ARTICLE 312 - Gaitonde sets record of $1.5 mn at Christie's

[31 Mar 2006] IANS for NEW KERALA.

New York: Painter Vasudeo S. Gaitonde's large abstract oil came under the hammer for $1.472 million at Christie's Asia Week here as record-breaking times continued for Indian art. Zen master Gaitonde's Untitled, 1975 (estimate: $600,000-800,000) work led the way for the world to see at Thursday night's sales of Indian and Southeast Asian Art and Modern and Contemporary Indian Art. The sale was a world auction record for Gaitonde, who died in 2000. It was followed by the inimitable F.N. Souza whose Untitled (Seated Nude) of 1962 went for a brilliant $800,000, from an estimate of $300,000-400,000. Then came Syed Haider Raza's 'Tarangh', a 1975 work that went for $744,000 from an estimate of $180,000-220,000. Only on Wednesday, Raza's 'Tapovan' fetched an astounding $1.472 million at Sotheby's spring sale here, while compatriot Tyeb Mehta's 'Falling Figure with Bird' fetched a close $1.24 million. On Thursday night at Christie's, Raza was again followed by Mehta whose 'Blue Torso', an impassioned work of 1973, went for a hammer price of $632,000 after being estimated for $500,000-700,000. Maqbool Fida Husain's 'Sita Hanuman', a work done in 1979, went for $576,000, which is just a wee bit above the $300,000-500,000 estimate. Ram Kumar's Untitled (Benares), a work of 1967, went for $452,800 from an estimated amount of $100,000-150,000. In terms of records being set, the day shone in Souza's favour because another Untitled work (night landscape with flowering trees), a mesmerising work of 1956, went for $486,400,from an original estimate of $150,000-200,000 while his Untitled (blue cityscape), a work belonging to 1961, went down to the hammer for $374,400 after having been estimated at $100,000-150,000. 'The record-breaking result reinforces Christie's position as the market leader in the field of Contemporary Indian Art. The sky seems to be the limit for this collecting category,' said Christie's. 'With Christie's leading the way into the million-dollar universe last season, when Tyeb Mehta's 'Mahisasura' sold for nearly $1.6 million, this collecting area has grown at an outstanding rate. 'The top prices of the sale were still reserved for the well-known and extremely publicised Progressive Movement artists such as Gaitonde, Souza, Raza, Husain and Ram Kumar, but at the same time we did see a strong surge in both interest and price for next generation contemporary artists such as Subodh Gupta, Rameshwar Broota and Ravinder Reddy who in their own right have changed artistic border.' 'This sales total of $15,627,080 ($15.627 million) is a record for the field of Modern and Contemporary Indian Art,' said Christie's. The great interest in the morning session generated much excitement for the following sale of Modern and Contemporary Indian Art, which was 99 percent sold by value and 94 percent by lot. 'The total result for our seven sales of Asian Art this week is $46,218,400,($46.218 million) the highest ever for Christie's Asia Week in New York,' said Christie's. Its global Asian Art sales in 2005 totalled $336 million, and for the moment Indian art looks red hot.

Article Courtesy: NEW KERALA.

ARTICLE 311 - Indian art draws more millions

[March 31, 2006 at 12:25] Anirudh Bhattacharyya for CNN-IBN.

New York: Indian art set a new record at Christies on Thursday, a day after two Indian works fetched over a million dollars each at rival Sotheby's. The auction of Modern and Contemporary Indian Art at Christies' set a new record for this category, fetching $15.6 million. Artist VS Gaitonde joined artists Tyeb Mehta and SH Raza who had crossed the esteemed million-dollar mark this season as an untitled work of his from 1975 sold for $1.47 million. "I think with high quality works they demand higher prices. With Gaitonde, this is the first time a major work of his has come into an international auction. We should get used to seeing higher prices for master works," Specialist Head, Modern and Contemporary Indian Art, Christie's, Yamini Mehta said. But there was action beyond the auction. Outside Christie's at Rockefeller Center, Hindu groups protested the sale of paintings by MF Husain, a day after a court in Meerut found the artist had hurt the sentiments of the Hindu community with some of his portrayals of Hindu deities. Some protestors had driven to New York from as far as Toronto, Canada. "Our purpose here is to ensure that these type of paintings do not go public, nobody should profit from it. It's a total insult to the entire Hindu community wherever we live in the world," a protestor, Nirvan Balkissoon said. At the auction, however, Husain's works sold briskly, fetching a record auction price of $576,000 for the artist. However, Christie's was not worried about the protests. "I don't think any of the work we had were at all controversial and I think he's actually a fantastic artist. I think this will die down soon," Mehta said. The protestors plan to continue an email campaign to prevent future sales of Husain's works in the United States. They claim thousands of emails have already been sent to Christie's and Sotheby's.

Picture Details: MILLIONAIRE CLUB SWELLS: VS Gaitonde joined Tyeb Mehta and SH Raza who had crossed the million-dollar mark this season.
Article Courtesy: IBN LIVE.
WATCH THE VIDEO HERE.

ARTICLE 311 - Indian art on Sotheby’s high

[March 31, 2006] SOUMITRA DAS for THE TELEGRAPH.

Calcutta, March 30: Prices of Indian contemporary art touched a new high in New York yesterday with Tapovan, a “French” period landscape by Paris-based Raza, being snapped up for a never-before $1.5 million (about Rs 6.6 crore) at a Sotheby’s sale of Indian art. The painting had been done way back in 1972 when, sources said, a work by Raza would never have fetched Rs 1 lakh. This means, his prices have appreciated several hundred times in a little over 30 years — indicating how the art mart is closely linked with the booming Indian economy, as had happened earlier with Southeast Asian art. Falling figure with bird, a painting by Mumbai-based Tyeb Mehta, who has already set a record, went for $1.25 million. The late Swaminathan fetched $800,000, Akbar Padamsee $716,000, Ramkumar $542,000, Souza $508,000 and Husain $464,000. It was, as Raza said over the phone from Paris, as if “the world is recognising… that Indian contemporary art is the most vital expression of art” anywhere. Raza is best known for his works where the Bindu forms the centrepiece. Of the Calcutta painters, Bikash Bhattacharjee went for $96,000, Jogen Chowdhury $84,000, Chittrovanu Mazumdar $72,000, Ganesh Haloi $60,000, Paresh Maity $33,000, and Jamini Roy $36,000. A total of 213 works went under the hammer, of which 148 are contemporary. The sale grossed $13.6 million, with contemporary art accounting for about $10 million. “Even two years ago, it would have been the other way round. In a globalised world, not only NRIs and Indian businessmen but foreigners, too, are going in for Indian art. Once the Indian rupee becomes fully convertible, things are expected to be even better,” said Calcutta-based art dealer Prakash Kejriwal. Asked to comment on the sale results, Raza said: “I feel I have every reason to be happy for myself, for Indian contemporary art and for the person who sold it.” While Raza readily admitted that art was being viewed more as an investment today, he stressed that the heights reached of late were the result of “fundamental pictorial research of great significance” covering nearly a century. Hence, the ascendance of the Progressive Artists Group, of which he was a member, and artists like K.G. Subramanyan and Jogen Chowdhury in Bengal. It was the triumph of the Indian philosophy of art.

Article Courtesy: TELEGRAPH INDIA.

ARTICLE 310 - Indian art scales new peak at Sotheby’s

[March 31, 2006 00:43 IST] Subuhi Jiwani for DNA MUMBAI.

MUMBAI: Indian art has again made waves globally. After Tyeb Mehta’s Mahisasura fetched an astounding $1.58 million (about Rs6.9 crore) at a Christie’s auction last year, two paintings by Mehta and SH Raza broke more records at a Sotheby’s sale on Wednesday. Raza’s Tapovan (1972) and Mehta’s Falling Figure With Bird (1998) earned $1.47 million (Rs6.5 crore) and $1.24 million (Rs5.5 crore), respectively. The sale of Indian and Southeast Asian art grossed $13.6 million (Rs60.7 crore), the highest auction total for art from this part of the world, said Sotheby’s. At Thursday’s Christie’s auction, contemporary Indian art was estimated to have brought in between $6.9 million and $9.4 million. Despite the global interest in the business of art, Mumbai gallery owner Tarana Khubchandani (Gallery Art and Soul) complains that first-time buyers, who are eager to invest, are not discriminating. “They are not looking at good art but only at signatures,” she said. “They need to develop a discerning eye.” Khubchandani said the buzz created by record-breaking sales can often skew the picture: “Just because artists are part of the auction circuit, they are being viewed as good compared to those who are not part of the circuit.” But artist Atul Dodiya, whose As Though He Listened crossed the Rs1 crore mark and fetched the highest bid at the recent Saffronart Auction, is not dismayed by the boom. “The common man is thinking about contemporary art now and why it is fetching such high prices,” he said. “Ideally, the work itself should have created that interest, but it is not late.” Dodiya is thrilled that “serious and not just commercial” art is also fetching high prices in the global market. “When I painted on metal shutters, I told my father that I would probably have to sell them by the kilo to the bhangaarwala. But I sold them. You feel good that you’re experimenting and still there is a response.”

Picture Detail: SH Raza’s Tapovan
Article Courtesy: DNA INDIA.

ARTICLE 309 - Indian art`s millionaire club swells at Sotheby`s

[March 31, 2006] Kishore Singh for BUSINESS STANDARD.

New Delhi: Tyeb Mehta, SH Raza fetch over $1 mn each. The orgy of escalating prices for Indian art continued in New York where Sotheby’s auctioned a record 148 modern and contemporary works (and, in an additional session, 30 miniature paintings, besides stone sculptures and jewellery from Southeast Asia). Even though Tyeb Mehta’s previous record was not broken at yesterday’s auction, two paintings fetched over a million dollars each — a work by SH Raza (called Tapovan) claimed the highest at a searing $1,472,000, rising well above the estimated value of $800,000-1,000,000. Tyeb Mehta’s work, Falling Figure With Bird, also with an estimated value of $800,000-1,000,000, fetched the second highest with a final bid of $1,248,000. The auctions closed with a final value of $13.6 million, topping the $12 million just six months earlier. However, two forthcoming auctions (Christie’s, later tonight, probably on even as you read this in India; and Bonham’s on April 6), could aim for the highest collections in any single auction, particularly Christie’s which has a very robust collection of modernists, especially FN Souzas. In an auction that included works by modernists from Jamini Roy to MF Hussain, prices zoomed on the art index. But a Bodhi Art spokesperson said the frenzy seems to be more subdued, and consolidation is becoming apparent. “It is clear that good works are fetching higher than price estimates,” he said, “while weaker works have sold within their estimates.”

