The global and Indian art market have both taken a considerable hit in 2008, falling in terms of number of sales, painting prices and eventually the overall art index. The lack of demand had left too many auctions and exhibitions with majority of their pieces unsold. However, just like the undying spirit of an artist, these vibrant magicians are back again, offering art investors a unique opportunity and showcase this spring. Three of the events taking place, each of which is totally different form the rest, include, The Art for Peace exhibition at Tao Art Gallery from February 21-27, 2009, the Saffron art spring auction on March 11-12, 2009, and artist Lili Menons ?Personal Spaces? exhibition from February 22-28 at the Artists Centre, Kala Ghoda.
The Art for Peace exhibition is an initiative of the Wisdom foundation with complete support from Kalpana Shah the owner of Tao Art Gallery.
The Wisdom foundation stands for the World Institute of Islamic Studies for Dialogue, Organization of Mediation and Gender Justice. It is a peace organisation dedicated to the cause of peace, non-violence, bridge building, harmonious co-existence, humanitarian service solidarity and National Integration.
Its aim is to seek diverse mechanisms to ensure communal harmony, trust building and conflict prevention among all members of society through various forms of engagement. Via this exhibition, the foundation hopes to raise money to further its cause, with an art exhibition showcasing young artists as well as a few works by Raza, this auction allows one to not just invest in some unique art work but also gives one a chance to do some good. Kalpana Shah who has leased her gallery and time gratis, on speaking about the exhibition says, ?This exhibition was planned eight months ago and has now finally materialised. I have always believed in the concept of peace and non-violence. This is an attempt to promote peace, after all terrorism, causes suffering to us all. An artist’s concept is so much more pure when it comes to depicting peace.?
Zeenat S Ali, managing trustee and founder director general of the Wisdom foundation, mentioned, ?This exhibition is a self-support initiative on our part. This is a joint concept of peace and an effort to reach out to communities and religions, via this unexplored medium of silent communication, art. I feel so strongly about doing so as most of the Islamic preachers who preach violence and ignorance over knowledge and peace are not really scholars in the religion, for if they were, they would know different. Hopefully our foundation will successfully promote the causes of peace and understanding?. So far having seen a rather diverse bunch of people including Pundits, Imams, Priests, Dasturjis, Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains present there one would not be surprised if they do so.
The auction showcasing 14 concepts is hoping to raise at least Rs 1 lakh a piece, which is a steal considering the sizes and designs on some these canvass?s.
On the other, hand the Saffronart’s spring online auction is having previews of select lots from the auction at its New York art gallery and Jehangir Art Gallery in Mumbai. Dinesh Vazirany, co-founder and CEO of Saffronart felt, ?This auction has been very mindful of the current market conditions and I am sure this collection will be very attractive to serious investors. For an art collector the present market could not have been a better time to collect well-priced pieces and add to their collection.?
110 works showcased by 71 artists will be up for grabs in the auction. The lower estimate the auction is expected to fetch is Rs 13.2 crore and going upto Rs 16.40 crore at the higher end. Well-known modernists and popular contemporary artists, make up most of this spring collection with the highlight of the auction being ?Nations?, the monumental triptych by NS Harsha, winner of the third Artes Mundi Prize. Also, artists including Subodh Gupta, Manjit Bawa, Arpita Singh, Rashid Rana and many others showcase some of their work. ?Nations? is priced in between Rs 1.25-1.50 crore and a trademark Subodh Gupta untitled piece at Rs 90 lakh-1.2 crore. Rounding up the highest expected prices is SH Raza with an untitled work of 1994 for Rs72-86.4 lakh.
From the charitable and seasoned, we have a solo exhibition by artist Lili Menon as well. Her exhibition ?Personal Spaces? has works with attractive colours, acrylic as the preferred medium and smartly named pieces where the emotions and painting names perfectly compliment each other.
These works are priced between Rs 18,000-72,000 and for art collectors looking for some new emerging artists, this showcase is worth a look.