Mixed media: Art made of everyday objects has a brush with market

It allows artists to express various themes without being confined to a single medium

Bharti Kher's mixed media artwork sold for an estimated $1.5 million (Rs 7 crore) at a Sotheby’s auction in London in June 2010. 'The Skin Speaks a Language Not Its Own' is a life-size female fibre-glass elephant covered in bindis arranged in a serpentine pattern. It alludes to the Hindu concept of the third eye and the number zero. Kher uses resin, everyday objects, and "hybrid creatures" in her mixed media installations which have the bindi as a recurring motif to explore identity, mythology, and gender.

In 15 years since that auction, mixed media art is still in vogue. “The Indian art market is valued at over $205 million with publicly available sales accounting for approximately $150 million and the gallery and dealer segment around $55 million," says Vaishnavi Murali, founder of Eikowa, a Gurugram-based online art gallery. "The mixed media segment is estimated at $6-10 million, with no clear breakdown by artist category. Sales in the Rs 5-20 lakh range comprise over 70 per cent of the mixed media market.”

The Indian art market is expected to grow by more than 20 per cent annually in two or three years, driven by volume and price increases, says Murali.
 

The top 50 Indian artists generated sales worth Rs 252.61 crore in 2024, marking a threefold increase from Rs 82.57 crore in 2021. The numbers are in Hurun India Art List 2024 report which said the growth is driven by high-net-worth individuals and upper-middle class. Art has become a preferred asset for wealth diversification and value creation. 

Online auctions by platforms like Saffronart and AstaGuru have widened accessibility. As much as 60 per cent of Saffronart's sales in 2022 came from online auctions . 

“Mixed media is one of the most enjoyable art forms because it isn't confined to a single medium or technique. It allows for limitless creativity, and I feel it's come to life even more in recent times," according to Aashna Khurana, an artist and designer who lives in Delhi.

"Personally, I'm a big fan of photography and scrapbooking, and working with mixed media encourages you to push boundaries and explore new ways to express yourself. It's like transforming a 2D into 3D. I've experimented with resin art, combining painting and stones, and the possibilities in this art form truly feel endless,” she says. 

Art is more democratic than ever, says Uday Jain, director of Dhoomimal Gallery in New Delhi. “Textile, fabric, installations, digital art, graphics and of course traditional mediums like oil, acrylic, watercolor on canvas or paper all co-exist in the art space. People are accepting of all mediums and some that were forms that were considered craft are also now part of the mainstream visual art scene.”

'Crystal Cities' by artist Jagannath Panda explores urbanisation and dislocation and social and economic injustice. My art questions how livable our cities are, says Panda. “I have tried to bring out the dichotomy of the two worlds- the futuristic and the idealistic.” The materials Panda uses for his art are sourced are those used in home décor and interior design. A set of paintings comprise house plans with optical diagrams crisscrossing the interiors, and images of collectible items and souvenirs that lie scattered and disconnected. 

Jogen Chowdhury combines ink, wash, and collage in his works. Anjolie Ela Menon is known for her evocative mixed media pieces that often explore themes of love and spirituality. Subodh Gupta’s large-scale works use everyday objects like utensils to create statements about consumerism and migration. His style combines stainless steel, paint, and other everyday materials.

Jitish Kallat is known for his exploration of Mumbai's urban landscape, often using mixed media such as photography, paint, and installation. He blends different materials to comment on themes like time, history, and cosmology. Some other prominent mixed media artists include Vinod Daroz, Tapas Biswas, Sobha Broota, Bharti Kher, Shilpa Gupta, and Reena Kallat.

What is the kind of art one should generally put at home? “Mixed media art offers a rich, layered appearance that engages viewers on multiple levels. However, the use of diverse materials can sometimes make preservation a challenge, as different media may age or react differently over time. Additionally, because of its experimental nature, the value of mixed media can be less predictable than traditional art forms,” says Mayank Trivedi, an art collector who lives in Delhi.

For a chart on mixed art market click here.