He also said the total appetite for Indian art was reaching saturation; as a result dealers were able to go bargain hunting for works that were more accessible to them. While Jamini Roy’s fetched a feeble $21,600, Hussain’s highest (from a large body of works in the auction) scaled at 168,000 for two of his works, one labelled Procession, the other Untitled. Other peaks were K K Hebbar at $45,000, F N Souza at $508,000, Ramkumar at $542,000, Akbar Padamsee at $307,200, and Anjolie Ela Menon settling at a modest $66,000. Nor were the contemporaries languishing. Echoing a recent online auction conducted by Saffronart, the Dodiya couple ranked highest with their paintings. Atul Dodiya continued to be the flagbearer with his work, My Home in Angkor, fetching $192,000, with Anju Dodiya’s The Churning at $108,000. Among other contemporaries, Chittrovanu Mazumdar fetched $72,000 at the hammer, Subodh Gupta picked up $51,000, Jittish Kallat and spouse Reena Saini Kallat got $42,000 and $39,000 at the gavel, Paresh Maity mustered up $33,000, while Rekha Rodwittiya bettered her Saffronart hiccup with $36,000. Jagannath Panda, doing particularly well among very young contemporaries, could manage only $6,600 at the Sotheby’s auction.

Article Courtesy: BUSINESS STANDARD.

VIDEO 01 - Million-dollar smiles for Indian art

[March 30, 2006 at 17:53] Indira Kannan for CNN IBN

Following are quotes from the video -

"Two works selling for over a million dollars each. The Raza selling at $1.4 million, certainly a world record for the artist and we're exceptionally pleased with that and there is strong support for younger artists in the sale also. So I think it's all very encouraging,"

- Director, Indian and South East Asian Department, Sotheby's New York, Robin Dean.

"I have a passion for collecting Husains, which is why I bid on two of those here. I also collect some other artists like Laxman Shrestha,"

- Art collector from Florida, Deepak Malani said.

"It's wrong for anyone to expect records and this is not some kind of tamasha where everyday new records will be set. If that was the case, one would start doubting the whole credibility of the process. This is a good sign and it shows there's a maturity, solidity, stability to the market and it augurs well for the future. And obviously the discernment and discrimination of the buyer has set in. You can see a lot of mediocre works not getting their prices and the good works are getting their prices,"

- Osian's Auction House, India, Chairman, Neville Tuli.

"The fact that a 150 lots can go under the hammer, some very aggressively estimated but nevertheless probably 90 per cent of the works went past those aggressive estimates, I think it's a sign of a very mature market,"

- CEO, Gallery ArtsIndia, New York, Prajit Dutta.

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE.
Courtesy: IBN LIVE.

ARTICLE 308 - Raza, Mehta paintings fetch over USD 1 million each at auction

[30 Mar 2006] NEW KERALA

New York: Paintings by two renowned Indian artists, Syed Haider Raza and Tyeb Mehta, have fetched a whopping sum of over a million dollar each at an auction here. At Sotehby's sale yesterday, the top lot was Raza's painting 'Tapovan' (1972), which sold to an anonymous bidder for USD 1.47 million while his compatriot Mehta's 'Falling Figure with Birds' (1988) fetched a close USD 1.24 million. Sotheby's heavily emphasised the modern works in its sale of Indian and Southeast Asian art which earned an astounding USD 13.6 million, well above the high pre-sale estimate of USD 10.7 million. It set a record for the highest auction total ever for Indian and Southeast Asian art, according to the house. Other Indian painters whose works raised record prices included J Swaminathan, Akbar Padamsee and Ram Kumar. Contemporary Indian art is attracting new buyers, both among non-resident Indians and collectors on the subcontinent. "We've seen Indians buying more widely over several categories," Sotheby's head of Indian and Southeast Asian art, Robin Dean, was quoted as saying. Sotheby's auction will be followed today by Christie's. This year, Christie's is breaking out its modern and contemporary Indian art into a separate catalog. Its sale of Modern and Contemporary Indian art today is estimated to bring between USD 6.9 million and 9.4 million while its sale of traditional Indian and Southeast Asian art is expected to raise USD 3.9 million to USD 5.5 million. The works of Mehta, Raza, F N Souza and M F Hussain will be in the sale.

Article Courtesy: NEW KERALA.

ARTICLE 307 - Raza's 'Tapovan' topples estimates at Sotheby's

[March 30, 2006 13:50 IST] IANS for DNA WORLD

NEW YORK: Well known Indian painter S.H. Raza's "Tapovan" fetched an astounding $1.472 million at Sotheby's spring sale here, while compatriot Tayeb Mehta's "Falling Figure with Bird" fetched a close $1.24 million. The auction of Indian and Southeast Asian art whopped up a total of $13.633 million here on Wednesday. Before the auction, the mood was upbeat and everyone had staked their preference for Tyeb Mehta's 1988 work (estimated at $800,000 to 1 million), which has a simple coloured background of blue and brown with the contorted outlines of a plunging figure and bird suggesting comparison to the anguished forms in Picasso's "Guernica". However, Raza's "Tapovan" or "Forest of Meditation", toppled estimates. "Raza is indeed the man for the season and the year 2006," a Bodhi Art critic had predicted early this year. At Sotheby's, his 1972 work, which represents a visual expression of his own meditation on the mystical power of nature and was pegged at $800,000 to 1 million, fetched an amount exceeding all predictions. Raza, who spent his childhood in the forests of central India, recalled the potency of colours and symbols and the magic of hidden embers in this work of visual vocabulary. Two other works by Raza - "Village Au Soleil", a 1958 work, and "Le Soleil Regne Sur Le Monde Des Reves", a 1970 work, - went for $180,000 each. Ram Kumar's "Falling Bird" went for $542,400, while his other works "Varanasi" fetched $108,000. An untitled landscape went for $120,000.

A happy high was N.S Bendre's "Boats at Porbunder" that went for $1, 44,000. Anjolie Menon's "Prophet" fetched $66,000. Other highlights from the Modern section include a 1960's canvas by F.N. Souza, "The Pope and his Nephews", which sold for $508,000. The painting based on the famous portrait by Titian of Pope Paul III and his grandsons was estimated at $200,000-300,000. Souza's "Landscape" sold for $108,000. A large untitled abstract by J. Swaminathan went for $800,000 way beyond its $300,000-400,000 estimate. An exceptional early "Cityscape" (1959) by Akbar Padamsee fetched $716,000. Padamsee's "Metascape", which was expected to set a high, went for $307,200, which didn't seem much. M.F. Husain's works didn't quite do as well as expected, and there was some reluctance among a few bidders. "Procession" and an untitled work of horses both went for $168,000. Husain's "Horses Blue Nude" went for $464,000. Interestingly, young Paresh Maity's "Desert Storm" went for $33,000 while his "Dusk" went for $30,000. Sobodh Gupta's "Before the Plunge" went for $51,000 while Jitish Kallat's work fetched $42000. Chhittravanu Majumdar's work went for $72,000, Atul Dodiya's "Sabari as Mermaid" fetched $22,800, while his wife Anju Dodiya's "The Churning" got $108,000.

Article Courtesy: DNA INDIA.

ARTICLE 306 - New Buyers Flock to Asian Art

[March 30, 2006] CARLY BERWICK for NY SUN.

China is the tiger, the dragon, the monkey - whatever zodiac power sign you choose - of Asian art. In recent years, mainland collectors have driven prices for ancient and contemporary Chinese art to new heights, while those in Korean and Japanese art have stagnated. Christie's sale of Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art yesterday totaled $10.9 million, highlighted by a 14th-century blue-and-white vase that sold for $2 million. The sale and two others held yesterday helped Christie's to a single-day total of $20.1 million, the highest ever amount for a series of Chinese art sales in New York, according to the house. Today, Sotheby's hopes to bring in between $14.5 million and $20 million during its Chinese art sales. The other great economic success story on the continent is India. Contemporary Indian art is attracting new buyers, both among nonresident Indians and collectors on the subcontinent. Traditional Indian art sales have remained steady, while 20th-century art has been picking up admirers. Call it the attack of the billion-dollar global contemporary art market, or simply the recognition of the avant-garde's originality by Asia's nouveau riches.

Sotheby's heavily emphasized its modern works in its sale of Indian and Southeast Asian art yesterday, which earned $13.6 million.This total was well above the high presale estimate of $10.7 million and set a record for the highest auction total ever for Indian and Southeast Asian art, according to the house. The top lot of the Sotheby's sale was Syed Haider Raza's "Tapovan" (1972), which sold to an anonymous bidder for $1.5 million.The cover lot, Tyeb Mehta's "Falling Figure With Bird" (1988), sold for $800,000, in line with its presale estimate. Mr. Mehta is one of the rediscovered stars of modern Indian art; his auction record of $1.6 million was set last fall at Christie's sale of Indian art in New York. "We've seen Indians buying more widely over several categories," Sotheby's head of Indian and Southeast Asian art, Robin Dean, said. In addition to an improving economy, they are being aided by a change in tariff law.In recent years, India has lowered its onceexorbitant import duties - to 15.5% from 40%, according to Mr. Dean - which has made buying pricey items overseas more attractive. This year, Christie's is breaking out its modern and contemporary Indian art into a separate catalog. Christie's sale of Modern and Contemporary Indian art today is estimated to bring between $6.9 million and $9.4 million, which would have been a solid total for the entire field just a year ago. Christie's sale of traditional Indian and Southeast Asian art is expected to raise $3.9 million to $5.5 million today.

