The closure of the Art Today Gallery in Delhi?s prime property area, Connaught Place, was meant to mark the end of an era. Noted artist MF Husain appears to have been coaxed into making a statement that the days of galleries were over and the age of art sales on the websites had begun. They all came for cocktails, watched a huge screen with incandescent pictures glowing on it and sadly shook their heads, saying: ?No, this won?t, replace galleries?.
To understand why galleries must survive one has to look closely at the scenario of the contemporary art market and how it developed in India. It began with artists selling out of studios, seeking commissions from patrons, or managing a sale or two from exhibitions. Any art that was displayed for sale was at framers? shops or those that sold colours or art paper. Both Chemould of Mumbai and Dhoomimals of Delhi began this way. There were public exhibiting spaces. But generally, artists were given these or were expected to rent them out, while they were expected to find their own buyers and manage their sales themselves. There was nothing like a market and professionalism was almost non-existent.
This came along with the art impressions like Virendra Kumar, Dadi Pundole, Shammi Mendiratta and Kekoo Ghandi who not only evolved a clientele that relied on them but backed artists as punters do. Mr Kumar even paid young artists a monthly retainer to allow them to paint professionally without having to worry about how to sell their works.
Art sales are not organised like sales of mass produced goods or even designer goods. That is why the recession that has affected our industry and mass-produced consumer goods will not affect our art market. Good art is seldom overproduced. The demand for it is always more than the supply. This is even more correct for contemporary art as it is avant-garde. As such, it cannot be found everywhere at the same time like video games. That is why it is good investment. But not every investor is equipped to recognise a good investment. That requires professional expertise. The gallery owner has the job of accessing good contemporary art, either getting a curator or critic with a vision to mount shows, or actually doing the job himself or herself, and then attracting buyers with an imaginatively organised collective event, the opening. The Web can never take the place of the gallery where an interaction is evolved between artists, critics, collectors and buyers within the parameters created by the gallery owner. The nature of this interaction determines the sales.
Then why do some galleries shy away from such events? The reason is obvious. They do not know how to plan them properly. The opening must have good body of work that has plenty of food for thought in it. Quickly produced art lacks depth, while art by lesser-known artists who copy some original artist mindlessly is hardly better than fraud or only good raw material for a scandal. Gallery owners, who are not equipped to cope with good exhibitions, would do better to shut down anyway. Apart from the gallery owner?s vision, the presence of two or three critics with different opinions and a few collectors known to have their own minds is essential for a good opening. Differences of opinion, style and expression characterise our contemporary art as probably never before in history. Only a gallery opening can air them and harmonise them in a short period of time. The website can never do that. Also, an intelligent gallery owner takes the trouble to present shows differently, as Atul Sinha?s exhibitions at Shobha Bhatia?s Galerie Ganesha, and Max Mueller Bhawan in Delhi and Vatsal Poddar?s Gallery Zen in Bangalore were. The presentation had the professional touch of designer Atul Johri behind them. Much more professionalism is needed in presenting works of art and it is the lack of this that has rendered most openings by run-of-the-mill galleries boring and has given some people the wrong idea that the days of the galleries are over.
The opposite is true. Everyday new galleries are opening and even making their mark on the art scene. The Ashas gallery in Nizamuddin has held a very interesting show of Pramila Ghosh?s drawings and has now curated a show of different artists at Pragati Maidan. The former was done in a salon atmosphere and the latter as part of a public exhibition, reflecting considerable flexibility. Sunaina Anand?s gallery Art Alive has done a number of successful shows. Others, like Kumar, Vadheras, Pundole, Dhoomimals and Chemould have shown excellent staying power. Yet others,like Sharon Apparao, have created a globe-trotting network. Arushi Arts has evolved a network of multiple exhibitions, a catalogue (Harvest 2002 this year) that goes round the world to dealers connected with them, as well as a web site. But it is interesting that despite the use of twentieth and twenty first century technology, the exhibition is not dispensed with. Three shows are planned by Arushi Arts from 12th September onwards: one at the Hyatt Regency hotel at Delhi, and one each at Arushi Arts and the Academy of Fine Arts and Literature in New Delhi. Even the global auction houses plan showings in different cities. So obviously, the exhibition and the gallery cannot be dispensed with.
The catalogue, like the website, can only be an accessory to a gallery, it cannot replace it. But it has developed considerably. Arushi Arts has planned to exhibit the 138 works at three venues. But they can be conveniently contained in one catalogue. But the works must reflect a wide range. Harvest 2002 meets this criterion. There is a mosaic like painting of a woman worshipper of Jamini Roy, an acrylic on paper by MF Husain, two jottings by Ganesh Pyne, a very unusual Chemical work of FN Souza on a photograph of the noted photographer NK Sareen for only Rs 40,000, an exquisite Ramananda Bandyopadhyay Madonna and child, two of Bimal Das Gupta?s landscapes, a rare Sunil Das in glowing orange and two Akbar Padamsee nudes. A new and interesting feature is the sculpture section. This is a good beginning, as Indian sculpture still needs to be seen by the world and the catalogue is the best way to do it. But I do not think this could be done by a catalogue alone or the internet alone. Exhibitions and galleries are needed for the job. As long as the need is there, galleries will not go away.