| Art was in the news again last week. After the success of the Osian’s sale, every journalist in town wanted a story and viewpoint on the art market, the history of the Amrita Sher-gil which made Rs 6.9 crore, the identity of the successful bidder of the V S Gaitonde, and where the market is headed.
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| It was interesting to note that apart from the trade and select collectors, the room was full of people I wouldn’t have normally associated with art. However, the more the merrier and welcome to the club.
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| We all agree that art has crossed a threshold level in India, with the media and collectors taking note of it — but unfortunately for all the wrong reasons: prices, money and returns on investment. No one is interested in the works themselves!
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| The sale of the Sher-gil is symobolic of the entire art market’s journey over the last decade-and-a-half and speaks volumes about the market as a whole. Sold for a record price in the early nineties for a little over Rs 10 lakh, the picture remained with a Delhi-based collector who sold it to a dealer a few years ago, who “reportedly” further sold it to a collector, who then consigned it to Osian’s.
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| While “art buyers” were busy calculating the CAGR (compounded annual growth rate), the next day young enthusiastic bankers were advising their clients to invest in art as a diversification tool.
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| As far as the press goes, art has come to mean only money and auctions and high prices, and that’s it. It is shocking that most of India’s leading dailies and weekly newsmagazines do not have an art critic.
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| There is little or no qualitative information about what’s going on in the city. The PR-driven Page 3/ housewife/Sunday painter openings are given more importance than the solid shows that often times go unnoticed by the public at large. And when stories on points of view do get written, they get written by jounalists who probably review exhibitions from their desks.
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| Incidentally, a respected journalist in a leading daily this Sunday proclaimed that art is dead, and that there’s nothing exciting that she’s seen or heard of apart from the Satish Gujral retospective lately.
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| A real shocker, since in the last month alone Delhi has witnessed spectacular shows of Atul Dodiya, Subodh Gupta and Surendran Nair! Two of Pakistan’s leading young contemporaries, Ayesha Khalid and Imran Qureshi, showed in Delhi last week, as did one of India's most important photographers, Homi Vyarwalla.
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| So to all my journalist friends, the message is simple: review works of art, not prices alone. Make an effort, trek to Apeejay Technopark in Faridabad to see video art, or to Noida to see Valsan Kolleri’s show. And if you can’t make sense of it all, register for Habitat Centre’s art appreciation course. It starts today! |
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