The most popular modern Indian painters come from the Progressive Artists Group, men who declared their artistic independence from academic Indian painting in 1947, the same year India declared independence from Britain. They include Mr. Mehta, F.N. Souza, Maqbool Fida Husain, and Syed Raza, all of whom will be in the sale. Husain's "Untitled" (1960), a Susan Rothenberg-esque painting of three horses, was originally in the collection of Italian filmmaker Roberto Rossellini, with whom Husain was friends, and is expected to sell for $150,000 to $200,000. Mr. Mehta's "Blue Torso" (1973) is estimated at $500,000 to $700,000. "[Nonresident Indians] have been very successful in their fields outside of India and have for patriotic reasons supported artists of their heritage," Christie's head of modern and contemporary Indian art, Yamini Mehta, said. "There is a bit of a sea change as well that there is more awareness about art - art, too, is the ultimate status signifier." A separate sale of Himalayan paintings from the Jucker Collection at Sotheby's on Tuesday achieved $9 million, well above its presale estimate of $2.6 million to $3.8 million. The sellers were Swiss collectors who first started buying 12th-century Tibetan paintings on cloth in India. "The collecting base traditionally had been European really," Mr. Dean of Sotheby's said. Americans with interests in Buddhism have been joining the field over the past three decades. And now, he said, Indians are buying back this ancient art found at home as well.

Article Courtesy: NY SUN.

ARTICLE 305 - Christie's eyes $9 mn from today’s Indian art auction

[30 March 2006] Francis C. Assisi for INDOLINK.

Christie's hopes to raise $7-9 million from auctioning the works of Indian painters like Tyeb Mehta and Subodh Gupta during the Indian art auction, to be held March 30. It is being touted as the largest and most diversified selection ever offered in the field by an international auction house. Perhaps the most refined and artistic as well as the most reasonably priced of the lot are from the Gandhara (Indo-Greek) period. Examples, a stucco bust of a lady, the figure delicately modeled wearing a diaphanous robe draped across the torso and secured in a knot at the left shoulder. Another is a stucco figure of a lady dressed in a flowing robe, adorned with a torque and earrings, the gently rounded face with a slight smile. Both are priced at under $3,000. For $3000-4000 is available an Ivory finial of a parrot described as "very finely carved with the parrot perched on a branch of a flowering tree, with two elephants rearing on hind legs below, with a honey-colored patina." From the Chola Period (11th Century) comes a large bronze figure of Parvati standing in elegant tribhanga on a circular lotus base, clad in a long dhoti with a pendent sash secured with a belt, wearing multiple necklaces, bracelets and anklets, the hair arranged in a high headdress, her right arm raised and her left arm echoing her curvaceous figure. This is estimated in the $60,000-80,000 range.

Then there is a 14th century bronze crawling figure of Balakrishna ($4,000) adorned with multiple necklaces and other jewelry and a 'sacred thread' around his waist, wearing a high cylindrical headdress and holding a ball of butter in his right hand. From the 16th century there is Bronze figure of Ganesha, expressively cast standing in a slight tribhanga wearing a short dhoti with a flaring sash, a 'sacred thread' across his chest, his four hands holding a noose, a goad, his broken tusk and a ladoo, his elephant head with its long trunk unfurling towards the lower right hand, surmounted by a conical crown. As for the collection of contemporary art, Yamini Mehta of Christie’s comments, "Subodh Gupta most definitely has the contemporary art world in his grip…His artistic vocabulary, which uses the vernacular of everyday India, combined with a multi-layered content and a post-modern sense of irony make his work accessible to and appreciated by a universal audience." Mehta added. A true multimedia artist, Gupta comfortably moves between sculpture, installation, painting and video. Gupta has garnered interest for the surreal contemporary feel of his artistic language and wowed audiences in the west.

Two of his works will be on offer: "Untitled" ($25,000-35,000), and the installation "OK Mili" ($20,000-30,000). Their main theme is stainless steel canisters. This apart, on offer will be works by members of the Progressive Artists Group such as V.S. Gaitonde, M.F. Husain, Tyeb Mehta, F.N. Souza and Syed Haider Raza. Gaitonde's large abstract oil "Untitled" is expected to fetch $600,000-800,000. Husain is represented by more than a dozen paintings that provide a unique insight into the themes that have fascinated him throughout his long career. The horse is a recurrent theme for Husain who draws inspiration from Han and Tang pottery horses as well as from the sculptures by Marino Marini. "Untitled", a striking painting that depicts three horses in dramatic style is expected to fetch $150,000-200,000). It comes from the collection of an Italian diplomat and was formerly in the private collection of Italian film director Roberto Rossellini.

There is also the genius and artistic challenge of Souza. "Untitled" ($100,000-150,000) offers a view on what seems to be the outskirts of a city, dominated by a large white tower. All buildings are boldly painted and outlined with dense black contours with brilliant coloured fields, perfectly evoking the stained-glass windows. It was showcased in an article published in "Country Life" three decades ago featuring the architect couple Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew, its then owners. Their descendants have now brought it on the market. Another important Souza, also "Untitled" ($100,000-150,000) is from a Swedish collection and clearly shows the same fascination with the stained-glass window pattern. The sale will also feature sculptor Ravinder Reddy's "Woman of Kapulapadu II" ($80,000-100,000). This has been executed in polyester, fibreglass and resin and depicts a woman's head in bright reds and blacks. Its sheer size and vibrant presence command attention and fill the space in an extraordinarily energetic way.

indiaspora@gmail.com
Article Courtesy: INDOLINK.

ARTICLE 304 - Demand grows for Indian art

[March 30, 2006] NDTV Correspondent

Last year Tayeb Mehta's Mahisasura stunned the art world by becoming the first piece of modern Indian art to be sold for over a million dollars. At Sotheby's Asia week today two more paintings by Raza and Tayeb Mehta have crossed the million-dollar mark. Falling Figure with Bird by Tyeb Mehta and Tapovan by SH Raza were just two of over 200 pieces of modern Indian art that went under the hammer at the Indian and Southeast Asian Art sale at Sotheby's.

Growing demand
The market for Modern Indian art has been exploding. Much of the demand has been attributed to the general rise in affluence among Indians and non-resident Indians over the past few years. In 2004 Sotheby's sold roughly $2 million worth of modern Indian art. In 2005 that figure was up to 10 million. This year sales are already roughly in the $10 million range. The Asia week in New York is a round of exhibitions and sales that draws collectors and dealers from across the globe.

Article Courtesy: NDTV.

AUCTION RESULTS - Sotheby's Indian & Southeast Asian Art - March 2006

DATE & TIME
Session 1: Wednesday, 29 Mar 06, 10:15 AM
Session 2: Wednesday, 29 Mar 06, 2:00 PM

LOCATION: NEW YORK


Name: Syed Haider Raza (B. 1922)
Title: Tapovan
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Size: 62 1/2 x 74 in. (158.8 by 188 cm.)
800,000—1,000,000 USD
Lot Sold. Hammer Price with Buyer's Premium: 1,472,000 USD

Name: Tyeb Mehta(B. 1925)
Title: Falling figure with bird.
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Size: 59 x 47 1/4 in. (150 by 120 cm.)
800,000—1,000,000 USD
Lot Sold. Hammer Price with Buyer's Premium: 1,248,000 USD

Name: Ram Kumar (B. 1924)
Title: Falling bird
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 70 x 50 in. (178 by 127 cm.)
200,000—300,000 USD
Lot Sold. Hammer Price with Buyer's Premium: 542,400 USD

Name: Francis Newton Souza (1924-2002)
Title: The Pope and his nephews.
Medium: Oil on red satin
Size: 57 x 45 in. (114.3 by 144.8 cm.)
200,000—300,000 USD
Lot Sold. Hammer Price with Buyer's Premium: 508,800 USD

Name: Maqbool Fida Husain (B. 1915)
Title: Horses and Blue Nude
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Size: 49 1/4 x 83 3/4 in. (125 by 213 cm.)
200,000—300,000 USD
Lot Sold. Hammer Price with Buyer's Premium: 464,000 USD

Name: Akbar Padamsee (B. 1928)
Title: Metascape
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 34 1/4 x 54 in. (87 by 129.5 cm.)
150,000—200,000 USD
Lot Sold. Hammer Price with Buyer's Premium: 307,200 USD

Name: Syed Haider Raza (B. 1922)
Title: Feuilles Blanches
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Size: 32 x 21 3/8 in. (81.3 by 54.4 cm.)
40,000—60,000 USD
Lot Sold. Hammer Price with Buyer's Premium: 132,000 USD

Name: Chittrovanu Mazumdar (B. 1956)
Title: Untitled
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Size: 71 3/4 x 58 7/8 in. (182 by 149.5 cm.)
50,000—70,000 USD
Lot Sold. Hammer Price with Buyer's Premium: 72,000 USD

Name: Subodh Gupta (B. 1964)
Title: Before the Plunge
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Size: 60 1/4 x 65 3/4 in. (153 by 167 cm.)
10,000—15,000 USD
Lot Sold. Hammer Price with Buyer's Premium: 51,000 USD

Results Courtesy: SOTHEBY'S.

ARTICLE 303 - Sotheby's Offers Stunning Variety for Desi Art Collectors, Investors

[29 March 2006] Francis C. Assisi for INDOLINK.

It's no secret that much of the classical and ancient artwork currently on display in museums across the world did not get there through well-documented deals and publicized handshakes. It's also no secret that these collections bring enormous profit and prestige to the institutions that house them, and to the auction houses that buy and sell them to the highest bidder. To self-righteously proclaim that a piece of art belongs to everyone while continuing to pocket revenue from it is not only ideologically unsound; it's bad business. According to this theory, museums should never charge admission, and Christie's and Sotheby's might as well close shop today, because nothing could be less humanity-friendly than charging millions of dollars for great works of art to end up in yet another tycoon's dining room. By continuing to hold onto art that was obtained without any reasonable consent -- and has been explicitly requested to be returned -- American and European Museums are depriving poorer countries of their historical legacy and potential revenue. A preview of today's offering of Indian art in two sessions at Sotheby's, New York, should be seen in this light, even though it offers a stunning array of modern Indian art for Desi collectors and investors. Over 200 lots are included in the sale, which also features an impressive assortment of Indian miniature paintings and stone and bronze sculptures from across the subcontinent. The sale is expected to bring $8/11 million. Also included are two of the most important modern Indian paintings ever to be offered at auction and three exquisite pieces of jewelry.

