{"id":5786,"date":"2009-05-23T13:19:46","date_gmt":"2009-05-23T18:19:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com?p=5786"},"modified":"2009-05-24T00:05:11","modified_gmt":"2009-05-24T05:05:11","slug":"bought_any_indi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/2009\/05\/23\/bought_any_indi\/","title":{"rendered":"Bought any Indian art lately?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last summer, a friend pointed me to Saffronart<\/a>, an online auction site that features artwork by both better and lesser-known modern and contemporary Indian artists. You can browse for works based on the artist, how much they cost, or look at specially organized collections. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s addictive enough for those of us who are suckers for eye-candy, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very<\/em> interesting to see what you can get for your money<\/a>, or somebody else\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s money<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

As most of you probably already know, over the last decade, the market for Indian art exploded, to the extent that it was<\/a> considered <\/a> a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153sensible investment.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (Snarky aside to all those artsy types snickering at the thought of bankers, engineers, and doctors suddenly interested in Indian art: they paid your rent.)<\/p>\n\n

\"8341_Gaitonde_Untitled.jpg\"\nV.S. Gaitonde, Untitled, 1973<\/a><\/p>\n\n

Of course, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re in a different world now. A painting by a giant like V.S. Gaitonde<\/a> can still be expected to yield an impressive sum<\/a>, but since March there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been some<\/a> buzz<\/a> suggesting that the market for Indian modern and contemporary art is heading south. As of May, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pretty clear that consumers are losing their confidence in Indian modern and contemporary art as an investment; London-based research company ArtTactic suggests global consumer confidence levels in Indian art have dropped 63%, and in contemporary Indian art, 90%<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

While I was living nearer to New York a few years ago, exhibitions<\/a> and galleries<\/a> focusing on South Asian modern and contemporary art were a cheap thrill on a graduate student stipend. You still can see amazing things<\/a>, but having made the mistake this morning of looking at my last TIAA-CREF <\/a>statement, I worry about how all these riches will last. (Ok, to be honest, I’m wondering if I myself will last. Breathe in, breathe out.)<\/p>\n\n

What do those of you who buy this art and follow what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going on in the art world make of all this? [Edited: if you’re not an Ambani <\/a>and don’t follow art, you’re also welcome to dish.]<\/em> And if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been to any amazing shows lately, by all means, spread the word!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last summer, a friend pointed me to Saffronart, an online auction site that features artwork by both better and lesser-known modern and contemporary Indian artists. You can browse for works based on the artist, how much they cost, or look … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5786"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5786\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}