Art of the matter

Prices of Indian art have increased by 20-40 per cent in the last two years

Two months ago, Galleria, a Mumbai-based art gallery, opened a branch in Delhi's Vasant Vihar with the sole purpose of bringing Mumbai artists closer to the Capital's art collectors.

Meanwhile, two Delhi-based galleries "" Nature Morte and Palette "" also moved into new premises. Simply put, more space means more works on show which translates into more business. "Whether or not India is shining in other respects, it's definitely shining in art," says Renu Modi of Delhi's Gallery Espace.

Agrees Shirin Gandhi of Mumbai-based Chemould art gallery, which promoted artists like Jitish Kallat and Atul and Anju Dodiya, "People's interest in art has definitely grown and the market is becoming bigger."

Gandhi believes that Delhi is an expansive market with most people having larger homes and more wall space, "though this is not a definitive reason why one should buy art," she adds.

Clearly, with the rise in disposal incomes, a work of art at home is a must-have to reflect one's social status. Interestingly, the Indian art boom is not confined to the country. Galleries are taking art exhibitions abroad to cater to the growing non-resident Indian collectors' market.

And the shows are not doing just the routine UK and US rounds. Art galleries such as Pundole, Galleria and Saffronart, an online auction house, in Mumbai, Gallery Espace in Delhi, Gallery 88 in Kolkata and Sharan Apparao in Chennai, are looking at centres such as Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur.

"In the art business, we're talking about the kind of returns which are not possible even in the stocks markets. Art prices have gone up by almost 20-40 per cent in the past two years," says Modi. That is not all.

The price hike has been across the board "" among old and new artists. The artists who are fetching better prices are not just the Indian masters like S H Raza, F N Souza, Tyeb Mehta, Bhupen Khakar, Gulam Mohammed Sheikh and HS Broota. Artists such as Surendran Nair, Atul Dodiya, Shibu Natesan, Jitish Kallat and GR Iranna are emerging as hot properties.

A quick glance at the movement in art prices indicates that the prices have consistently soared. A 5X5 work of Seema Guraiya, which sold for 45,000 two years ago, now fetches Rs 60,000. A work of Shibu Natesan, from the Man & Ostrich series fetched Rs 60,000 one-and-a-half-year ago.

Today the same work is not priced less than Rs 1.5 lakh. Similarly, Anju Dodiya's market price for a 20 by 30 ft paper work was Rs 45,000. Today she commands a price of Rs 1 lakh, a cool 40 per cent jump.

According to Rohit Gandhi, promoter of the Palette Art Gallery, the price rise in the art mart is mainly due to activities in the resale market.

Last month, Palette, which Gandhi jointly runs with Rahul Khanna, managed to sell 99 per cent of its show within a fortnight, including Subodh Gupta's work 'Round the Corner' which went for Rs 3 lakh. "There has also been increased awareness among buyers who do their homework. The trend shows that there is less demand for decorative arts," he says

In a market where most transactions take place in cash, it is difficult to gauge the size of the art business. Gallery owners estimate the art market to be around Rs 600 crore.

Auctioneer Neville Tuli admits that though there has been an escalation in the art prices, there is lack of transparency in determining the value of an art work. He says out of 10, 000 artists, only about a 1,000 make it big. "Also, very few works actually sell within 10 to 14 days," he adds.

With the action in the art market heating up, Galleria's Ritu Prakash and Ano Dula's main objective is to promote artists from Kerala, Gujarat and Mumbai in Delhi. "Delhi is exposed to the Bengal school but little else," says Dola.

"We decided to open here because we kept getting calls from people on what's not available in Delhi. Everyone from NRIs, yuppies to individual investors are buying art," she concludes.