Falling Figure with Bird by Tyeb Mehta and Tapovan by S. H. Raza are part of an exceptional group of works by modern Indian artists, including F.N. Souza, M.F. Husain, Akbar Padamsee, Anjalie Ela Menon and J. Swaminathan. The Jewelry pieces include gold necklaces and earrings in diamond with white sapphire pearls and emeralds. Other artists represented are: Jamini Roy, George Keyt, A.R Chugtai, K.K.Hebbar, V. Gaitonde, Krishen Khanna, Bikash Bhattacharjee, Laxma Goud, and K.G.Subramanyan. S.H. Raza’s Tapovan, or Forest of Meditation (est. $800,000/1 million), represents a visual expression of his own meditation on the mystical power of nature. Raza spent his childhood in the forests of Central India, and the potency of colors and symbols in nature were central to his visual vocabulary. His work in the 1960s was strongly influenced by the Abstract Expressionist movement. The unstructured compositions of Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock inspired Raza to experiment with color and space in new ways, and the current work, painted in 1972, represents the culmination of this period. Tyeb Mehta’s 1988 work, Falling Figure with Bird (est. $800,000/1 million) contrasts a simple color-block background of blue and brown with the contorted outlines of a plunging figure and bird that suggests comparison to the anguished forms in Picasso’s Guernica. Tyeb, like many artists of his generation, was witness to the tragedy and violence that accompanied India’s Partition and his memories of this period had an immense impact on him and his art. Tyeb has been described as an ‘arch modernist’ who has reinterpreted the Modernist method in a wholly Indian context.

Other highlights from the Modern section include a 1960’s canvas by F. N. Souza, titled The Pope and his Nephews (est. $200/300,000) based on the famous portrait by Titian of Pope Paul III and his grandsons, a large Untitled abstract work by J. Swaminathan (est. $300/400,000) and an exceptional early Cityscape from 1959 by Akbar Padamsee (est. $500/700,000). The sale also features more contemporary works by younger artists such as Atul Dodiya, Jitish Kallat, Surendran Nair, Anju Dodiya and Jagannath Panda, who have recently gained stature in the international market. Rounding out the sale is a group of fine Indian miniatures originally from the Royal Collection of the court of Mandi. These include rare early paintings of Ragamalas from the Bilaspur School dating from 1700 - 1720 (est. $25/$35,000). The paintings are remarkable for their combination of the exuberant line and color of the Punjab Hills ateliers with the refined aesthetic of the Mughal and Deccani painting. Also included are delicately rendered love scenes from the Sundar Shringar series from circa 1780 (est. $10/15,000) and groups of charming Indo-European style works belonging to the early nineteenth century Company School of painting. Offerings in the antiquities section include an impressive circa 2nd/3rd Century Gandharan sculpture of the Goddess Hariti (est. $120/150,000) executed in a formal, hieratic style that is strongly related to Hellenistic sculpture from the region of Parthia. A highlight among Indian stones is an elegant and pleasing circa 12th Century marble sculpture of the elephant-headed deity Ganesha from Western India (est. $50,000/70,000).

indiaspora@gmail.com
Article Courtesy: INDOLINK.

ARTICLE 302 - Hussain's brush with law

[March 29, 2006 09:19:02 pm] TIMES NEWS NETWORK

MEERUT: A local Meerut court on Wednesday prima facie found artist MF Hussain guilty of tampering with the feelings of the Hindu community and asked police to register a case against him. The order came on a petition filed by Prem Pal Singh of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad on March 20 alleging that the artist had portrayed Hindu gods and goddesses in an "objectionable" manner in his paintings. Singh's counsel Ramkumar Sharma told reporters that the court had found Hussain guilty under various sections of IPC in the case filed in the court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate AK Pathak. He said that according to these sections, Hussain had been found guilty of "making objectionable paintings to hurt the feeling of a community and of disturbing communal harmony".

Article Courtesy: THE TIMES OF INDIA.

ARTICLE 301 - Showcasing the work of artists

[March 29, 2006] NT Bureau for NEWS TODAY

Twelve artists from South India will be showcasing their work in the 11th Harmony Art Show this year. Legendary singer and Bharat Ratna Lata Mangeshkar will inaugurate the show on 31 March at the Nehru Centre, Mumbai. Some well-known artists from south India who are participating in the landmark art exhibition are Achuthan Kudallur (Chennai), Babu Xavier (Kerala), Jayakumar G (Bangalore) and Surya Prakash (Hyderabad). This year's show will showcase over 280 works of art of 159 artists. In addition to Indian artists, four artists from the international art world - Angeli Sowani (UK), Maya Burman (Paris), Sakti Burman (Paris) and Delteil Maite (Paris) will also display their works. In keeping with its stated objective of promoting young and upcoming artists, the Harmony Art show will once again give a pride of place to budding talent. Almost two out of every three exhibits at the show will come from emerging artists.

The young will share this honour and limelight with some of the country's biggest artists such as Satish Gujral, Akbar Padamsee, Amarnath Sehgal, Gulam Sheikh and Manu Parekh. Jogen Chowdhury has been selected as the Artist in Focus for this year's show. The annual Harmony Art Show is, by tradition, structured around a unique theme or a story. For this year's show, the chosen theme is Art in the Family - conceived as a tribute to the many celebrated families such as the Parekhs, the Choyals, the Adivrekars and the Burmans, who have, through successive generations, dedicated themselves whole-heartedly to the cause of art. For the fifth consecutive year, the Harmony Art Show will provide a platform to the children of Aseema, an NGO dedicated to the rehabilitation and education of street children, to showcase their work. The art and designs made by them will also be reproduced on products, to be displayed and put up for sale at the show. The panel of judges for this year's show will be chaired by Tina Anil Ambani and constitute eminent art patrons and personalities such as Dr Saryu Doshi, Parmeshwar Godrej, Jehangir Sabavala, Harsh Goenka, Mala Singh and Dilip De.

The show will be open to the public between 1 and 9 April at the Nehru Centre, Worli, Mumbai.

Article Courtesy: NEWS TODAY.

ARTICLE 300 - Support for Husain

[March 28, 2006] Staff Correspondent for THE HINDU.

NEW DELHI: A group of 33 artists, writers, film-makers, art enthusiasts and academicians on Monday expressed concern at the filing of cases recently against artist M.F. Husain for allegedly "offending Hindu sentiments" with his nude painting, "Mother India." Pointing out that they did not want to comment on the specific cases filed in courts, they said Mr. Husain'spaintings represented the "multicultural and multireligious mosaic of our identity." To accuse such an artist of religious insensitivity or disrespect for Bharat Mata was an example of "not only ignorance but perhaps of mischief," they said in a statement. "Such mischievous acts can arise only out of a narrow-mindedness which is completely contrary to the tolerance and breadth of Indian culture."

Article Courtesy: THE HINDU.

ARTICLE 299 - 'I don’t need to prove myself in the field of art – I’ve never had to'

[March 27, 2006 21:33 IST] Sheree Gomes-Gupta for AFTER HRS - DNA INDIA.

With the boom in Indian art, the stakes for the Harmony Art Show are at an all-time high. Tina Ambani sets the record straight...

Taking charge
It’s unfair to say that I’m completely in charge of ‘Harmony’ as I have a huge team of experts. But I’m definitely more accountable. Being an artist myself, I have a very different perception and relationship with art and after 10 years, I thought it was time to give it a different insight, and more depth.

The ‘no-Husain’ show
I would have loved for Husain saab to be a part of the show. But he is always so busy, a lot in demand and very difficult to get work from only because he has so many commitments. It’s not easy to get him to participate.

Playing ‘God’ to struggling artists
I’ve never really thought of myself as a saviour. I relate to every art and have always felt that I should contribute to the art world in whatever way I can. I’ve never looked at ‘Harmony’ as an achievement, but as an art lover.

Her A-list jury
Each one on my jury has a very serious relationship with art. I mean, Parmeshwar (Godrej) was the first one to get (MF) Husain to do up the walls of Khyber when it was first done up by her 25-35 years ago. She is such big collector. Dilip (De) has always supported young artists. Harsh (Goenka) is not only a collector but also a promoter. All of them have an art background.

Proving herself
I don’t need to prove myself in the field of art – I’ve never had to, because my only aim to start ‘Harmony’ was my passion for the arts. But ever since the first year I’ve always had artists wanting to participate. It was never not taken seriously. I guess it is also because ‘Harmony’ was the first of its kind.

Keeping a low profile
I’m not consciously keeping a low profile. But ‘Harmony’ is important to many artists for whom this is a platform. So I feel it is important for me to come out and promote it. The larger the audience, the more exposure for the artists. I think I owe them that much! The 11th edition of the Reliance Harmony Art Show will be inaugurated by Lata Mangeshkar on March 31 at the Nehru Centre. The show will feature over 280 works of art and 158 artists.

"Buy something that you relate to, that connects with you emotionally and aesthetically. You don’t need to understand art. Art is an experience. For me, art is not an investment. A piece has to move me for me to buy it." —Tina’s advice to first-time art buyers

g_sheree@dnaindia.net
Article Courtesy: DNA INDIA.

ARTICLE 298 - Heady heights

[March 28, 2006] Business Standard.

New Delhi: A fortnight before companies start declaring their annual results for the latest quarter, the mood on the street is distinctively bullish. The Sensex has crossed 11,000 points, gaining 10 per cent in little more than a month, and the trailing 12-month price-earning ratio for Sensex stocks has crossed 20—signalling confidence in the coming quarterly numbers. Beyond the fundamentals, of course, there is the liquidity factor as money continues to flow into the market. Analysts have grown nervous, but all those who have expected a correction in the market have gone wrong in the past six months. These include bulge-bracket broking firms like Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and Citigroup. In January, Societe Generale even thought the Indian equity market was a bubble. That may or may not be the case, but on the market today there is no fighting the deity of liquidity. If foreign institutional investors brought in Rs 47,500 crore in 2005, they have already invested a third as much so far in 2006, and it is not the end of the first quarter yet. On top of that, domestic mutual funds have collected over Rs 20,000 crore so far in 2006. Market players do not expect FII flows to ebb, and with domestic mutual funds having invested a net of no more than Rs 1,500 crore through 2006, they too are sitting on a cash pile.

