Taking art out of the boardroom: CIMA's Mela brings modestly-priced art

When it comes to collectors and canvas, it is always the million-dollar painting that grabs attention amidst a flurry of showmanship during exhibitions executed over flutes of champagne and caviar blinis.  In recent times such events have centered around works by VS Gaitonde, S Raza and FN Souza. This is why perhaps the CIMA Art Gallery's affordable Art Mela, which is being held from 12-15 April at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi, is a contrarian bet. "Art isn't only for the rich and the famous to exhibit in their board-rooms and palatial homes," says the art gallery's founder Rakhi Sarkar." It's for anyone who has an eye for beauty and while that may sound cliched the truth is that both collectors and artists alike have to begin somewhere so this is what it's about –– giving both artists and new buyers a start." 

The fair is in its second edition and takes inspiration from the Nandan Mela, which was first conceived in 1973 as a way to raise funds for students as well as commemorate the birthday of artist Nandalal Bose who shaped Santiniketan University. Last year it showcased around 1,000 art pieces by 65 artists. This year features around 1,700 pieces by 85 artists of which half are new artists. Sarkar says the plan is to draw both first-time buyers and regular ones and display work by recognized as well as emerging names. The cross-selling technique is unique to CIMA, as most galleries focus on big names and profit margins. The Art Mela will price pieces from as low as Rs 3,000 and go as high as Rs 75,000 excluding taxes, which positions its offerings to professionals and millennials under the ages of 35. 

Keeping the cash register ringing at an art fair is never easy but the initiative offers support to more than just budding collectors. "Its a laudable effort to run an affordable art auction because it involves as much preparation and cost as if the works were priced as expensive pieces, not to mention that it also provides a solid platform for artists who have none available for them," says Vikram Sethi, owner of auction house AstaGuru. 

 Artist Paresh Maity says that an affordable art fair brings in a range of consumers. "It doesn't matter if it is an elephant or a mosquito, it's about the joy that work brings," Maity says, adding that some of his own work in the past has been post-card sizes and sold for as little as Rs 10,000. His point is that size, or in this case, price doesn't matter for the collector, what does matter is access. 

Delhi-based collector Adarsh Saran who has been buying art for over four decades says one never knows when artists will go on to  become "multi-baggers" in the future, as he recounts how in the early 1990s a now deceased and very famous Indian artist would trade a painting a week in exchange for board and lodging at a hotel in England.  The hotel-owner who said he had amassed 230 paintings actually offered Saran the entire lot for around three thousand pounds which Saran says he regrettably passed on. The artist in question?  It was Souza, who set a world record in 2008 by selling Birth, made in 1955 for $ 2.5 million making it the most expensive Indian painting ever sold. Saran goes on to say that platforms such as the Art Mela retain a purist sentiment. "Collecting should also be possible just for the sake of collecting and not because of the so-called aspirational moves of the so-called rich because it is an investment tool, goes with a certain room's decor or because it's the name that is trending and is a conversation piece." He says in the 1960s in markets like Kolkata, collections were limited to sales from dealers and on occasion flea market events, and a few operating auction houses who hawked artwork from departing Europeans and collections of defunct maharajas.

Sarkar says there's nothing she'd like better than to take the Mela to Bengaluru, Chennai and then Mumbai. For now, art enthusiasts in Delhi from all walks will have an opportunity to meet the unknown.