New Delhi, Feb 4
The global economic slowdown
did restrict "impulsive buyers" from splurging at the four-day India Art
Fair (IAF) but it didn't defuse the enthusiasm of the national and
international galleries from participating in the annual event, despite
not generating enough sales. For the majority, participation is a way of
educating people in contemporary arts and building a pool of future
collectors.
The seventh edition of the IAF concluded Sunday at
which about 3,500 artworks from 85 galleries in a total of 90 booths
were exhibited at the spacious NSIC Grounds, Okhla. And this time, the
organisers had focussed on employing a rich diversity of mediums,
different avenues like curatorial walks and art talks to educate the
people on the subject itself.
Continua, which has galleries in
Italy, France and China, has been participating at the IAF for the past
four years, and not every time does it go back with good sales report.
Nevertheless, this hasn't deterred it from coming come back every year.
"Sales
do matter... but they are not everything. We are here to promote
culture and show the people what could possibly be art and where the
global art is heading to," gallery director Mylene Ferrand told IANS.
"We
have many conceptual art works and we know that they will not sell
here. But they would be noticed and people would see a different kind of
art. This is will
help us in building a base for future collectors," she added.
The
Indian art market is slowly regaining its momentum after facing a deep
slump post-recession. According to London-based independent art market
researcher ArtTactic, "The Indian art market's confidence indicator rose
a slight six percent from the last reading in May 2014, now standing at
79 percent and is the highest reading since November 2007."
This
renewed energy in the art market does attract international galleries
to test new waters in India which is still not a lucrative market like
China.
Bert-van Zetten, director of Spain's del Villa Arte
galleries, calls India a good market for the kind of art they sell.
Sales were "excellent" last year and many queries have already been
registered in their log book for this year.
"Fairs like these
help the audience here to look from artworks beyond India. This
awareness is extremely important because it will educate them about
different forms of art. One just needs to be a bit persistent to
encourage their buying," Zetten told IANS.
Similarly,
Israel-based Bruno Art Group's artworks have resonated with the taste of
Indian audience, who seemed to have loved the pop-flush of their
objects.
"Art has to have a universal appeal and this is the philosophy that drives us," owner and CEO Motti Abramovitz told IANS.
"It is also important to offer best prices that are genuinely saleable," he added.
While
these international galleries are waiting patiently to seek genuine
transactions from the audience, many gallerists feel the absence of "art
education" has made it a flat ground.
"The best way I can
describe the Indian art market is that it is flat. People don't
understand contemporary art. When someone gets wealthy, only then they
start buying art. So that sensibility and vision are missing among the
people," Luciano Donatini, owner of Italy-based MK Search Art, told
IANS.
"People have to change their mindsets and start investing
in contemporary art because someone they are buying today would be a
star tomorrow. There definitely is a huge market in India, but no
education," he added.
To fill this gap is why the Delhi Art
Gallery took a brave move by capturing the development of Indian modern
art from the 19th century at the fair to educate the people about how
this genre developed in the country and how various prominent artists
contributed to the making of Indian art history.
"It was
important to chronicle this journey because art is not taught in schools
in India and hence people don't know how to appreciate art," Kishore
Singh, head,
publications and exhibitions, Delhi Arts Gallery, told IANS.
"Even
people who know about art, don't know about major developments. So, in
the absence of state patronage, private institutions have to do their
bit to support art," he added.
On the global stage, especially in
the South Asian region, the India Art Fair has left an impressive
imprint and the credit should go to the organisers for initiating
engagements that would revitalise India's lost interest in cultural
activities.
"Everybody wants to sell their art, but what we are
trying now is to create a space for younger buyers. We want to encourage
people buying out of income and not wealth," Neha Kirpal, director and
founder, India Art Fair, told IANS.
"And this is the reason why
this time there was a focussed approach to invite corporates and
investors to the fair to inculcate the habit of buying among them and
help them connect with the artists fraternity," she added.
This
year, the presence of galleries from Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan
reaffirmed Kirpal's efforts of placing Indian art on the global map and
seeking genuine engagements to promote art in India's diverse ecosystem.
(Shilpa Raina can be contacted at [email protected])