It is not just the stock market that is blazing ahead. Ten-gramme gold at Rs 8,150 on Friday is inching back to its February high of Rs 8,175. Silver is at a new high of Rs 15,210 a kg, up 20 per cent from the beginning of 2006. Real estate prices across the country have hit new highs, with some numbers reaching dizzy and probably unsustainable heights. Prospective sellers have just to be patient, as waiting makes them money every month. And if the bull markets in these asset classes were not enough, the art market too has flared up, going by the recent Saffronart auction. Paintings that were going at Rs 12 lakh in 2004 sold at Rs 1.2 crore, and just a few weeks ago an Amrita Sher-gil painting found a buyer at Rs 6.9 crore. Look at any asset class, therefore, and it is evident that the country is witnessing wholesale asset price inflation. Banks may have a problem with liquidity, but a large category of investors is flush with money. It is obvious that money made in the stock market is being invested in works of art to adorn recently bought homes. The signs of over-heating are now clearly visible.

The party could stop if money flows out of the country for whatever reason (many Asian markets are now much cheaper than India), or if the money market tightens enough to slow down sales and spending. Certainly, real estate prices in most places have doubled in the past two years, and must take a breather sometime soon. Home and car loans have become more expensive, as banks have stepped up interest rates in stages, by a cumulative by 2-3 per cent. And if the corporate results for the March quarter prove to be disappointing for any reason, the mood could change. However, the sales of consumer softs are buoyant, capital order books are full to overflowing, and there is no shortage of investors who see an irresistible India story over the medium term. But Dresdner Kleinwort Wassestein’s Albert Edwards, a votary of the bear story, points to “the rapidly widening current account deficits, excess portfolio inflows, high and rising inflation and a stock market that has risen by over double the rate of a buoyant emerging Asia.” If the party goes on for much longer, expect the ranks of nervous investors to also grow.

Article Courtesy: BUSINESS STANDARD.

ARTICLE 297 - Empathy and critique

[March 27, 2006] Marta Jakimowicz for DECCAN HERALD.

The new show at Galleryske presents Anita Dube from Delhi, one of leading figures of contemporary Indian avant-garde (Feb 27 to April 9). The artist, for a decade now, has been covering objects with contradictory layers of material whose merger reveals inner complexities bearing on gender and power equations against a very personally experienced reality where politics combines with archaic belief. Anita, who was an art historian before engaging in sculpture and installation, juxtaposes sensuous qualities with an analytical approach stimulating both to a mutually enhancing relationship. The "Illegal" sculptures, done over the past few years as a reaction to the invasion of Iraq, may be a certain shift from the earlier bodily focus to a wider political address. The images too may differ while uncovering the inside of things instead of their 'skin'. The changes yet mark a development consistent with her sensitivity and her method. The sculptures were made of Styrofoam packing recalling bombed city buildings with their inner walls open to the sky or assembled into large-size screens inspired by designs of the Islamic jaali. Throughout, the clash and the reconciliation of opposites guide the artist and the viewer.

The flimsiness of the packaging lets one feel the gravity and the vulnerability of life in war. The small, rugged faux ruins have been tightly bandaged in white gauze, and bending over them low one can intimately recognise the tenderness with which the healing gesture of empathy was made. The silk-screened images underneath can be partially seen through the damaged buildings. Placed on light boxes, they show photographic scenes from Iraq filtered through a red glow. The colour blends a sensation of blood with a radiance of the precious. Blending local flavour and shots of death or execution, they turn into a bitter mockery of the erstwhile role of the structures, the ravaged bank standing on a pile of rubble with a dead man. The form of the buildings resembling modernist architecture adds another dimension echoing the demise of the borrowed or post-colonially imposed new world dream. Here, the artist seems to be approaching Iraq also from the Nehruvian perspective and the Babri Mosque history. The compassion verging on identification evident there gains hope and loving confidence in the walls of resistance. Revolving unsteadily, perforated, weak or leaning about the fall down, their vastness nevertheless contains human strength and endurance. The jaali motif relates the strength to the long indigenous past, while the glowing photographic transparencies which allude to Christian stained glass, endow the shots of suffering and atrocities on Muslim people with an aura of sacredness. Thus, the artist out of the wreckage, has erected her own monuments to the Iraqi people. In a single case, the imagery might appear slightly literal, that being the evocation of the ruins of a Red Cross building with the advertisement-like letters: "Kill More Pay Less". On the whole, nevertheless, the exhibition makes a powerful and passionate statement through its sheer visual and tactile properties loaded with feeling as well as reflection.

Moods
Satish Kumar M.K., a Kerala-born artist from Mumbai, depicts the atmosphere of dreamy fantasies, spiritual states and emotions of love. However well-intentioned, his paintings shown at the Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath (March 15 to 20) offered a somewhat unresolved oscillation between the stylisation according to the old-fashioned, modernistic ethnic manner and a hesitant try at a vaguely more contemporary brushing. The former option abounded in cute linear contours, the latter loosening up in pigmentation but still adhering to consciously composed frames. More often than not the results were close of designing instead of evocation.

Sleek
The three sculptors from Udaipur - Gyan Singh, Lallan Singh and Amit Singh who are displaying their numerous works at the KCP (March 18 to 27), may differ a little in their themes and idiom details, in truth, though, it would be hard to distinguish between them. All of them appear to be guided by an urge to appeal to rather easy commercially viable solutions. One cannot deny them solid workmanship skills, but those serve very cute and formalistic purposes. The marble that their sculptures are made of may be rough and original in colour or smoothed to a glossy effect. They may be close to realistic representation, stylised or abstracted. They may show deities, animals, organic shapes or symbolic ones. In each case the impact remains one of facile decorativeness.

Pleasing
The four painters-- Anand Panchal, V.K. Ashok, Ratnakar Ojha and Surendra Jagtap-- exhibited together with two sculptors Pushpa Devi and Rajkumar Panwar by Vinyasa at the Abstract Art Gallery (March 24 to 30) once again offer another gamut of easily pleasing work. Whether carrying soft allusions to classic miniatures, relying on modernist stylisations of the ethnic or steering towards a lighter or somewhat expressionistic version of the latter, the paintings as well as the sculptures are pervades by large degrees of cuteness.

Divine
Koushal Choudhry, a youngish painter from Rajasthan living in Delhi, exhibited his works again at the KCP (March 16 to 23). Again too, despite his claims to spirituality and worshipping universal creative powers in the multiplicity of gods, his images repeated the same short-cut to the aim as before. The artist has a preference for Ganesha whom he depicts in quick, rounded strokes with lots of parallel ripples and an empty face. An almost identical formula is employed for other sacred icons. In the compositions suggestive of cosmic energy he envelops such rhythms in nebulous stains of colour. Throughout the effect resembles symmetric and pattern-relying designs.

Article Courtesy: DECCAN HERALD.

ARTICLE 296 - Trendy art with a touch of antique

[March 27, 2006] UB Githa for METROLIFE - DECCAN HERALD.

Chitra Viswanathan’s home is a decoupage composition with quaint Indian artifacts juxtaposed with modern stained glass work and other object’d art from across the world.

Chitra Viswanathan’s home is a decoupage composition with quaint Indian artifacts juxtaposed with modern stained glass work and other object’d art from across the world. Over two decades, she has perfected the decoupage art giving it an ethnic touch. It started as a hobby when she was in Kolkata, where her husband was posted. The nuances of the art were taught by a a teacher trained by a Japanese decoupage expert in the medium of wood. She honed her skill in Paris and in Bangalore she experimented in other media and held exhibitions. She says “The art of decoupage originated in Japan and China but was revived and popularised in France and Italy in the 18th century. Today decoupage objects are trendy items in fashionable shopping malls in the US and Canada, and many art stores hold an array of decoupage material. This art takes its root from de couper meaning “cutouts.” Paper cutouts are used to decorate furniture and accessories like boxes, lamps, trays etc.The progression involves the deft blend of high quality paper prints, paints and lacquer to bring out unique and dramatic compositions with striking effect. There are three types of finishes that are distinct - antique, wood and embossed finish. The treatment of the paper differs and as the names indicate the antique finish captures the old and elegant look with several coats of lacquer topped with a final wax polish. The wood finish involves creating a collage of different colours and textures of paper that ultimately resembles inlay work on wood.

“The embossed finish gives a dramatic 3-dimensional effect bringing the composition alive. Since patty is used, the picture below the print gets a 3D-effect with is spectacular.” In the finished work one cannot make out that paper print has been used. The transformation is brilliant. When Chitra started, the availability of materials was very limited. But today a variety of raw material available. The mode selected, the selection of the paper is the prime criteria, as one has to ensure that the colours do not leach. The procedure involves the pasting of the picture cut outs on the medium and application of several coats of lacquer. Next the lac is polished and finally the piece is wax polished. She says “As this art allows experimentation, it can be adapted to the Indian context. Indian themes of nature, monuments and religious Hindu and Christian icons are preferred by expats and foreigners. “These unique gift items are customized for my regular clients. I source for good quality paper prints from museums, publishing houses and art galleries on my travels. Even today it is more of a hobby rather than a commercial venture. The Bangalore market is yet to open up fully. I used to conduct classes at Calcutta, London and Bombay, and am toying with the idea of holding classes shortly in view of the requests from my regular clientele. This art affords an opportunity for me in a small way to showcase the country’s rich and varied cultural heritage.” Chitra can be contacted at 22256838.

Article Courtesy: DECCAN HERALD.

WORK 47 - Critics' Corner.

Name: Yusuf Arakkal
Title: Untitled
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Size: 48 x 48 in.

View more works at Galerie 88.

ARTICLE 295 - Young artists hit Rs 1-crore mark

[March 26, 2006] SUNEET CHOPRA for THE FINANCIAL EXPRESS.

