Pseudorealist Art emerging as the next important collectible

Pseuorealism as an art genre was introduced into Indian art market only seven years back. Devajyoti Ray, the initiator of this new style has surreptitiously worked these many years outside the regular gallery circuit,  maintaining his unique identity. He had shown in Europe, United States and the middle east and except for a few, all his shows went successful and Ray earned the unique distinction of seeing his prices go up while all other India artists saw stagnation in sales during the past few years.

Artists in the pre-2006 art boom had started aligning themselves with galleries like Bodhi, Sakshi  and Delhi Art Gallery as also Indian galleries abroad like Bose Pascia, Sundaram Tagore,etc. These and many other galleries had developed among themselves a wide network of art-curators, buyers and tied up with other galleries abroad. They  had succeeded in artificially pushing the prices upwards and it is said that prices went up to almost 3oo times in a span of just three years in case of some artists like Subodh Gupta, Bharti Kher, Pareh Maity, Jitish Kallat and Atul Dodia.

Attracted by this sudden rise of art-prices, new investors entered the market. However it was well realized in 2007 itslef that this artificial price rise was not sustainable. But such information was kept secret and galleries made money as long as it was possible. Demand for certain kinds of works increased dramatically and the galleries started mass-producing these works. Nobody knows as how many steel-utensil paintings Subodh Gupta made or how many faces Riyas Komu made. some estimates say there are more than a thousand such paintings available in the market today. Artists also started emulating each other and made similar looking pieces for an expanding market. Reena Kallat and Jitish Kallat’s works became indistinguishable so did the works made by GR Iranna and Rameshwar Broota.

Also during this time most artists started making installations. Simple mannequins painted in acrylic colours was one of the most widely seen installations made by artists of almost all galleries.

Repetition, similar looking works and mass production made the art market look more like a craft market. Such art-works should have never been priced so high. But artists continued to sell them at exorbitant rates. The result is a glut in the market. Today many collectors are not getting back even 30% of the prices that they had once paid for certain artists. According to many recent studies, these artists will probably never reach their pre-boom prices. The art-guides are now advising their clients to sell off their stocks at  20-25% of their buying prices. Intelligent investors are doing exactly that before prices fall further.

The collectors are however equally to be blamed for their misfortune. Greed and mad rush to buy high selling artists led them to ignore rationality. During the boom period there were many artists who were selling individually and their works were available cheap. These artists maintained their individuality, produced very little and as such their works are so few in the market that they will always have a resale value.

Devajyoti Ray is one such artist. Ray’s works were available at about Rs 4000 per square feet in 2005 and increased by about 15% in the next two years. While his works traveled every where, he stayed out of the gallery circuit. Though prominent galleries did display his works, he never worked with them. He retained his identity and produced very little. People who invested in 2005-06, can now reap a profit of about 40% on the invested value. Some of his works reaped double the 2006 value. Recent shows in Europe and Middle East have pushed his prices further upwards.

Ray’s works available in very few numbers. His style is unique and he is also widely credited as the initiator of a new genre : Pseudorealism.  Ray will be exhibiting his works this year end at Mumbai.  It will feature 26 of recent paintings. While other artists are selling off their works at lower prices, Ray’s works will be available at a slightly higher price. This is a welcome trend.

A slow but steady rise in prices is sustainable and always ensures sure (even though conservative) profits for investors. The show will be followed by another one in Dubai where his prices according to independent observers are likely to rise by another 10-12%.