13th June, 2008
The sale features 140 works by 67 artists and will be accompanied by preview events in New York and Mumbai.
Following closely on the heels of the launch of its new brand and website Saffronart launches its new and innovative online auction platform with its annual summer auction. The sale features 140 works by 67 artists and will be accompanied by preview events in New York and Mumbai. Featuring rare works by masters like S.H. Raza and F.N. Souza, alongside significant pieces by a younger generation of globally renowned artists like Atul Dodiya, Rashid Rana, Surendran Nair and Subodh Gupta, Saffronart’s Summer Online Auction promises great online bidding experiences.
On the cover of the catalogue, Germination, an epic canvas by S.H. Raza from 1992, demonstrates the culmination of the artist’s lifelong quest for ‘significant form’ as well as the early stages of his interest in the bindu as the source and end of all life in the universe. On the back cover, in his untitled canvas, Subodh Gupta turns everyday kitchens and stores into shimmering theatres of polished stainless steel pots and pans. Emblematic of the aspirations of the proletariat, these shiny utensils reflect India’s unique developmental path, the present interdigitation of tradition and modernity in the country, and the distinct social realities that emerge from this interface.
Online auctions, pioneered by Saffronart, have transformed the landscape of modern and contemporary Indian art, making it accessible to participants who are constrained by geographical and physical limitations and opening it to a wide spectrum of international art lovers. Embracing and driving change, and constantly striving towards the highest standards of professionalism and transparency, Saffronart’s hasslefree auction platform includes several technology enabled features that are pioneering industry firsts. Apart from its improved design and user interface, this secure platform ensures that every user’s bidding process is personal, intuitive and effortless. While bidding values will automatically be updated throughout each auction, cutting out the need to manually refresh pages like ‘Live Auction Summary’ and ‘Lots Closing Soon’, the ‘My Auction’ page offers bidders onestop access to monitor activity and place bids on the specific lots they are interested in. Additionally, personalized messages on these pages let bidders know whether they are leading the bidding on a particular lot, have been outbid, and have won or lost the lots they are bidding on.
The summer auction, with total lower estimate value of approx INR 27 Cr. (US$ 6.7 million), is the 21st in the series by Saffronart and will take place exclusively on www.saffronart.com on June 18 and 19, 2008. Saffronart, established by Dinesh and Minal Vazirani, has set global benchmarks for online art auctions, and has recently been taught as a case study at the Harvard Business School.
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