The big picture

Will the spurt of gallery launches in Delhi help the Indian art market?

Is the art business in the capital booming? Going by the number of art galleries that have sprouted across the city in recent months, it certainly seems so.

Last month, interior designer Biku Tandon opened a gallery called Anayas in Hauz Khas village, the hub of Delhi's art scene that boasts of nearly a dozen galleries.

Bobby Kohli, owner of Vision in the city's posh Greater Kailash, is opening another gallery "" Gallery 51 "" in the same area. Golf Links also got its second gallery last month. The new art joint is promoted by a stock broker. Earlier this year, fashion designer Rohit Gandhi started Palette in the area.

If you thought that's the end of the burgeoning gallery list, sample some more. Arun Vadehra, consultant to Christie's and owner of the well-known Vadehra Art Gallery is opening a new gallery for "younger artists".

Even east Delhi got its own art joint in the form of Greenmark Art Gallery which opened on September 12 with a show of 20 national awardees. A couple of months back Tripat Kalra, a homemaker and a collector, converted the basement of her New Friend's Colony home into an art gallery "" Nvya.

Interestingly, the first-time art gallery entrepreneurs are targeting different niches. "I intend to promote both the emerging as well as the established artists," declares Kalra. Her debut exhibition offered a wood installation by sculptor Rajesh Kumar Sharma.

Anayas, on the other hand, launched with a show that featured a number of young artists. "Since most other galleries are into big names, I want to focus on affordable art," says Tandon, who is married into the business family that runs the city's famous Wenger's confectionery.

By keeping the prices below Rs 66,000, Tandon feels she is building a clientele of younger buyers who are just getting into collecting art.

However, All Arts that opened in Hauz Khaz seven months ago, wants to concentrate on antique calendar art. Deepak Jain, whose family has been dealing in antique books for the last two decades, says he took to the art business purely on the basis of demand from walk-in customers.

"People walked into the shop looking for old political posters produced by obscure 19th century presses. With book jackets and antique books being sold at the auctions, there is a renewed interest in this kind of material," he adds.

But what explains this sudden explosion in art galleries? "Interest in art is fashionable these days," says Virendra Kumar Jain of Kumar Art Gallery.

"Most of the galleries are being set up by individuals belonging to rich families and art is seen as an interesting social activity," adds an art expert.

Though gallery owners refuse to share information on investments, a collector says it requires a base of Rs 50 lakh to start a reasonable collection of old masters.

However, besides being fashionable, the art business is drawing people as the market is growing. In 1997, the total Indian art market was said to be around Rs 6 crore. Today it is estimated to be between Rs 175 crore and Rs 200 crore.

Though many new galleries plan to promote younger artists, they're aware that only the bluechip artists bring in the money.

Consequently, the young gallerists admit that they can arrange for works of artists such as S H Raza, Tyeb Mehta and M F Husain, which is usually through other galleries or private collectors. Usually, gallery-to-gallery secondary sales work on a 15 per cent shared commission and most sales happen outside the public eye.

"The demand for a well-known brand like Souza is such that you get it in the morning and it is sold out the same evening. This is where most galleries can actually can make their money," says Sanjay Sachdeva of Domus Art Gallery.

But can the art mart accommodate so many players? Says Kumar Art Gallery's Jain: "There is room for everybody. Most of the art shops will focus on the decorative and the utilitarian to cater to popular tastes." Tandon expects a 50 per cent growth in business in the first year of operations.

Others, however, maintain that although new galleries are opening up every other day, an equal number of them are pulling down the shutters. Greenmark, for instance, has not been too lucky with its first exhibition.

Even though it extended the show, it received only a couple of inquiries from a Korean buyer. "Our gallery is new and it takes time to build a name," says

Neeraj Nigam a founder-member of Greenmark.