Contemporary Indian Artist faces the Tough year

An intriguing piece of information about the artist Bharti Kher wife of a well-known artist Subodh Gupta illustrates the current drop in investor interest in Indian contemporary art. The most expensive piece of modern Indian art that have been sold in an auction so far this year is “Kher's Train'D To Kill 1”, which she is known for using as a major subject in her works and which went for Rs96 lakh at the ‘Saffronart sale’ on September 21. The overall documented sale of 183 Indian modern artworks this year was Rs12.63 crore, whereas this renowned artist's individual revenue from five pieces in 2013 was Rs12.7 crore. 

The sale of 80 modern pieces by British collector Frank Cohen by Melbourne-based auction house Mossgreen on September 17 was where the lack of faith in Indian contemporary art was most evident. 14 of the 19 Indian artists' pieces that were for sale were not purchased. Subodh Gupta, Thukral & Tagra, Jagannath Panda, L.N. Tallur, and Reena Saini Kallat were the five artists that were able to find purchasers. 

According to Arvind Vijaymohan, CEO of Artery India, an art market advisory and intelligence company, "Works by most of these artists witnessed a sharp price rise following the mid 2000s, fueling a catastrophic fanciful ripple that had been launched by severely flawed art asset managers and (which) would ultimately lead to an extreme slash in pricing." 

According to Gaurav Bhatia, managing director of Sotheby's India, Indian contemporary art has experienced a time of uncertainty due to a lack of institutional support and an artificial price inflation (around ten years ago). He highlighted this in agreement with Vijaymohan. 

While the art market is in the process of self-correcting, the performance of Indian contemporary art on the market in 2017 has been especially subpar, with 22 auctions held by 15 different auction houses, including those of modern Indian art. 333 pieces of art were sold for a combined amount of Rs39.9 crore in 2013, according to Artery India statistics, while 175 were sold for Rs32.9 crore in 2015. Vijaymohan asserts that in 2015, the emphasis was on quality as opposed to this year, when there has been a dearth of excellent artwork available. 

Top five Indian contemporary artwork sold in 2017 

1. Train’D To Kill 1by Bharti Kher 

2. Untitled by Subodh Gupta 

3. Sat Samunder Par (9) by Subodh Gupta 

4. Starry Night after V. G by Bharti Kher 

5. Urban Animal (Horse) by Nataraj Sharma 

Bhatia is optimistic, nevertheless, that the market will rebound. Although still in its infancy, he thinks the market is correcting itself, supported by a more experienced client base. "The younger generation is becoming a big supporter of Indian contemporary art. Institutions, both public and private, are also assisting this growth, he added.