A new crop of artists are selling at three times the highest estimate expected at online auctions

The rather shameful affair of auctions allowing dubious works to filter in as part of the process of “laundering” fake works or doing the gullible out of pocket has not dulled the art market, if the Saffronart Spring Sale of March 15 and 16 is anything to go by. The sale concentrated largely on younger artists, the majority of whom are yet to be faked. The works mostly sold at less than Rs 1 crore under the hammer. The highest price was paid for Atul Dodiya’s As Though He Listened, an oil on canvas of 1987 (lot 42), was expected to fetch Rs 40 lakh but sold at Rs 1.21 crore, over three times the maximum price expected of it. Dodiya’s performance is expected. A second work of his, lot 40, an oil on canvas (The Kitchen of 1985) that was expected to fetch a maximum of Rs 38.7 lakh sold at Rs 97.43 lakh. So, not only do we have the young artist born in 1959 selling at close to seven figure prices, but his sales reflect the fact that still it is figurative art and canvases that fetch the highest prices. The sales show that the auctioneers kept their estimates low so that most works sold at close to double the estimate. Let us take a look at the performance of those who sold works at three times the highest estimate. There were: Chittrovanu Mazumdar (lot 12), a mixed media work on paper (38.1 cm x 27.9 cm) that sold at Rs 2.64 lakh when it was expected to fetch Rs 85,000. The highest price a work of his fetched was Rs 49.72 lakh for lot 15, an acrylic on canvas that was 304.8 cm x 182.9 cm. He was followed by Baiju Parthan. All of his five works went between 4-6 times the highest price expected. Of these, the highest priced was lot 22, Seeing, an acrylic on canvas (124.5cm x 88.9 cm) of 1993 that sold at Rs 15.91 lakh. Parthan’s works went at price far lower than Dodiya or Mazumdar.

Other artists who topped the three-times mark included: Sudarshan Shetty (lot 50), who was expected to fetch Rs 2 lakh but got Rs 6.65 lakh; Anju Dodiya’s (lot 58) watercolour and charcoal on paper (175.33 cm x 111.8 cm); Subodh Gupta’s A Taxi at an Airport (lot 62) that was expected to fetch Rs 22 lakh but went for Rs 80.87 lakh; Paresh Maity’s oil on canvas (lot 69) that was expected to fetch Rs 7.74 lakh went for Rs 26.34 lakh; Anjum Singh’s Woman with Sofas (lot 87) was expected to fetch Rs 2.75 lakh, but sold for Rs 9.46 lakh; Sunil Padwal’s (lot 89) oil on board expected to fetch Rs 2.50 lakh sold for Rs 8.98 lakh. There were others too in this league. Manisha Parekh’s Dispersed Fall (lot 63) was meant to fetch a maximum of Rs 1.75 lakh sold for Rs 5. 48 lakh. G R Iranna’s acrylic on canvas (lot 107) that was expected to sell at Rs 2.5 lakh netted Rs 11.38 lakh. Jagannath Panda’s An External Appearance (lot 109) was expected to sell for Rs 9 lakh, but sold for Rs 33.63 lakh. Manish Pushkale’s oil on canvas (lot 119) was expected to net Rs 4.25 lakh, but sold for Rs 20.604 lakh. Arpana Caur’s Study of a Tribal Weaver at Work (lot 6) expected to fetch Rs 3 lakh at the most went for Rs 11.11 lakh. While not reading too much inthese positive figures, one can say that figurative works, both oil and acrylic on canvas, are the best investment our contemporary art offers.

Article Courtesy: FINANCIAL EXPRESS.

ARTICLE 294 - INDIAN ART MART ON FIRE

[March 26, 2006 at 0000 hours IST] FOCUS - THE FINANCIAL EXPRESS.

Be it the value or sale of works, overseas collectors or exploration of mediums and themes, the art mart is on an all-time high

Virtual display, real deals

The reach of online auctions is luring galleries and buyers to the medium

Have you set your eye on a particular work and want to buy it? Given the way the art mart is moving, chances are that you can buy it online. Or at the very least track it and find out its details online. What is an online art auction? Why are more and more leading art auction houses moving towards online auctions of their works? How does it help? Well, there are not too many auction houses still which are selling art online, but a spectacular success story is Saffronart.com. Primarily online, it’s just had its 12th auction earlier this week. With 125 works by 44 artists including Chittrovanu Mazumdar, Arpana Caur, Rekha Rodwittiya, Nataraj Sharma, Atul Dodiya, Bose Krishnamachari, Manisha Parekh, Paresh Maity, Shibu Natesan, GR Iranna, Jagannath Panda, Jitish Kallat, it was a large sale by any standards. And given that 55 of the works sold for more than Rs 10 lakh, the maximum being Rs 1.2 crore for Dodiya’s 1987 work, As Though He Listened. Dinesh Vazirani, director of Saffronart, has reason to be optimistic. Of the estimated $51 million spent on the art auctions in 2005, Saffronart had about 35% of the market. And almost all of it was online. He is perhaps justifiably optimistic about the potential of the online art auction market. “We were the first people to go for online sales five years ago,” he says. “Discouragement was all we got from most people. However, we must remember that the market has changed dramatically — it has broadened, the number of people interested in art in India has gone up by leaps and bounds, and of course the value put to art works has also risen manifold.” Sharan Apparao of Apparao Galleries has been in the art mart for over two decades, and has just decided to step into the online auction market with her first auction earlier this month. “I need at least another three auctions to be able to gauge the mood of buyers,” she says, adding, “for this sale I did get a number of unknown buyers. The online space definitely allows for more people to participate.”

A view Vazirani seconds. Online offers many advantages, says Vazirani. “Online is an easy, transparent medium to transact in. It can handle a huge number of participants at the same time, much more than a usual auction. And it allows for a degree of anonymity, which is not always possible in physical auction,” he elaborates. “Even those who are older, or young and lazy, find a way to get across the challenge of technology,” says curator Apparao, who herself confesses to being late in adapting to technology, but admitting that it “has made our world much smaller.” She too agrees that issues like authenticity and transportation are not affected by online transactions. Another major advantage is that of location. “You can be anywhere in the world and you could bid for a work of your choice. We ship works anywhere in the world,” asserts Vazirani. Which is an important issue, as about 60% of Saffronart’s clients are abroad. Building the buyer’s trust is important, and for this Saffronart had organised a huge show in New York in 2001. “But there have been entirely unknown people who have participated in our auctions,” adds Vazirani. He also says that there are no problems regarding payment or delivery. Incidentally, only payments up to about $5,000 would be done online, larger amounts are usually by cheque, he reveals. There are still not many takers for online sales, though. Sotheby’s has joined hands with Amazon.com, while Apparao Galleries has also started with an auction where they accepted online bids earlier this year. However, Vazirani is confident that online sales, both for auction and fixed price, are only bound to grow, given the many advantages available online. So, have you logged on yet?

- Suman Tarafdar

The next hot thing

The The ever increasing demand and supply keeps the art market buoyant

Mumbai recently saw the preview of the forthcoming auction of the Christie’s, on contemporary Indian art, to be held in New York on March 30, which would coincide with the Sotheby’s auction on Indian and South Asian Art. With more and more such auctions, Indian art is making a mark on the world art map. Going by current trends the appreciation of the Indian art seems to be a sure fire way. Be it the value of works, their sale or overseas collectors, all are contributing to put the art mart in India on fire, with most galleries dealing in multi-million dollar sales for their high-end exhibitions. With new galleries adding to the art infrastructure to make a crucial difference, it is not just the metros that vie to be the art capitals, even smaller centres are staking a claim.

The corporate boom
Talk art market and corporates are there. Some of the most fam- ous collectors are Harsh Goenka, Lalit Suri, Adi Godrej and Kumar Mangalam Birla. For Harshvardhan Goenka, chairman, RPG Enterprises, the penchant for art “began in childhood”. Art to him is not an investment and he buys it “for the love of it”. Kumar Mangalam Birla of Aditya Birla Group, on the other hand, believes that art is a matter of private choice. The Birlas also have the Birla Academy of Art and Culture in Mumbai, run by his wife Neerja. She explains, “Paintings should be visually attractive and pleasant. Something one can live with day in and day out.” Another diva who has pursued her love for art is Sangita Jindal. “Though it seems everyone in the corporate world is working for art, much more remains to be done,” says Jindal, who has also established Jindal Arts Creative Interaction Centre. ITC’s Welcomgroup supports contemporary Indian art through Shristi Art galleries located at various Welcomgroup hotels. They sponsor works of young Indian artists and hold art camps. Citigroup’s Art Advisory Service assists its clients in a wide variety of art-related matters. Says Sharad Mohan, marketing director, retail banking, Citibank India, “Art is one of our main interests. We have brought to our clients many art shows and a new concept of Art Walk.” ABN Amro, on the other hand, has the ABN Amro Art Prize, which is awarded each year to stimulate artists of foreign origin who live or work in the Netherlands. They also organise shows for winning artists and purchase their work. Adds Romesh Sobti, executive vice-president and country executive, ABN Amro India. “At our bank café (a concept where the bank allocates a café by Barista), we display the works of young artists and curators.” Elaborating on the growing contribution of corporates, curator Vickram Sethi says that there is a fair amount of corporate sponsorship. He says, “Today art is chic and has become a necessity to reflect the modern outlook and approach of the corporates. However, only a handful of them actually understand art.”

Art beyond paper and canvas
Though artifacts have been an intrinsic part of human civilisation from times immemorial, their utilitarian attribute has added a commercial viability to them. Functi- onal art blends form, function and sculpture resulting into objects, thus redefining the approach towards art, earlier restricted to paper and canvas. Banglore-based artist Atul Johri experiments with paper and the result is unique lampshades, which form an essential part of the interior décor. He defines art as something “one can use and live with”. Whereas, Baroda-based artist Nehal experiments with ceramics. She does not like the idea of treating her pottery as “mere objects” and has thus made them into objects of daily use. A perfect accessory for your interior décor, sculptures by Satish Gupta are not mere fixtures but serve as in-house fountains. While many artists are experimenting with varied mediums, some of them have just shifted base from paper and canvas. While artist Paresh Maity has traced paintings on tabletops, artist Jayshree Burman’s spiritual inclination has found space on wooden cabinets. Not just a change of media or expression for the artists, the huge variety also caters to the need of the buyers, thus adding to its demand.

Cashing in on fresh avenues
Young artists are making their presence felt and are painting the city in vibrant colours. Opening of new galleries is a major aspect, which has not only eased the availability of the works of the known artists but is also providing a platform to upcoming artists. They exemplify the inclination of people towards art and also hint at the rise in number of people joining the art fraternity. However, orientation of these galleries differs. “We are mainly promoting upcoming artists,” says Kapil Harmilapi, owner of Rang-a Roof Art Gallery. Gallery Art Felt on Malcha Marg in Delhi is also promoting young artists. But many like the Indraprastha Art Gallery have a mixed bag of both young and veteran artists in the offing. In order to cater to customers’ satisfaction, the works sold by these galleries come with proper certification. “We give certificates and the works are end- orsed by the artist,” claims Madhu Gupta, owner, Indraprastha Gallery. The mushrooming of several art institutes is also reflective of the growing art market. According to curator Alka Pandey, be it production or sale, these training centres hint at the need for growing expertise in the stream. “Surely an encouragement for young artists, the varied art camps and crash courses are also a potential learning pl-atform for art enthusiasts,” she says.

