Furture of Art Market in India

A recent interview with Bhavna Kakar in her newly launched art magazine ‘Take On Art’, she had said that in the past few years art market was dominated by art investors but now after recession, the market will be dominated by art collectors. This is a sentiment which is now shared by most artists, art dealers and art houses. And seen from this point of view the recession has not been wholly bad for the Indian art world.

Between 2002 and 2007, the art market had seen the entry of a lot of financiers who would invest money on anything that was to bring in easy and hefty returns in short periods. Along with them entered a host of dubious art dealers with the ability to peddle art works to ignorant clients. These art dealers invested mostly in new artists and then cross traded the art works among themselves thereby raising the prices artificially with each fake sale. In most of these so called sales, no money was ever exchanged but press was fed with wrong information about total sell-outs.

Nobody minded as everybody in the game made real quick money. Only artists and galleries who could not enter the nexus felt sore.

The recession changed all that. Most buyers who had earlier invested in big names are stuck up today with artworks that are not likely to get their previous prices in the next three years.

Here are some of the example. Subodh Gupta who was selling in crores, according to an estimate, was actually demanding an artificially hiked prices. His prices were almost 60% higher than the real worth. In the next three years investing in Subodh Gupta, according to many is simply not worthwhile.

Jitish Kallat’s prices were atleast 50 – 55% above what his galleries were demanding. Jitish’s works are already overcrowding the market. Even collectors who do not sell away works in short run are not likely to buy anymore of Kallat artworks

Riyas Komu’s works which are photographic are producable in mass. His works are there in many galleries. And recently Riyas Komu has entered another aggreement with Yash Birla to supply his artworks to Yash Birla’s new Mumbai gallery. How many works will be supplied by Komu is not known and hence investing Komu may not be beneficial in the future either.

Chintan Upadhyay, Bose Krishnamachari and TV santosh are safer baits even though their prices are also at least 30-40% above their real value.

The year 2009 has seen the changing in buyers’ attitudes. The art collectors are replacing the art investors and among the buyers the tendency is more to buy newer emerging artists.