Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Indian art market is becoming more mature

A latest news report underlines how contemporary Indian art is in spotlight, both at home and internationally. With confidence surveys portraying a positive picture, it has never looked better, Garima Pant of The Financial Express emphasizes.

The writer paints a rosy scenario for the Indian art market in the backdrop of 2010 when SH Raza's ‘Saurashtra’ sold for a record price at Christie's summer auction and Arpita Singh's mural ‘Wish Dream’ yielded a record price at Saffronart's annual Winter Online Art Auction. Having taken a cautious path to recovery, Indian art got back in the recovery mode last year. The news report underlines how the ripples of the slowdown resulted in a cautious approach towards art and exhibitions in 2010.

According to Pooja Sood, chairperson-coordinator of KHOJ, a little conservative approach marked the last year when it came to exhibitions and concepts. And for industry veterans, the market still remains in an indecisive phase. Art experts opine that though the art market is back on a recovery path after the slowdown, still a small group of leading artists like Souza, Raza, Gaitonde, Husain and Tyeb Mehta that find takers. The trend is quite similar to one seen in 2008, when the economic meltdown pushed art on the back foot. The global fall hit prices of the Indian art by over 40%.

For Sunit Kumar of Kumar Art Gallery in Delhi, it's rather difficult to depict the current state of the art market. He underlines the fact that India is not contributing to even a percent of the art market globally. The country is still very young in terms of both value and volumes. However, the things are changing fast. Collectors and investors aggressive before the downturn have now turned more cautious. They are taking stock of the situation, before committing themselves.

A increasing collaboration between artists and international galleries/ museums only points to the global confidence and recognition of Indian art.

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