The Indian contemporary art market has proved more than attractive if one looks at the number of Indian artists coming back to India to exhibit, the latest being Balraj Khanna now showing with Arushi Arts in Delhi. Khanna is one of those artists who have enough recognition abroad in the field of literature and art. His novel of 1984, Nation of Fools, is considered one of the best 200 novels in English since 1950. The exhibition of Kalighat Painting and Krishna, the Divine Lover, that he curated are now available in book form. In 1978 he was one of the four leading Indian artists shown at India House. He has exhibited at the Musee d? Art Moderne in Paris in 1982, at the Tokyo Biennale in 1984, and at the Brighton Museum with Juan Miro?s Ubu Roi series in 1992. In 1996, he figured in Sotheby?s auction: 100 years of Indian Art and this year he figured in British Art 1946-2006 at London?s Hayward Gallery. So it is evident that he has had a consistent creative record that is essential to choose an artist to invest in.
The execution of his works is faultless. One can see the granulated surfaces of his canvases blown with sand and the images painted on them with a meticulous hand that reminds one of Juan Miro, with whom he has exhibited in 1992. But he has managed to go beyond the influence of Miro and Paul Klee along a path of dredging images from his Punjab past, One sees the Madari (magician), The Bahrupia (The Mountebank), Nats(acrobats) and a series of images that bring the freshness of the world visited through a Punjabi?s eyes to the viewer. His work is both lyrical and a journey at the same time.
It is to his credit that he has been able to balance the East and West as few have. Khanna has gained recognition beyond what most Indian contemporary artists achieve. And considering the fact that he is selling at around Rs6.10 lakh for a 36?x52? work, like his painting titled Diwali to a maximum of Rs18,06,000 for works like We?ll Face the Future Together, (52?x70?), it is very good investment indeed for an artist who has exhibited with the best in the world.
The investor need not worry too much. The artist?s work is already there in our National Gallery of Modern Art; The Victoria and Albert Museum in London; Ville De Paris, Paris; The Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon; The Ashmolean Museum at Oxord; The De Beers collection in London and the General Motors collection in New York, to name only a few. Here is an artist who has come home after being a success abroad.
It says a lot for the strength and buoyancy of our art market.