CALCUTTA, India, Sept. 29 (UPI) -- Indian art is going places; literally.
From Singapore to Honk Kong, London, and Germany via the Middle-East to New York, contemporary Indian art is increasingly painting itself in global hues, while its rising demand is fetching record prices for sellers.
And cashing on the new-found global awareness for this genre of art are famed auctioneers like Sotheby's and Christie's, including frontline Indian auctioneer like the Bombay-based Saffronart, which are expanding their canvas of Indian art by setting up shops and holding multiple auctions every year with higher lots in each.
For instance in 1996 there was just one auction of Indian art for the global art mart that fetched about $800,000. By end of 2004, the number of auctions, according to art market sources, is set to climb to 12 that could fetch a total revenue "scaling $11 million"; that's nearly a 14-time jump.
But most importantly Indian art has started fetching record prices. At the March auction this year of Sotheby's for instance, held in New York, a painting called "Mystic Repast" by Francis Newton Souza, whom United Kingdom's newspaper, The Guardian, termed as "India's most important, and famous, modern artist," fetched the painter's highest ever auction price. The painting was sold for $130,000 ($153,600 including buyer's premium) which is a world record figure of the artist's works in any auction, said Sotheby's.
However the best record yet for Indian contemporary is that of a triptych (a set of three paintings hinged together) titled "Celebration" by India's Gujarat-born artist Tyeb Mehta , which fetched $317,500 -- a record for any contemporary Indian piece of art in an auction at the Christie's September 2002 auction in New York. Two months later India's most publicized contemporary artist MF Husian dislodged his friend from this honor when his work was sold to a non resident Indian -- an America-based non resident Indian for Rs. 20 million (about $435,000) the highest price paid so far for an Indian painting, but that's another parameter as it was a private sale and not through an auction.
Auctioneer like Sotheby's and Christies are also outstripping pre-sale estimates. In the recently concluded September auction, Sotheby's sale of Indian art fetched over $1.2 million-that exceeded its lower pre-sale estimate by 45 percent -- from sale of 48 paintings out of 61 lots on offer. Two years back in its annual Indian art auction it fielded 34 paintings. "The average sale price per lot has also shot past the earlier auction in March," said Sotheby's sources according to whom, while the March auction had seen an average price of $18,600, the September auction has found this level leaping to $25,700.
Christie's is pulling up record-breaking prices too. Its September auctions, which sold 62 of the 72 works that went under hammer, grossed $2.4 million, surpassing its record of $1.85 million achieved in September last year.
Undoubtedly, "Indian contemporary art is emerging as the fastest growing category in Asian art," says Anuradha Mazumdar of Sotheby's, adding that this has triggered the increased awareness of Indian artists. "Over the last few years we have had more and more galleries in New York and around the world displaying contemporary Indian art."
Reports suggest that about 5 galleries dealing in Indian contemporary paintings have come up in New York alone in recent times and around 3 to 4 are spread in cities like London and Singapore. Each of these outfits churns out yearly sales between $1 million and $2.5 million.
Moreover, Indian art houses have also started foraying into the international markets. Saffronart for instance is setting up a shop in New York soon, which would be its first solo venture offshore that plans to display the offerings of New York-based non resident Indians and American collectors before they are brought under the hammer.
Artists whose works are most in demand are Tyeb Mehta, Ram Kumar, MF Hussain, Bikash Bhattacharjee, Ganesh Pyne, FN Souza, Akbar Padamsee, J Swaminathan, B Prabha and Anjolie Ela Menon, Jamini Roy, KK Hebbar, NS Bendre and George Keyt. But works of several "2nd line" artists such as Somnath Hore, Ramachandran, Laxma Goud, and Arpita Singh, also get sold due to the "excellent opportunities" they offer sometimes at prices "far cheaper" than the going rate, add sources. Among these, the progressive who form the upper crust of contemporary art embrace names like Husian, Souza, Gaitonde, Raza, Padamse and Tyeb Mehta.
So, what is making Indian contemporary art suddenly so attractive globally?
To a large extent the reason is strategic. Indians as well as international collectors "have found that Indian art good in quality, aesthetic, and available at a reasonable price," says Mazumdar. "This (Indian contemporary art) is a whole new category which is being priced reasonably."
Indeed, vis-à-vis comparable markets in Asia, prices of contemporary Indian art are still low: For instance, the average price of Indian modern paintings still hover around $50,000$ to 70,000 globally (barring Husain's, Mehta's and Souza's that have touched the price bracket of $150,000) while Chinese and Indonesian paintings have already touched average prices of $400,000.
However, perhaps the most important drivers of the rising demand are non-resident Indians. Roughly Indians make up for 80 percent of Indian art's demand out of which non resident Indians constitute 60 percent. According to Bombay-based Vadehra Art Gallery, a consultant to Christie's, the rest -- that is 20 percent- are "non-Indian" buyers, which "is an interesting trend."
Another interesting trend is that with mega deals and savvy marketing strategies Indian artist have also started "adding zing" to India art. Earlier this month, India's hottest living artist, MF Husain startled the Indian art arena by entering into a Rs 1 billion ($22 million) corporate art deal that would involve promotion of 125 painting of a special theme called "Our Planet Called Earth". One of India's medium-sized corporate groups has agreed to buy this series "as an investment", which it would auction out.
Following this landmark deal, at least two more similar deals involving international investors are reportedly in the offing.
Despite the spectacular rise in prices for some artists in the last few years -- like Husain's which has leapfrogged 7 times in past 4 years and Souza, by about 8 times -- investment experts still believe that Indian contemporary art has a long way to go.
"I believe that a key sideshow of the evolution of India as an economic power will be that the prices of Indian contemporary art will rise, and rise sharply over the next decade(s)," said investment expert Jamal Mecklai, adding "Indian contemporary art could be the country's next Infosys."
