Facets that make Indian art and artists stand apart

Inquisitive artists of today’s restless, resurgent India produce works that revolve around the current situation and its impact on the common people – a byproduct of skewed progress – to pose several pertinent questions like:

• How does the globalized economy and market of the new millennium influence the socio-political spheres?
• How does it touch the common people’s life? What does the world expect from India as market and a thought leader as the largest democracy apart from US and China?
• Can the conflicts between consumerism and a streak of spirituality affect our tussle between culturally established mindset and current views?

Keeping a close eye on the country’s rich past and an informed view to the promising future, the new-generation artists are proactively responding to the changes in an effort to examine the implications of incessant churning - a facet, which has brought contemporary Indian art into international spotlight. Through diverse forms of expression and insightful perspectives they want to know what it means to live, thrive or survive in present-day India, undergoing a dramatic socio-political engineering along with economic transformation.

Alongside the evolving art-scape, a new class of investors and collectors is continually evolving. Analyzing the scenario, writer Margherita Stancati had mentioned in The Wall Street Journal: “As India’s economy is growing, so is the portion of the population that can afford to invest in art. This means many buyers are actually new to the art market. As a result, the profile of collectors is changing too.” The process is almost two decades old, now…

Broadly speaking, though investor confidence in the art market is still a bit circumspect, the interest has certainly returned. Collectors worldwide are fervently participating in a series of Indian art auctions, making them hugely successful, to establish its global potential. They are treating the major sales as an opportunity to acquire some of the very best contemporary and classic works on offer, set to appreciate in the future.