The Indian art world has been making steady progress in recent years and is slowly establishing itself as an undisputed art category by itself. While our masters Hussain and Souza have long established themselves, contemporary artists like Raza and even emerging artists have been making their presence felt.

For art lovers who wish to scour the art world during the Diwali season, this is an ideal time to look at another side of Indian art. For instance, a pleasant revelation while gallery hopping was the Bajaj art gallery, Mumbai, which is showcasing works of painter RK Sharma. This veteran painter who has had one man shows in many Indian cities and abroad specialises in miniature paintings.

His paintings, which showed some beautiful Rajasthan royalty and Lord Krishna depicted like never before, tells us “miniature paintings are very time consuming to paint and hence in today’s art world, where artists want to churn up more art at a faster pace, this form is often sidelined. This form of painting dates way back to the Mughal era.” Now that’s an ancient form of art and to see it in all its glory even today, could be a treasure for some art lovers. The paintings range from Rs 10,000 to Rs 10 lakh.

The Vadhera art gallery has an exhibition running throughout Diwali by Zakkir Hussain, an Indian contemporary artist hailing from Kerala. These paintings are abstract like many contemporary works and have used multi-media, soft pastels and water colours in a majority of the works. These paintings are being displayed in Delhi.

Moving further west, Jaipur’s Kanchan Art Gallery is exhibiting two artists, Ashok Khant and Natu Mistry. Tribal society and heritage buildings form the themes of these paintings explains Kanchan Tehan, the gallery owner.

The paintings are priced between Rs 35,000-70,000 a piece.

Bodhi art gallery in Mumbai, on the other hand, is showcasing a monograph exhibition of eminent media artist Shilpa Gupta. She has travelled the world over where her works have been shown and appreciated.

Having taken part in many interactive programmes, including Aar-Paar 3, a public art exchange project between India and Pakistan, she feels, “Often, artists like me, who are working in a so called ‘activist’ role – become branded as activist artists.” Her works include pictures, paintings and other media forms via which she portrays her idea of contemporary life and our notions of freedom.

For photography and nature lovers the Piramal Art Gallery at NCPA is showcasing the works of photographer Munesh Kulshreshtha. The exhibition titled Himpressions shows breathtaking pictures of snow-covered mountains, rivers and nature’s raw beauty as seen by him.

While this is a small snapshot of the art world in these lull days of economic uncertainty, the good news is that while our financial windfalls in recent years has contributed to the emerging art market in India, the days of turmoil are yet to dull the art spirit and community.

The brushes are still painting with vigor, vibrant colours still call out to passersby and the art collectors are still as passionate as ever, confirm gallery owners and art enthusiasts across the country. This Diwali, for those who wish to purchase Indian aesthetic pieces or paintings of gods and goddess, they have a variety to choose from, as well as those who wish to purchase something abstract and modern, or just capture nature’s beauty in an image.

These are all options still available to us. While all these artists are making their mark in the Indian art world, for those collectors who wish to start with something more affordable, they should look toward efforts like the art group exhibition by artist Rekha Shivdasani and her students, where the paintings ranged from Rs 5,000-50,000, which was held this weekend in Mumbai. Other affordable art galleries too are sprouting all over the city.

If things continue the way they are, maybe certain places in India can hope to emulate Paris, where every artist can make a living on the talent of his brush alone.