Mumbai, March 16 — Mumbai-based auction house, Saffronart, logged sales of Rs 21 crore ($ 4.6 million) during its Spring Online Auction of Modern and Contemporary Art that concluded on March 11. The results, from the sale of 75 per cent of the lots on offer, are a dramatic improvement in comparison to their Spring Online Auction 2009, in which 70 per cent of the lots sold, grossed a total of Rs 7.8 crore ($ 1.5 million).
Ray, Sharmistha, “Indian contemporary art: Young artists lay new foundations,” The Economic Times (Delhi edition), 10 March 2010
The art markets may have crashed following the financial debacle in autumn 2008, but that may turn out to be a good thing in the long run, especially for young artists. During the market’s highs between 2006 and 2008, extrinsic, commercial values were completely out of sync with intrinsic, artistic ones. There was a lot of mediocrity, but people bought it anyway. Demand was way beyond anyone’s control. Supply ballooned and the core quality of uniqueness that sets objects d’art apart from other commodities was a detail that was simply blotted out.
Ranjit Hoskote, “Slowdown ensured creative destruction,” The Economic Times, 24 Jan. 2010
The gloom in Indian galleries was as thick as impasto in the months following the collapse of Lehman Brothers. You could have cut through it with a palette knife and served it up on any number of canvases that suddenly were barely worth the surface they had been painted on.
From livemint.com, “The age of shape-shifters” by Ranjit Hoskote, 25 Dec 2009
Indian artists have earned a place at the international high table where the idea of ‘making art’ has changed forever.
The circus really grew up between 2000 and 2009, as far as contemporary Indian art is concerned. The market, which had previously existed largely in the modes of dream, hope and aspiration, suddenly became a reality during this decade. While Indian art may not have aggregated a significant share in the global art market in these nine years, it has been identified as an area of potential growth. The activity of auction houses such as Sotheby’s, Christie’s, Saffronart and Osian’s has motivated galleries to acquire momentum and bear greater risks in their choice and positioning of artists.
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