25th June 2008

Online platform auction house, SaffronArt, has closed a record sale featuring rare and significant works of Indian modern and contemporary artists registering a total sale value of around Rs 39 crore.

Hosted on an innovative and interactive online platform, the auction featured the work of globally-sought painters, sculptors and installation artists, including S H Raza, Subodh Gupta, Jagdish Swaminathan and Rashid Rana.

World records were set for eight artists, including Subodh Gupta, Hema Upadhyay, Badri Narayan, K M Adimoolam, Justin Ponmay, Chitra Ganesh Bose, Krishnamachari and Anita Dube.

The top five lots of this auction were Subodh Gupta’s Untitled, selling for Rs 5.7 crore.

The highest price achieved by artist at auction: S H Raza’s Germination, selling for Rs 4.2 crore; Rashid Rana’s Red Carpet-2, selling for Rs two crore; J Swaminaththan’s Untitled selling for Rs 1.84 crore and F N Souza’s Untitled selling for Rs 1.63 crore.

“The fact that three of the top five lots were by modern Indian artists demonstrates a heartening resurgence in demand for premium modern works,” said Dinesh Vazirani, co-founder and director of SaffronArt.

“The sale also marked the launch of our new auction technology, which is the first of its kind globally and makes the bidder’s online experience as convenient as possible. The platform ensured that every user’s bidding process is personalised and effortless,” Dinesh said.

Close to 600 bidders from across the world vied for works of some of India’s proinent artists at the auction.

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