Reading a catalogue by its cover

Auction houses are no longer putting their biggest draws on their jackets, but those they hope will lead future markets

He has been likened on more than one occasion to David Hockney, one of the most influential British-born artists of the 20th century who made his home in Los Angeles. Hockney's radical relationships and alternate sexuality became as much a talking point as his pop art that was peopled with references to the everyday, to landscapes, and to an overpowering allusion to homosexuality.

Baroda-based Bhupen Khakhar, similarly, painted daily life, his landscape canvases filled with people (this, after all, is India), and his work in, particularly, his later years found expression in an overt expression of sexuality.

But Khakhar, spoken of highly by many of his contemporaries and critics, and considered significant in his lifetime, was also a bit of an untouchable when it came to selling. A radicalism in alternate sexuality made collectors uncomfortable. You could enjoy the work "" perhaps even furtively "" but who would take it home?

September 2007 should change that. Khakhar's "I, Me, My Village" is on the cover of the Christie's catalogue for South Asian modern and contemporary art, estimated at $200,000-250,000. As Indian artists go, that isn't very high. Tyeb Mehta, part of the same auction on September 20 in New York, has been estimated at $750,000-1,250,000, and his "Mahishasura" could clearly have been on the cover.

If he isn't, it's because Yamini Mehta, who is director of modern and contemporary art at Christie's in London, says that the cover can be used to differentiate yourself in the market.

"We need to be different from our competitors," she said at a preview of the works in New Delhi. What it actually means is that the correct placing can help to build, establish or consolidate the market for a significant artist, and Khakhar is as significant as they come. Mehta's "" or Souza's, Raza's, Husain's "" market is already established, so it's time to add excitement to the established firmament.

In an ironic twist, an Atul Dodiya work, which shows Dodiya with his mentor, Khakhar, their backs to viewers, peering at the iconic Rene Magritte work which also has a man peering into a mirror, is on the back cover of the same catalogue.

"This is mind blowing," Dodiya himself has said in an interview for the catalogue. "Three Painters" is priced at $150,000-200,000. Expectations are high that both Khakhar and Dodiya will do much better than their estimates.

If Christie's focus on Khakhar is any indication that our homegrown art factories will turn their buyers' collective gaze on Khakhar sooner rather than later, Saffronart's online auction of contemporaries ended September 6 that fetched Rs 14.5 crore and showed the first signs of revival in a market that had plateaued briefly, already had Atul Dodiya on its front cover and Subodh Gupta on the back.

Dodiya's "Chikoo Drawing", estimated at Rs 60-80 lakh, fetched Rs 1.27 crore at the auction, while Gupta, estimated at Rs 40-50 lakh, fetched Rs 1 crore. Its previous contemporary auction in March featured a sculpture by Ravinder Reddy that was estimated at Rs 80-90 lakh, though it ended up fetching almost Rs 1.5 crore on the hammer.

Analysts say the market, already aware of the works of senior artists, is turning towards those who are well established but may not have the same recognition. Any acknowledgement ends up in creating a fresh demand for their works, and if Khakhar pulls in much higher than his estimate at Christie's, you can be sure his favourite student, Dodiya, has already been there, done that.