Friday, Jun 28, 2013
Dubai: In any mention of Indian art from an investment perspective, the overwhelming sentiment is aspirational. No doubt, it is one driven by the many zeroes that get attached to the prices fetched by works of Indian artists at global auction houses and private sales.
Indian artists — M. F. Hussain, Ganesh Pyne and Jehangir Sabavala, to name but three — command a stratospheric following among collectors and have the bids to show for it. And easily accessible is not something you tend to associate with their works.
Dadiba Pundole prefers to think otherwise. Owner of the newly launched Sovereign gallery in Dubai, he believes Indian art can be accessible to discerning buyers in the UAE and beyond.
“The Indian diaspora is essential to my gallery in the UAE; we aim to make Indian art more accessible and available to them,” said Pundole, who has in the past curated works for auction houses — Sotheby’s among them — and also owns a gallery in India. “But one of our aims is to narrow the gaps between Indian art and international collectors, and that between Arab artists and Indian collectors — much like a bridge between artists and collectors across cultures.
“Our focus is helping individual and institutional collectors.”
There is a touch of irony here. Indian art as collectibles or as investment to be passed on has never really caught on among the high net-worth Indian diaspora here. Sure, there was a moment when some of them did consider a punt on such an investment in the mid-part of the last decade, but it never did coalesce into something more substantial than that. Even when they had Hussain living in their midst for the last few years of his life.
Indian art remains highly coveted elsewhere and within India, both from an aesthetic perspective and what it means in terms of future yields. Two of the highest prices fetched by Indian artists were in the last two years — Tyeb Mehta’s ‘Figure on Rickshaw’ got a substantial $3.24 million (Dh11.90 million) and ‘Bulls’, also by him, for $2.8 million.
Pundole believes there is more to Indian collectible art than the big names. “Some names like Hussain are considered solid and offer comfort to the collector,” said Pundole. “There is also a tendency for senior artists to get displayed on walls as easily identifiable trophies.
“But by and large, collectors choose established names because of what the artists have achieved and what they represent. This signifies an area for great growth — in both historic and social contexts.
“Easy availability of online information, and the wide array of books and retrospectives, help in generating interest with younger audiences, and the collector base and taste will definitely widen.”
Masanori Fukuoka, a Japanese art collector who was in Dubai last month to add to his portfolio of Indian artists, lays down this maxim: “People tend to appreciate things in terms of its actual or perceived value. I have never associated art with price — I am just a collector.
“Indian art [has] changed for me — from interest, to passion, to obsession. I got bitten by the collecting bug.”
While Fukuoka is a hard-boiled collector, how would Pundole try and gain appreciation and following for Indian art among the uninitiated? In other words, how does he plan to make it accessible?
“In the sense of casting our nets wider, art appreciation and art education form core components of our business,” said Pundole. “We are particularly keen on amateur collectors and can help them build up a portfolio with small — but steady — steps.
“Good works by good artists command great prices, and they have been sought out for decades. It is access to good material that has not been easy in the past.
“Whether the artist is dead or alive does not matter, the size of the artwork does not matter, what really matters is the quality of work. And great works do well even during an artist’s lifetime.
“To illustrate, a relatively small work of Hussain’s (25.9cm by 32.5cm) from the 1950s did exceptionally well when we auctioned 400 of his works from the collection of the late Badrivishal Pitti in mid-January. Although the estimated price for ‘Tonga’ (Lot 111) was only Rs700,000 (Dh42,668) to Rs900,000, it sold for Rs3.5 million. I truly believe it would have commanded the same price even if Hussain was still alive.”
As it is, there is no shortage of living Indian artists whose works could make it to the exalted ranks enjoyed by a Hussain or a Pyne. So, who could be the next big one?
“I have a question in turn: How did all the big names get discovered in the first place? Discovering, coveting and possessing art is a continuous process,” Pundole offers as a riposte.
Touche.
By Manoj Nair Associate Editor
Gulf News 2013. All rights reserved.
