Paris : Paris-based auction house Artcurial 's Sale 1382, 20th Century Indian Art on December 3, 2007 proved that all is not well with the Indian art market. Most of the lots were unsold and the auction merely raised $1,909,092. Out of the 103 lots only a little over 40 lots got sold in this tepid auction.
As expected S.H. Raza's Rajasthan, a 1984 painting, sold for $666,931 and another painting titled Bindu fetched a decent $303,044. But five of the master's works remained unsold in this auction. Other Paris-based artists like Viswanadhan, Akkitham Narayanan, Sakti Burman, Rajendra Dhawan and Sohan Qadri's works were also present in the auction. Viswanadhan 's solo work in this auction, Untitled (2004), was sold for $47,140. Sakti Burman 's Fete De Lumiere also managed to fetch $55,558. But most of these artists works remained unsold.
Among the younger artists were Manish Pushkale, Atul Dodiya, Shibu Natesan, Bose Krishnamachari, Riyas Komu, Mithu Sen, Vivek Vilasini, Farhad Hussain, Bari Kumar, Binoy Varghese, Roy Thomas, Gauri Gill, Birendra Pani and Rahul Mukherjee.
A work by Farhad Hussain , one of the most striking figures of the young Indian scene, was almost unknown only a year ago. His paintings humorously satirize the stereotypes of family happiness at the center of his investigations. Sans titre, dated 2006, was purchased by a collector from Singapore at €23,300 ($30,304) (est. €18-22,000, Lot no. 773).
Atul Dodiya , considered as one of the most important Indian painters of his generation, was represented by an enigmatic watercolour entitled Sabari Stretching, 2007, knocked down at €38,800 ($50,507) to the Indian market (est. €32-35,000, Lot no.744).
A French collector carried off Stretched bodies, an acrylic on canvas dated 2007 by Bose Krishnamachari at €37,200 ($50,507) (est. €30-35,000, Lot no. 758), while Stretched bodies, a sculpture painted with acrylic over a quarter of a sphere in fiberglass and wood by the same artist, recently exhibited at Hélène Lamarque Gallery in Paris, was knocked down at €29,700 ($40,406) (est. €25-30,000, Lot no. 759), a purchase from the French market.
A work by Shibu Natesan's On the Beach (2005), whose painting has the precision and realism of a photographic montage, entered a British collection at €28,500 (37,039) (Lot no. 764).
Finally, a canvas by Manish Pushkale entitled Akshat, 2003, also joined a French collection at €22,300 ($30,304) (est. €15-20,000, Lot no. 716).
Most of the lots by Jeram Patel, Jogen Chowdhury, Jyoti Bhatt, Amitava, Prabhakar Barwe, K.S. Kulkarani remained unsold.
This was one auction which had lot of photographic works. Photographs by master lens man Raghu Rai, Naveen Kishore, Riyas Komu, Gauri Gill, Anita Dube, Surekha, Barmak Akram, Ravi Agarwal, Sunil Gupta and Ram Rahman's works were indeed refreshing compared to the conventional canvas and paper works present in the auction. However only few of these photographic works were sold.
Surekha , whose work is emblematic of the multidisciplinary nature of an up-and-coming generation that uses video, photography, and installations, was present with a 2001 installation entitled Fragments of a Wedding Diary. The work includes 33 black-and-white photographs referring to the retouching techniques used by photographic studios specializing in photography of marriage or other important events in the life of a family, commenting on the fragmentation of the Indian family unit. It has entered a French collection at €14,200 ($18,519) (est. €12-15,000, Lot no. 749).
Ram Rahman's brilliant photographic collage titled The Assassination of Trotsky, Ernakulam, 2007 was sold at $4,546.
Emblematic of the work of Anita Dube , Sea Creature, 2000, a spectacular photograph from an edition of 10 prints, shows hands covered with a multitude of ceramic eyes, the same eyes that animate sculptures of Hindu divinities. Sea Creature has joined a French collection at €5200 ($6,734) (est. €3-3500, Lot no. 745).
But the real star of this auction was Delhi-based artist Manjunath Kamath . His work, Teeth Politics, a 60 x 60 inches acrylic and oil on canvas (Lot No 769) was priced between €7,600 - €8,600. A tough telephone competition between five Indian collectors drove up the price of this canvas to €46,600 ($60,609), six times its estimated value. The work was purchased by a major Indian collector.
Manjunath Kamath tells stories through his use of painting, drawing, sculpture, and video, stories that are unique in content and organization. Curious images appear on his canvases, and his paintings can be read like a story. Manjunath Kamath explains: "I can play with space, I can place my images as I like, and I can create incredibly stories that you will have to believe. Like the stories my grandmother used to tell me when I was small." He adds: "For me, art is a bridge that not only connects two spaces, but also two epochs."
Kamath uses a fragmented narration technique while attempting to paint the void (he has been inspired by the work of Prabhakar Barwe in organization emptiness). His work with bright colors show an eclectic mixture of imagination and realism. Using clever permutations and combinations, he creates visual puns that defy logic and present absurd allegories. Each of his paintings requires the full attention of the viewers, who question themselves by confronting the title of the almost empty space of the painting. An illusionistic space where ordinary objects from daily life float and, assembled by the artist's imagination, take on a surrealist tinge.
Kamath had two solo exhibitions Something Happened and 108 Small Stories with Gallery Espace in 2006 and 2007 respectively. This year his works were displayed in various international exhibitions and fairs such as Gulf Art Fair, Dubai, 2007 and Thermocline of Art-New Asian Waves ZKM, Museum of Contemporary Art, Karlsruhe, Germany (2007), Beijing Art Fair 2007, New York Art Fair 2007. He also participated in three group shows in London by various galleries.
In Christie's Asian Contemporary Art, Hong Kong auction which took place on November 25, 2007 Manjunath Kamath's work titled Character in My Grandmother's Story (acrylic and oil on canvas, 60” x 60”, 2006) fetched 511,500 Hong Kong dollars (est: 75,000 - 110,000 Hong Kong dollars, Lot No. 0714). This work was exhibited in Kamath's solo show at Gallery Espace, New Delhi titled Something Happened in April 2006.
Unfazed by thiechallenging results of this auction Artcurial has already plans to organize a second sale of Indian Art in June or July, 2008. Let's hope one gets to see and buy better selection of works in this coming auction. |
