Growing demand for Indian works in China

According to Christie’s senior specialist in South Asian modern and contemporary art in London, Yamini Mehta, as quoted in a recent NYT article, East Asian collectors have continued to pay record auction prices for contemporary Indian artists such as T.V. Santosh, Subodh Gupta, N.S. Harsha and Thukral and Tagra.

In fact, at their Hong Kong sales of Asian contemporary art held early this year, the leading Indian financial daily Business Standard reported that artist T. V. Santhosh’s ‘Hundred Square Feet of Curses’ was bought by a Chinese collector for a whopping for $95,914. The work, as is known, refers to the aftermath of the blood-filled riots that took place in the state of Gujarat in 2002. Another collector reportedly bought a creation for $111,467 by established artist Jitish Kallat.

Analyzing the trend in the context of a recent museum show of Indian art in Shanghai, Neville Tuli, chairman of Osian’s (one of the leading auction houses in India) remarked in the NYT article, “Two of the so-called emerging super powers of the world are just not engaging in enough dialogue.” But things are changing…

Arario Beijing is the first commercial gallery in the country to host a major group show of contemporary Indian art, entitled ‘Hungry God’ in 2006. According to the gallery, it had noticed growing demand for Indian works from clients in mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong in the wake of that show.

During the show it managed to sale three works for a total of $200,000 to Beijing collectors, whereasa in 2007-08, it sold not less than 30 works to Chinese buyers worth $2.5 million in three solos for artists Jitish Kallat, Subodh Gupta and Nalini Malani. This tells the story itself…

For Chinese collectors, contemporary Indian art perhaps is of significance because of the comparable circumstances artists from both the countries face today, like cultural and aesthetic history coupled with the fast modernization, leading to an intense search for a distinct artistic identity and vision within that realm.