While a lot of expensive art is good, good art doesn’t need to be outrageously expensive. Still enough to be a sound investment but not so much that you need to take out a second mortgage, here are some of our favourite artworks available for under $5,000.

1. David Cauchi ‘Dive’ — $3,800

Cauchi’s avant-garde works are nothing less than irresistible. The Wellington-based artist imbues his work with cartoonish humour, straddling the line between drawing and painting. We love the whimsicality of this piece, where the subject appears in freefall. www.ivananthony.com

2. Peter Gouge ‘B.W.D.W.V.H.D.’ — $2,300

At first glance, you might think Gouge has used tape, but a closer look reveals idiosyncrasies that say he hasn’t. Here, a contrast-rich, high-key juxtaposition of bold black, primary blue, and pastels form a pixelated pattern; this conversation-starting piece is a shrewd way to brighten your collection. www.melanierogergallery.com

3. Lindsay Malay ‘Bulgundi (Homeland)’ — $1850

Lindsay Malay is an Aboriginal artist whose paintings represent his ancestors’ methods of communication prior to the written word. His works allude to geography; places where water could be found; good hunting spots and the animals that could be found there. Here he uses natural ochre to create an intriguing blueprint of place expressed in a fundamental, indigenous way. www.timmelville.co.nz

4. Conor Clarke ‘Veil of the Soul’ — $5000 

‘Veil of the Soul’ is part of Clarke’s most recent show, which saw her turn her lens to water as both a physical substance and point of urban contention. This particular piece, however, pertains to the artist’s fascination with landscapes and our detachment from them. She cites Edgar Allen Poe who suggests that we can, “at any time double the true beauty of an actual landscape by half closing our eyes as we look at it,” and that “the naked senses sometimes see too little — but then again, they always see too much”. www.tworooms.co.nz

5. Cruz Jimenez ‘Light up the Dark’ — $4,250

Described as an ‘artist, mystic and contemporary clairvoyant’, Jimenez’s most recent paintings have been noted for their evocative content; brooding darkness seems to be his current lexicon. With an “innate ability to translate the narrative of his inner life into the visual language of the natural world,” as his Auckland gallery Sanderson describes it, the strength of the image with its bold form is starkly juxtaposed against the fragility of the paper canvas. www.sanderson.co.nz