If we look at the history of art, we find that in the struggle for primary between the abstract and the figurative, there are times when the former comes to the fore. These are times when the symbols and images of an old world are found wanting and face rejection, but the new are yet to emerge. This state of affairs is rather like the one we face today.

A work by Sohan Qadri–vegetable inks on hand made paper

At such times, art strips itself of references and offers a non-representational alternative that is the ultimate truth art expresses: the relation of colour, form and texture in two dimensional space, or abstract sculptures and installations that include volume and motion as well, in three dimensional space.

This appears to be happening now. Many more abstract artists are exhibiting their work.

This is evident even in Delhi, which is largely a market for figurative art. Recently Sohan Quadri, an abstract painter who took up the quest of the Bindu in the 1970s, has exhibited works at the Kumar gallery, where he goes beyond symbols to create signs which allow one to think along lines one may not have thought before. Quadri, an abstract artist who has recently shown in New York and lives in Denmark, is definitely one of the more original abstractionists we have.

Others are Paris-based Vishwanathan and SH Raza; US-based Krishna Reddy and Anil Revri; Mumbai-based Prabhakar Kolte, Sunil Gawde and Laxman Sreshta. In Delhi, two of our leading abstract artists, the contemplative Shobha Broota and the colourful Gopi Gajwani are having major shows at the Sridharani Gallery and the India Habitat Centre respectively.

Among the younger abstractionists, we have Jenson Anto (who showed recently) and Nupur Kundu who will be exhibiting soon.

Even provisional cities like Jaipur, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Lucknow have their serious abstractionists. Chennai has perhaps the best of our abstract sculptors, Valsan Kolleri. So there is no dearth of abstract artists to choose from in India. Apart from these, we have original abstract artists like China-trained Vineet Kumar and Paris-trained Bhagwan Chavan.

What of the global demand for contemporary abstract Indian art? If we look at the sales of that towering abstractionist of contemporary Indian art, VS Gaitonde, we can see from Christie?s autumn sales of 2000 to 2002, that an increasing number of his works was included each year. One in 2000, two in 2001 and five in 2003.

In 2000, the work of his that was expected to fetch $18,000 at most fetched no less than $30,550 (Rs 14.6 lakh). In 2001, the two works sold above the highest expected price for them $20,000 and $18,000 at $37,600 (Rs 18 lakh) and $52,075 (Rs 24.9 lakh) respectively.

Clearly, it was this well above expectation bidding that resulted in the five works that came up for sale in 2002; but there was only one oil on canvas among them, comparable to the earlier sales. And the highest price expected for it had been hiked up to $60,000. And it did not disappoint. It went for no less than $65,725 (Rs 31.5 lakh).

On average, the price of a work of VS Gaitonde has doubled since 2000. This confirms our view that the present uncertain times give a boost to non-representational art that carries the mind along new lines of thinking.

I have chosen to illustrate my view of the shift of the market towards good non-representational art by using the example of V.S. Gaitonde as he was a part of the Mumbai group, and one who never left India, rather like MF Husain.

He has a special importance in the history of our contemporary art as well. So the evolution of the price structure of his art is a good reflection of that of investible non-representational art.

But the investor must choose non-representational art carefully. It must be non-representational in the true sense of the word and not an expressionist landscape. It must be an original creation of something never created before.

Originality and the distinct freedom from the symbolic counts for a lot in choosing such art to invest in. Blown-up religious symbols with virtual chants scrawled all over the canvas are not non-representational art either.

Secondly, the artists must have a sound training in art. The works have to be painterly or well-sculpted. A sound sense of colour, form, technique, surface texture and a capacity to realise the original are essential.

If these are lacking, then merely buying works of artists incompetent to produce figurative ones will not do. Gajwani is a cartoonist with very strong drawing and same goes for artists like Broota, Anto, Kundu and the others mentioned above.

Without being capable to directing the use of colour, form and texture as an accomplished specialist, accidental abstract art is only a curiosity, like the art of chimpanzees, gorillas and elephants that zoos sometimes indulge in as a gimmick. It is not worth investing in. With this caveat in mind, the investor can go ahead and invest in abstract art. It will pay for some time to come. And the best will persevere.

The investor has a choice of many types of this art. It can either be an explorating of new relations of colour, form or texture in their most original coming together. It can be new road-signs to think with. And it can be traces of movement or can involve volume and movement as well. The investor must see which of these relate to our times most closely and offer the most engrossing solutions. Such works are worth buying and not any abstracts.