Mega-buck art
Indian artists are fetching big money in the international market. Nonika Singh checks out if these sky-high prices are just a flash in the pan

Jitish Kallat’s Baggage Claim is part of the exhibition Indian Highway, currently on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Lyon

Dinesh Vazirnai, CEO of SaffronArt, says there is a strong demand for works of highest quality. Not surprisingly, at least 80 per cent of the 100 modern Indian contemporary works were sold for Rs 30 crore last year. An F. N. Souza painting fetched Rs 1.4 crore, a S. H. Raza’s work Rs 1.5 crore and an M. F. Husain piece of art Rs 1.2 crore.

So, is the Indian art standing on a new threshold, all set to take a leap, hitherto unheard of? Peter Nagy, owner of New Delhi-based gallery Nature Morte, who has given to the art world significant signatures like Subodh Gupta and Dayanita Singh, feels, "There is a need to put things in a proper perspective. We must not get carried away by a couple of international auction prices, which do not reflect the big picture."

Peeved with the media’s obsessive fixation with astronomical price tags, he quips, "These are exceptions, not the norm. There are thousands of artists still looking for gallery space. Don’t forget that since 2008, there has been a big slump." Besides, Nagy feels quite strongly that auction prices are not the bottomline and certainly not an acid test for good art. He reasons, "Good art, by its very nature, shall invariably be outside the market."

Arpita Singh’s mammoth mural, The Wish Dream, fetched Rs 9.6 crore

Bharti Kher, who and her husband Subodh Gupta, often referred to as power art couple, may continue to outdo each other in the auction world. But when it comes to prices, even Kher feels that there is a need to look beyond the moolah at the art and the artist’s intrinsic worth. Perhaps, amid the media hype about the price, the artistic merit of her iconic sculpture, The Skin `85,that Nagy calls "her most important work," took a backseat.

But are these skyrocketing prices much ado about nothing? Tempting though it may be to dismiss these pressure-cooker prices as just a flash-in-the-pan phenomenon, the truth is more complex. Indeed, on the one hand, there is a need to remember that the sky-high auction prices have little bearing on an artist’s actual market value. But on the other hand, feels Sunaina Anand, director of New Delhi-based gallery, Art Alive, these prices are a barometer of the growing confidence in the art market. Globally, she feels, Indian artists are being increasingly recognised and their art is being respected. Indeed, what else can explain exhibitions like Indian Highway? Curated by Julia Peyton-Jones and Hans Ulrich Obrist, directors, Serpentine Gallery, and Gunnar B. Kvaran, director, Astrup Fearnley Museum, the touring exhibition has only grown bigger since its first took off in 2008. Part IV of this exhibition that includes 30 Indian artists is currently on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Lyon. In 2009, Saatchi organised an exhibition, The Empire Strikes Back, at Saatchi Gallery that was dominated by contemporary Indian names, besides promising artists from Pakistan.

The young artist duo of Jiten Thukral and Sumir Tagra concur that the new-wave artists, who have given birth to fresh flavour and aesthetics, have made the Indian art more visible globally. Anand, however, feels that it is unfair to credit just half-a-dozen artists for the Indian presence on the global stage. She says, "Indian art, like the country, is diverse and it’s this diversity that is being accepted."

Paresh Maity, who works in conventional mediums, was invited by the Culture Department of Chicago to put up a show

Obrist, too, agrees that the Indian art is not about one generation of artists. Not surprising, Indian Highway included the legendary M. F. Husain too, along with many young artists. If masters like Raza, Souza and Husain have always created the buzz, today it is the younger artists, who continue to make a mark. So, while you have Pooja Iranna’s video selected for The Celeste Prize 2010, Mithu Sen’s mixed media watercolour exhibition generates excitement at Berlin. If Jitish Kallat exhibited at Chicago, Paresh Maity, who works in conventional mediums, was invited by the Culture Department of Chicago to put up a show. Besides, Indian artists like Kher and Jagannath Panda are part of many group shows where they are being seen as artists working in interesting mediums minus the baggage of their nationality.

In short, there is a movement that signals the strong presence of the Indian art internationally. But there is no one kind of art that is making waves but different genres. Indeed, many international galleries are representing Indian artists from Sakshi Gupta to Sudarshan Shetty to Vivek Sharma. So these are quite exciting times for both the Indian art and artists. How much of it will translate into real money and how many of these artists will prove to be a blue-chip investment is hard to pinpoint. Considering the fact that there are groups like Raqs media collective, who are exhibiting all over Europe all the time, yet these groups do not find enough buyers in India. Then there are those who are very successful on home turf but do not figure anywhere internationally.

Bharti Kher’s trademark bindi sculpture, The Skin Speaks a Language Not its Own, was auctioned for a whopping Rs 6.9 crore

The year 2010 anyway, feels Anand, was a mixed bag where buoyancy gave way to a slowdown to finally arrive at stability. What is heartening, she feels, is that the art market is progressing and moving towards becoming an organised sector. This year ,the private-public partnership that began last year could pave the way for more resilience.

With the third edition of the India Art Summit that evinced keen response both from the participants and viewers, and with more exhibitions like the largest exhibition of the contemporary Indian culture in Europe slated for May at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the tidings are happy.

As for art as investment, experts are not taking names. Masters will be masters. Viren Tanwar, himself an artist who finds international buyers, reminds, "Arpita Singh is no ordinary artist but one with a complete journey behind her. Her work that fetched an exorbitant price is one of exceptional quality." He is only echoing what expert companies like Art Tactic assert; "Only works of high-quality rarity sell well."

Besides the time-tested veterans, younger artists could be the proverbial low-investment-high-return bet. But the unanimous expert view is that one must watch their evolution and finally make one’s own visual connect. They also opine that it’s hard to predict the future. However, they dwell on the need to keep the momentum going. The Indian highway, which is being increasingly represented by younger and cutting-edge artists, is in no mood to stop anyway. Whether they will eventually change the art world as Obrist proclaimed recently, however, remains to be seen.