10th March, 2008

The new Modern
When we saw Atul Dodiya fetch Rs 1 crore shortly after a stalwart like Tyeb Mehta had just bagged his first crore at the Christie's action in 2004, a few eyebrows were raised. A Contemporary drawing parallel with a Modern guru was contrary to the mantra that runs the auctions. However within four years, this became not just an exception but a rule where several zeroes have been added on to the price tag of artists who sell at Rs 1 or Rs 2 lakhs only three to four years ago. The current asking price for a Dodiya or Jitish Kallat is anything from Rs 28 lakh to Rs 1 crore, while even a newly introduced artist like Farhad Hussain commands Rs 10 lakh.

Picking up on the international trend that favours the Contemporaries, 140 works of Indian Contemporary artists have just returned from rave reviews in New York, and Dinesh and Minal Vazirani of Saffronart.com are proud. 'Contemporary art is doing exceedingly well internationally. This is because it's about the here and now, the genre cuts across geographical boundaries in a way that perhaps Modern art does not,' explains Dinesh, adding, 'After China, India was the next Asian country to come into the spotlight.'

In fact, this auction, kicking off on March 13, could not have been timed better. Three other auctions are slotted for March'Sotheby's, Christies and Osian's'and their bastion is Modern art. Saffron seems to be the best place to look for the Contemporaries.

The upward curve is reflected not just at the auction houses but three mega shows dedicated to Contemporaries that are slotted to premier in Manchester, New York and China. Art aficionado Frank Cohen is showcasing Passage to India, a group exhibition from his private collection featuring biggies like Dodiya, Subodh Gupta, Bharati Kher and Sudarshan Shetty to name a few. Charles Saatchi is hosting an exhibition titled, The Empire Strikes Back that features the above mentioned artists as well as others like Chitra Ganesh and Shez Dawood. Swiss collector Uli Sigg, one of the biggest in the business, is taking his collection to China.

While works by artists like Shilpa Gupta, Riyas Komu, Kallat, Rashid Rana and T V Santosh reflect the explosion of mass media and the opening up of the Indian economy, Dodiya, Navjot and Surendran Nair mark the transition period between Modern and Contemporary concerns. Their works address the anxiety that arises from a loss of the local and indigenous to the global.

Shireen Gandhy, whose Chemould Art Gallery was one of the first spaces to host shows by the likes of Kher and Dodiya when they were just starting out, says the reason is innovation. 'Contemporary artists have caught the interest of collectors nationally and globally because they are willing to reinvent themselves the way the Moderns cannot,' says Gandhy.

In the end though, as collector and emerging artist Cyrus Oshidar puts it, it is about being in the right place at the right time and 'branding' oneself as avant-garde.

Georgina Maddox

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