- Neha Sharma
- Inputs by Jyoti Verma & Sulekha Nair

All for a quick buck

Once a tribute to veteran artists, fakes are a slur on the art mart today

Fake Husain sale detected. India woke up on Saturday to the shocking, if unsurprising, news of yet another fake artwork on sale. Earlier this month, the detection of a fake being sold for Rs 30 lakh at the Osian’s auction in the Capital had also created a big furore. A work of veteran artist Bikash Bhattacharya was pointed out as fake by his pupil Sanjay Bhattacharya and was pulled out from the auction. “I know each and every stroke of my guru and it just took me five minutes to identify that it was not his work,” says Sanjay. A few years back another event created the same uproar when artist Sanjay Bhattacharya spotted a fake of one of his famous works, Ghara. He recalls, “The original depicted two earthen pots in a dark room with a stained glass door. The copied painting had the same background and flavour except for the fact that there was a man in the forefront with some musical instrument.” Copying of famous works has happened from time immemorial. Roman sculptors even produced copies of Greek sculptures. Copying works of masters was then considered a tribute, not a forgery. Icilio Federico Joni, known as the prince of Sienese fakers, was so good that experts called him one of the most spectacularly inventive forgers. According to curator Alka Raghuvanshi, “Art forgery became prominent during the Renaissance when the interest in antiquities increased their value. This soon extended to the deceased and recently to the contemporary artists.” However, over the years, the concept of fakes has undergone a sea change. Being done by experts, these imitations command a high price and mainly target the art collectors. In the Indian art market, estimated to be almost Rs 600 crore, fakes surely hold a huge share. With more and more hands joining the stream, its market seems to be on an all-time high. Throwing light on different ways of forging a painting, Sanjay explains, “One is copying it without the signature. Second is adding some elements to the original concept whereby the flavour of the painting reflects the master. The third is copying along with the signature and the fourth and the most successful is circulating fakes through auction houses. They fetch the maximum price as the buyer is provided with the required certificates.” Another reason behind the trend of fakes gaining momentum is the opening up of newer galleries. Alka Pande, consultant and curator to the Visual Arts Gallery, Delhi, insists, “Though these galleries make a huge investment, usually they lack expertise. As a result the oblivious buyer who has the money but not the knowledge ends up buying forged works.” She adds, “The best option is to buy paintings from artists’ studios or get them endorsed.” Well, be it the assistants of the artists, auction houses, galleries or artists themselves, the art fraternity is up in arms against those encouraging and promoting fakes in the market. One of the most commonly faked artist, Satish Gupta says, “The most important thing is that collectors have to educate themselves as a fake can be easily made out. It lacks the intricacy and spirit of the original work.” Earlier considered to be one of the safest mediums to buy the works of senior artists, the Osian auction controversy, however, has raised serious questions on the reliability of auction houses. The bigger auction houses try to take extra care, though. Says Catherine Manson, head of press department at Christie’s, “We monitor each and every aspect of a painting right from its export papers to its stylistic authenticity. Our catalogues are available on the Internet and are open for public viewing.”

- Neha Sharma

Rising Stars On The Market Canvas

Experiences of a migrant farmer

Born in a remote village in North Karnataka district of Bijapur in a farmer family, G R Iranna’s first solo show in Delhi reflected the experiences of a migrant painter. Intrigued by the antithetical structure of the world, his early images portrayed both farming and fertility. Unimpressed by the mundane styles or references, Iranna makes conscious use of ambience, which tends to redefine the relation between human beings and the surroundings. A winner of a number of awards including the National Award by Lalit Kala Akademi, Iranna went on a Charles Wallace Scholarship to London. “It was this trip that drew me towards Buddhist thoughts and practices. My visit to Europe gave me a realisation of the best of Indian heritage — its jewellery, including Kohinoor, its art, its antiques — are all in London. Despite it being ours, we had no control over it. That’s when I painted a series that was a take on colonial regime,” he reveals. One of the most controversial paintings of the series was the one where Iranna showed the Queen celebrating her birthday wearing Indian jewellery, even as she stepped on an Indian’s head. She also wore a bindi. It created a lot of furore in London.

- GR Iranna, 34

Untying the existential knots

Art for Manil Gupta is a quest to delve into the complexities of existence and the protagonist in his works is usually a reflection of his self. He asserts, “My strokes give me an opportunity to express my opinion on the important relevant issues of life and society.” Be it treatment of the work or choice of subjects, Gupta relates to the present times in all respects. He explains, “The issues I frequently touch upon include distancing of human emotions and something on the lines of corporatisation of the society leading to an increasing human insensitivity.” What strikes the common chord in most of the works of Gupta is the usage of varied shades of red. At best a bright shade for many, it helps Gupta convey his “passion and angst”. He adds, “It’s visually appealing and stands out amidst other combinations.” He has a number of group and solo shows to his credit.

- Manil Gupta, 27

A colourful rhapsody

Her colours are in a state of perpetual, playful banter as they dance to her tune in choreography of ecstatic rapture. A passout of the College of Arts, Nupur Kundu insists that what makes her gravitate the empty spaces on a canvas is the need to express purely in colour. Enthralled by working on large canvas spaces, she feels that the vast canvas “gives her freedom for my sweeping palette knife and calligraphic space divisions”. Mainly abstract, what forms the distinct aspect of her works is her tendency to carve free-flowing images formed after applying layer of one colour over another. A trained Kathak dancer, Kundu finds a definite connection between her passion for palettes and her dance steps. “My colours follow a strange rhythm on the canvas,” she reveals. With a number of exhibitions in her kitty, Kundu has also participated in various art camps.

- Nupur Kundu, 30

Mapping grassroots

The works of artist Sanjay Sharma are a subconscious reflection of his attachment with his native town in Jharkhand. His inclination towards grassroot issues and interest in the daily life of people can be witnessed through the murals done by him at the Seelampur and Shahdara metro stations in Delhi. He reveals, “When I was given the project I wanted to do something that people could relate to. So I thought that the best thing was to capture the local life of people of that area.” What adds a dash of realism to Sharma’s work is his attempt to analyse and simplify the complexities of life and present them with great ease. With the layered and textured surface, his works are a combination of figurative and abstract art. Winner of several awards, he is also working with Sahmat, an NGO.

- Sanjay Sharma, 29

A stark revelation

The paintings of artist Simrin Mehra Agarwal are built around human figures and images of people that leave a lasting impression on her mind. She insists that she transposes these individuals from the routine mundane life and intersperse them with the elements of her own imaginative world. She elaborates, “The collision of the real and imaginative give shape to a new image in my works. I make a conscious attempt to investigate the individual, the personality and the development of the self through my works.” Some of the strongest imageries that stand out in her works are that of “delightful moments of childhood that get faded as the weight of adult concerns dominate life”. A gold medallist from Delhi College of Arts, she was also awarded the national scholarship by the Department of Culture. She has also participated in a number of national and international shows including Nokia Arts Award, 2000, in Seoul, 48th National Exhibition of Art at National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, AIFACS Annual Art Exhibition and Indo-Dutch Video Art Exhibition at Lalit Kala Gallery, to list a few.

- Simrin Mehra Agarwal, 26

Exploration of inner self

Born in Kashmir, this talented artist has been painting ever since she was very young. A figuartive artist, Dhar prefers works with oil paints on canvas to shape her imagination. Creative journey for Dhar has been an exploration of the inner self. What marks the distinct attribute of her works is her unique style of painting which does not let the paint crack. “It gives longetivity to a painting,” says Dhar. With absolute figures, she keeps her shades thin and simple by using varied layers of colours on canvas. After marking the success of her debut show in Bahrain, Dhar has also participated in select group shows. Catering to global collectors, she was also commisioned to paint four big size paintings for the lobby of a five star hotel at the Bahrain International Airport.

- Neelam Dhar, 35

Article Courtesy: FINANCIAL EXPRESS.

ARTICLE 293 - Diaspora Desis Turn Modern Indian Art Bullish

[25 March 2006] Francis C. Assisi for INDOLINK.

Move over Mughal miniatures. Contemporary Indian art is expected to gather record crowds March 28-30th in New York as multinational art auctioneers Sotheby's and Christie's gear up for their back to back sales of modern Indian art. Call it a new fad among the nouveau riche. Or the lure investment for desi millionaires. Which is why modern Indian art is drawing record crowds at global auctions, and valuations and volumes have soared to hitherto unheard of levels, forcing major buyers to pay more attention to Indian artists and to the Indian market. What used to be an insignificant genre outside the subcontinent until recently, is suddenly hot in the global art world. Indian art has been offered in British and European auctions for years, but pieces often fetched very little money or recognition. Only recently has Indian contemporary art begun appearing in the US. Last fall, 16 works by contemporary Indian artists sold for more than $200,000 apiece in New York; even more impressive, the hammer came down on Tyeb Mehta's painting "Mahisasura" for a whopping $1.6 million-five times the previous auction record. "It [was] an amazing week," says Robin Dean, director of the Indian and Southeast Asian department at Sotheby's. Media reports said the Sotheby's auction of Indian contemporary art in New York last fall achieved sales of $5.5 million compared with a pre-sale estimate of $3.8 million. Christie's also has seen a steep rise. Five years ago, its Indian painting sales totaled about $650,000. Last fall, it's New York sale totaled $8.65 million.

