australian indigenous art is a story of the flowering of one of the world's great contemporary movements in art," said the Senate inquiry.
"It is now a dominant element of the arts in Australia, and is recognised as such internationally."
But the rapid evolution of contemporary indigenous visual arts and craft coupled with a lack of industry guidelines and the promise of easy money means many artists are falling prey to unethical trends and unscrupulous dealers.
Both of these factors threaten to undermine the legitimacy of a multi-million dollar industry with staggering potential.
Each year it nets about $250 million while last month a painting by Emily Kame Kngwarreye fetched a record auction price of $1.056 million.
To safeguard the industry, the watershed Senate report declared an overall framework was necessary within which artists, dealers and buyers could operate fairly, ethically and legally.
Subsequently it recommended a commercial code of conduct should be adopted as soon as possible.
Governments and all public and private collecting institutions would only purchase from dealers and art centres who adopted the code, while it was suggested that Austrade should consider a policy of only providing assistance to businesses that have agreed to abide by it.
"There is a need for a practical code that sets out clear parameters for appropriate conduct in the industry," the report said.
"An industry code will need to set clear expectations regarding behaviour in this market, and be widely adopted, if it is to have an impact on unethical conduct in the sector."
If the code - currently being nutted-out by the National Association for the Visual Arts and due for release this month - is not complied with in its first two years, the Senate committee found it should be made mandatory under the Trade Practices Act.
Following 89 submissions and seven public hearings, the committee made 28 recommendations, including increased funding for indigenous-owned art centres.
It said a $25 million infrastructure fund needed to be made available over a period of five years while it singled out Alice Springs - a hot spot for unethical dealings - for an art centre to cater for visiting painters.
"Art centres represent a minority of the total trade. However, they provide development and opportunities for new artists, as well as community, cultural (and often other) services that commercial dealers and city galleries do not," the report said.
Cecilia Alfonso, from the Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Association in Central Australia, said she supported most of the recommendations but she warned a code of conduct might simply add "another layer of bureaucracy".
"I am very much of the opinion that art centres have been proven to be one of the few viable means of producing and distributing art," she said.
"But I am not into regulating how people operate."
Greens senator Rachel Siewert said a new art centre for Alice Springs would safeguard against dodgy practices, such as painters working in warehouses and being drip fed alcohol.
"What's been happening is that artists from outer districts have been coming into Alice where a lot of unscrupulous activity has been happening and they have not had a safe place to paint ...
"If we have effective art centres they can protect the artists and their intellectual property," she said.
"The way some people are dealing with artists is inappropriate, many of them are being ripped off, let's face it."
Another of the 10 key recommendations was more funding for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to pursue unethical fraudsters and increase its scrutiny of the industry.
"There is no doubt that there have been unethical, and at times illegal, practices engaged in within the field of indigenous arts and craft," the report said.
"There are probably still instances of these problems, and there may be people seeking to take advantage of issues within the sector by ripping off artists or art centres."
The Central Land Council (CLC) said the recommendations, if implemented, could help tackle anti-social behaviour.
"I hope that this inquiry and its report goes a long way to helping out with the social problems that exist in Alice Springs because of the art and the benefits that have been derived from it, which have contributed hugely to the extra people in town and the anti-social behaviour," said CLC director David Ross.
"This money has flowed through to all of the extended family, which has then gone into expenditure which is then utilised for alcohol, drugs and other things of that nature."
Paul Sweeney, director of Papunya Tula Artists, backed the report's suggestion for an education campaign, saying buyers who knew the true origins of some paintings would want nothing to do with them.
"People are producing art in hotel room, in sheds, and I don't think it's good for anyone," said Mr Sweeney, from the leading Aboriginal-owned art centre of the western desert.
NT Senator Trish Crossin called on the Federal Government to act immediately to protect the industry, which has eclipsed the cattle industry in Central Australia.
"When we look at the protection, the kudos and the national recognition that the cattle industry obtains in relation to indigenous art then this industry does have a long way to go," she said.
"(People are) producing a canvas that they sell at any price possible - usually not at its worth - in order to be able to survive if not that day, that week - and these are some of the most talented artists that we have in this country."