At an exhibition at Palette Art Gallery in Delhi in 2007, artist Preeti Arora?s installations had six men dipped in tar with road building material spread on the gallery floor. To prevent the tar from spreading around, it was thought of putting a wooden barricade. ?But we decided against it as this would have hampered the interaction between the artwork and the audience. After all, public art is all about interaction,? says Aditi Khurana, senior manager, Palette Art Gallery.

Acting as a platform between the audience and the artist, art galleries form the connecting bridge between two worlds, that of the artist and the audience. ?Art viewership has broadened in the last few years, with a number of them turning into collectors. No longer is art just a hobby, it is an industry today,? says Sunaina Anand, director, Art Alive Gallery. And now that galleries are mushrooming every other day, it gets difficult to figure out what differentiates a good one from a bad one. Ask Arun Vadehra, a man associated with art for decades and the owner of Vadehra Art Gallery in Delhi, what it entails and he says: ?A gallery per say needs to promote art and not deal with art.?

As many as 4,500 artists are said to take the Bachelors in Fine Arts (BFA) examination every year. ?Every state has an art college but hardly any galleries. With such poor infrastructure in art, where do these artists go?? asks Vadehra. There is an acute shortage of gallery space, and a good art gallery can have at the most 10-12 exhibitions every year. Palette Art Gallery gets requests for shows from almost 50 artists every day. Vadehra Art Gallery has bookings running up to three years. So when gallery owners are spoilt for choices, what are the deciding factors? ?I prefer seeing the works of artists in real and not over e-mail or on CDs. And there is no formula for choosing the best artist but something in their work tells you that it is cutting edge and needs to be exhibited,? says Khurana. Vadehra has his own team of art historians working round the clock who keep a tab on talent across the country. ?We invite artists ourselves rather than they coming to us,? says Vadehra.

Having the right focus and complete belief in the art they show forms the essence of a well-known art gallery. Says Renu Modi, director, Gallery Espace in Delhi, ?Be it the moderns or the very young ones or internationally known artists or the avant garde etc, believing in their work is necessary?. Nowadays the relationship between an artist and a gallery has become long term. ?This mutual relationship of trust and confidence is beneficial to both,? says Ambica Beri, owner of Delhi based Gallery Sanskriti. And in what seems to be a new trend, ?galleries have started to sign a contract with the artists to be able to maintain exclusivity,? says Khurana. As for their remuneration, galleries generally charge 33% commissionon sale.

For artist Satish Gupta, space in an art gallery and the manner in which it is done forms an integral part of his decision to exhibit his works in that space. ?A gallery should be fairly neutral. If it has a defining character like oppressive walls and flashy floor, it does not work well. But it should also not be sterile like a hospital either. A textured finish to the walls could help,? says Gupta. Catalogues and other forms of documentation also go a long way in establishing the worth of an artist and the gallery.

Display of artwork is yet another biggie. The right light, the right height ? they make a lot of difference to the object exhibited. ?An art gallery must be flexible enough to display virtually anything an artist wants to make?, says Modi. And for an art gallery to do well, it must know how to bring out the significance of the artists? works that it has chosen to display. ?The correct way of lighting an art work is to see that when light falls on it, the shadow should fall below it,? says Anand. For sculptors, light should fall directly on it so that it helps in defining the contours of a sculpture. Gupta feels that unlike in a museum, a gallery cannot have specific lighting. ?An art gallery should have very little natural light so that it can be controlled,? adds Gupta. The infrared and ultraviolet (UV) rays of natural sunlight can damage works of art. Vadehra usually prefers indirect lighting and also takes artists opinion before deciding upon the kind of lighting to be used.

In this day and age, when every second garage is being converted into a gallery, space becomes a big luxury. A good gallery ensures proper viewing distance between the audience and the work of art. ?Also, in a professional gallery, there are people to advice visitors on how to view the artwork,? says Anand. And when it comes to sculptures, artists feel that an open space is necessary to display them. Gallery owners, especially in the west have also started using music as an integral part of art works on display

Another major factor that determines the flow of visitors to a gallery is its location, though opinions are divided on this. ?Logistically, a gallery should be in a place where it can be reached by any form of transport?.and things like parking should not be a problem,? says Beri. The significance of the location of an art gallery is no different from that of any other business. ?Often buying decisions are made after the clients enter the gallery, so it has to be in a safe and accessible part of town where you know your clients would be happy to visit. Otherwise they might not make it to the gallery at all!? says Modi. But opinions differ. ?Location is important but not imperative,? says Sharon Apparao of Apparao Galleries in Chennai. Good art even if it?s far away or off the main stream will draw people. ?If it?s a good show by a great artist, people will cross continents for it,? says Vadehra.

But not every artist is a Picasso. So a gallery that is in the heart of town, has good display sensibilities and can forge a long-term relationship with the artist should be easy to pick out of the crowd.