At first the Indian diaspora drove demand, but now growing wealth in India itself is fueling the market. In the mid-1990s, most buyers were scions of India's industrial dynasties, who favored the realistic, conservative artists of the Bengal school. In the late 1990s, NRIs preferred the bolder, more colorful and less traditional work of the Progressives, which dominated the market. Today, domestic buyers-buoyed by India's skyrocketing stock and real-estate markets and fast-growing economy-are helping drive prices higher. "The general rise in affluence amongst Indians and nonresident Indians over the past few years has allowed such collectors to spend part of their disposable income on art," says Yamini Mehta, head of modern and contemporary Indian art at Christie's. "There has been a marked growth in the number of collectors, thereby creating a greater demand for works while the supply remains limited." ``Once you've made it, to have a veneer of social standing, you might also have to consider supporting the arts,'' observes Mehta of Christie's. Nor is the demand for Indian art just limited to collectors of Indian origin -- or desis. According to auctioneers, around 15 percent of the buyers at any Indian art auction today are international, and Indian contemporary art is now being nabbed by new buyers from France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, and the Middle East. Christie's hopes to raise $7-9 million from auctioning the works of Indian painters like Tyeb Mehta and Subodh Gupta during its Asian Art sales March 28-30 that is expected to bring in $30 million. Newly wealthy Indian buyers have already pushed prices to new heights for about 10 modern painters who are either elderly or recently deceased. Among the most popular are Francis Newton Souza, Tyeb Mehta and Vasudeo S. Gaitonde. A large abstract golden canvas by Gaitonde from 1975, estimated at more than $800,000, may bring well over $1 million at Christie's. According to some observers, Subodh Gupta has the Indian contemporary art world in his grip. "His artistic vocabulary, which uses the vernacular of everyday India, combined with a multi-layered content and a post-modern sense of irony make his work accessible to and appreciated by a universal audience," says Mehta. A true multimedia artist, Gupta comfortably moves between sculpture, installation, painting and video. Gupta has garnered interest for the surreal contemporary feel of his artistic language and wowed audiences in the west. Two of his works will be on offer: "Untitled" ($25,000-35,000), and the installation "OK Mili" ($20,000-30,000).

Meanwhile the ones who are raking in the money are the auction houses themselves. Sotheby's, which closed its Indian office in the early 1990s, recently entered into an alliance with an art gallery based in Bombay "to build a bigger client base in India"; rival Christie's is reportedly returning to open an advisory office there, it says, to "develop the market's vast potential" just three years after shutting down its own Indian office. Both auction houses also have expanded their sales of contemporary and modern Indian art. Christie's New York has introduced a separate catalog for the first time and is offering 166 lots, valued at up to $9.4 million, on March 30. Sotheby's sale also focuses on modern and contemporary painting. That part of the sale is estimated to fetch as much as $9.1 million. ``We did not expect prices to go the way they did in the last two years,'' according to Anu Ghosh-Mazumdar, Sotheby's Indian and Southeast Asian art specialist. ``Prices have risen for some artists 20-fold.'' Meanwhile, in India itself, In five years the number of reputable galleries in the capital has grown from about 20 to more than 100. Auction houses, including one online saleroom, are prospering. 'There's a new generation of rich Indians - industrialists, entrepreneurs - who want to buy paintings they can show friends at a party. The price doesn't matter,' Keshav Mallik, one of India's leading art critics, said. Amit Judge, who opened his Delhi gallery, Bodhi Art, a year ago, said the rate at which prices were rising was 'astonishing'. Another gallery owner observed: "We sell things here and six months later we see them being resold for six times the price ... Even now we sell at top dollar, and people buy because they know there are 10 other clients lined up ready to spend that much." The Indian art auction, to be held March 30 in New York, is expected to be the largest and most diversified selection ever offered in the field. And the writing is on the canvas. It has a lot of zeros in it.

indiaspora@gmail.com
Article Courtesy: INDO LINK.

ARTICLE 292 - Awesome money is chasing Indian art

[March 25, 2006] Kishore Singh for REDIFF.

If in 1992 you had Rs 11 lakh (Rs 1.1 million) to invest, there were few places you would risk it. You could, of course, put it in gold, in which case you wouldn't have lost anything, but you wouldn't have made anything either (given inflation) with returns under Rs 30 lakh. Land or property might have been a better option. In Delhi, if you were conservative, you could have put the Rs 11 lakh in a reasonable colony like Greater Kailash, where it would fetch a market value of Rs 45 lakh (Rs 4.5 million) today; or in Gurgaon where, because of the buoyant real estate market you could expect to be paid an eminently respectable Rs 1.5 crore (Rs 15 million) for it. The share market was the other option, and if you were lucky enough to have acquired Infosys shares, you could probably retire on the returns - a humungous 50-60 times, with a value of between Rs 5.5-6 crore (Rs 55-60 million). One person then, who decided to risk that investment in buying a painting from a Sotheby's auction was thought maverick. Perhaps passionate about art, true - but an investor? Nah, that didn't make sense. On the first day of this month, therefore, when that same painting (Amrita Sher-gil's Village Scene) fetched auction house Osian's Rs 6.9 crore (Rs 69 million), the buyer, Nand Khemka, made history for the highest price any painting has fetched in India. But already punters are saying Khemka's bid is only the start of a price blitzkrieg that will swamp the Indian art industry. When art will be valued far higher than the buildings in which it is housed. When auction house maestro Neville Tuli can suggest that "in the last five years, [M F] Husain has created more value than the entire house of Tata". Er? "He's one man, his resource is one hand, and there's no other infrastructure at his disposal," argues Tuli, "and look at the wealth he's created with that."

We'll come back to that in a bit, but there's no gainsaying that the value of the Indian art market has been rapidly multiplying and, by Bodhi Art estimates, will probably cross Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion) in 2006. Certainly, Indian art has never had as many highs as last year alone, when an canvas by Tyeb Mehta fetched over $1 million in the international market. And where contemporary artists like Atul Dodiya and Anju Dodiya have crossed or are hovering around the critical Rs 1 crore (Rs 10 million) benchmark. At that price point, these young artists have already scaled beyond the values of the masters. And according to a Bodhi Art study, their prices, month on month, have been increasing by 20.1 per cent. That's every month. No wonder the market is in a tizzy. There are ugly rumours of rigging prices. Of manipulating saleable artists. Of art funds creating false value for their investors. "Really?" laughs Dinesh Vazirani of Saffronart. Art funds, he says, are just one group (among a market that consists of painters, collectors, gallerists, dealers and investors) of structured investors who've pooled in their capital, and appear in the public eye because they're buying aggressively, and therefore noticeably, at auctions. For a market that's the size of Rs 1,500 crore (Rs 15 billion) currently, what impact can funds of $10 million or $15 million at most, make?" Even as speculation of trade-offs continue to do the rounds and gallerists have taken to guarding their properties (read artists) in vault-like proximity (they'd chain them to garrots if they could), there's consternation, almost fear in the market. Perhaps because, beyond their wildest expectations, the market has slipped frighteningly out of even their grasp. There's a new collector on the rounds, but neither gallerists nor dealers know his identity beyond the fact that he's Indian (and no longer the entity identified simply as the NRI), wealthy, and willing to spend huge sums on acquiring art by means fair or foul. For speculation or passion? For investment or acquisition? For manipulation or genuine appreciation? Those answers at least aren't forthcoming for now.

But beyond the hype, beyond the surprise over the prices, there are some very sound reasons for why these prices are escalating faster than a rocket in orbit. To begin with, there's the basic premise on which almost everyone is agreed - that art has long been undervalued in India. With increasing visibility in the West, and greater access to more mature markets, this has now sought to correct itself. "It's establishing itself at parity with other competitive countries like China," suggests Vazirani. But a spokesperson at Bodhi Art is quick to rubbish that. "Indian art isn't about Chinese bamboos and Japanese cherry blossoms," he laughs derisively; "it has depth and a limitless spectrum." And points the responsibility for the boom in Indian art to an unlikely person - Narayana Murthy. "He made us proud to be Indian," he says, which, as Saffronart's Vazirani points out, has resulted in "those Indians who're generating a lot of wealth wanting to acquire art, and while it's still undervalued". The result has been "too much money chasing art", suggests Anand of the Delhi Art Gallery (collector, gallerist and dealer), who in the past would buy out entire studios. But in the space of a few months that has changed, with traditional buyers like entrepreneur and art columnist Nitin Bhayana suggesting "even wealthy people will now find it difficult to buy their favourite painters". Anand appears distressed about the "status value of buying art", something Bodhi Arts implies is due to the "herd mentality of society", but Neville Tuli insists, "Today, the market is genuine." Even so, there's no getting away from the fact that a large number of younger collectors are probably in it for only its investment value.

Gallerists agree that visitors continually harangue them for works of value; curator Pooja Sood of Apeejay Media Gallery is scared artists' studios could turn into ateliers or "factories of art", she sighs unhappily. There are reasons for that apprehension, and price is one of them. Contemporary artists who sold for under Rs 100,000 have now fetched Rs 20 lakh (Rs 2 million) at an auction, and routinely sell for half that from their studios. The number of works coming out has increased sharply. "What's the future of artists who have only done three-four years of work before commanding these prices?" asks a worried Anand. "There's a very big risk collectors are taking. They're paying prices that are too high for reasons that are not rational." Then there's the lack of the information process, the necessary systems to separate the very good from the good, and the good from the not-so-good. "The market needs infrastructure," insists Tuli. Unlike in more sophisticated markets, there is little by way of information, few critics, few curators, no indices and, till recently at least, the market was largely an operation of the black economy. That at least has changed. And though the Chinese art market is still ahead of India's, even that could change in the course of this year.

Already, the highest prices for young contemporaries is higher than those for comparable Chinese artists. And the market for the likes of Atul Dodiya, Anju Dodiya, Subodh Gupta, Jagannath Panda, Jitish Kallat, Shibu Natesan, Manish Pushkale and the like - names mainstream India is still unfamilar with - could scorch the international marquee with a reach the modernists never enjoyed. If Tuli is jubilant at the "aesthetic development of a lacking historical process", others are concerned about whether chasing prices will lead to better art. "There's no doubt that it is the quality of an artist's work that will determine prices," says Vazirani, then cautions, "But there is also the matter of the quality of the bidder at auctions." Most are dismissive about auction peaks as an aberration - it is, after all, a contest between two or more collectors at the heat of the movement, but artists are reconciled to the fact that such a public battle for their works helps push up the average levels at which they sell from their studios. Nor are these prices likely to level off any time soon. "This speed is very, very dangerous," cautions Bodhi Art, "but the world demand far outstrips supply. There's awesome money chasing Indian art." "The number of collectors and dealers is only increasing," says Vazirani, "so there's likely to be a higher jump than we've seen so far. Hopefully, it'll steady after that." "A correction will happen," insists Anand, "it must happen."

Article Courtesy: REDIFF.