The Indian Art Summit is over but the round-ups of the action are still flooding in. The mood among the 54 galleries was great relief and even some excitement that the Indian art market may be coming back. Organizers counted some 40,000 visitors–four times the number at last year’s inaugural edition–and those visitors walked out with 250 works of art valued at $5.3m. That figure is just a bit more than half of the estimated value of all the works on display at the fair.
- Ashish Anand, of the prestigious Delhi Art Gallery, said, “What recession? The sales as well as enthusiasm of people visiting the fair have been stupendous. There were hardly any sales last year, even though the world wasn’t in recession then. So this time around, people weren’t expecting sales at all. But the energy that we witnessed in the four days proved us wrong.”
- Renu Modi of Gallery Espace said 40 per cent of her displays had been sold, “The summit was an eye-opener. The footfalls say a lot about where art is going in this country. Even those who are generally not interested in art visited the fair, which bodes well for the industry,” she said.
- Sunaina Anand of Art Alive Gallery […] was all about affordable, small canvases. Titled Think Small, her show had an assortment of small-format canvases by established names. An 8 inch x 12 inch oil on canvas by Sakti Burman fetched the highest price for Anand, “I sold 50 per cent of the canvases on display and another 20 per cent are on hold as the interested parties are going to confirm the deal by visiting us at the gallery,” said Anand. “In India, we are definitely not in recession.”
- Roshini Vadehra, of Vadehra Art Gallery, […] had sold four of the major works on display.”It was beyond our expectation. We sold four major works, including those of the master, Ganesh Pyne. I was amazed by the energy exhibited at the fair by connoisseurs as well as lay admirers of art. I was most impressed with the educational programme that was held alongside through seminars and talks – it will go a long way in improving our collective knowledge of art,” she said.
The Press Trust of India spotted these luminaries:
The fair saw visits by footballer Baichung Bhutia, adman Suhel Seth, golfer Jyoti Randhawan, Nandan Nilekani, designers Raghvendra Rathore and Tarun Tahiliani and HCL CEO Shiv Nadar.
Express India had this quote from Summit spokesperson Neha Kirpal:
- “More than 80 per cent of the galleries sold at least two works each. Collectors have come from China, US, Dubai and Korea,” added Kirpal. At the stalls, gallerists, both Indian and foreign, shared her excitement. “This is the first time we are showing in Delhi. We thought that Indian collectors are more interested in Indian art, but foreign artists also generated huge interest. We sold a video work of German filmmaker Matthias Muller as well as two pieces by Chitra Ganesh for $9,000 each. There are a few other works that are in reserve,” said Thomas Erben, director of the New York-based Thomas Erben Gallery.
- “We sold only four works, but we succeeded in introducing ourselves to the collectors,” said Wahida Ahmed of the Guwahati-based Easel gallery, that was showing artists from the Northeast.
- Malini Gulrajani, director of Dubai-based 1×1 Art Gallery, showing a solo of Chittrovanu Mazumdar at the Summit, added, “We sold some small works. The larger installations are more difficult to sell, but people have shown interest.”
Indian Art Beats Global Meltdown (India Today)
Art Fair Concludes (Press Trust of India)
Seeing Red Dots (Express India)
