BEST BLOGS ON INDIAN ART SCENE

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Permalink Reply by Sid on April 30, 2009 at 10:47am

Hi

In the interest of full disclosure - i have a PhD in 'google'.

To the guys who posted here, i have read parts of your posts all the way through, ( :-) ) and to be frank i am not sure about your positions. Some of you want to criticise certain aspects of the art ' business' as if it can be seperated from the rest. ( love VG but hate what that bastard brother of his Theo, did to his works - he actually tried to sell them!!)

And some of you slam other parts if only to bring in the brownie points.But all of you are picking on only winnable and popular fights. ( speculators - those bastards - they got what was coming to them; absolutely tasteless moneybags who have skewed ( or should that read 'screwed') the scene that now i can't get a good price ( read rip off ) for an exceptional work by a young artist. ( you see, s/he is young - and that should translate to low price regardless of the quality of work - don't correct me if i am wrong)

I see the hypocrisy, but WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE?!!

I do not know where to begin...

Sid

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Permalink Reply by Bhupesh gupta on May 3, 2009 at 7:50am

dear anang,
i was nestled in the woods for last few days totally cut off from the world no phones no communication as a close acquaintance of mine yelled at me on my birhday to GO GET A LIFE.

i am now back as i don't use lap-top ;)
ARVIND : in hind-sight if you look at some of the language used on this thread i think it's more aborignal than what is being taught in oxford or swiss finishing schools!
in my book that amounted to brick-bats.
well that was forgotten in a hurry and now to the job on hand regarding the beliefs and dis-beliefs.
what i quoted was from my very own personal expierience and meant to be as a reminder for wannabe's to look at the pitfalls and feast on my misery if at all they can and learn from it.
truth is stranger than fiction.

to cut a long story short let's agree to disagree as you said.

ANANG: dear woods are indeed lovely dark and deep....LOL.....and i have miles to go before i sleep!
in my personal opinion the only diffrence between the men and boys is the cost of toys (2 be read in right perspective)
and dear NO PICTURE IS COMPLETE WITHOUT COLOUR & BRUSHES!
enjoy.
The art dealer.


Anang Sen said:

Dear Bhupesh, there is absolutely no need for you to feel lost in the woods. I am myself a new entrant in this field but that has not stopped me so far LOL. So please write whatever you think will contribute to this forum as every bit counts. I have learnt a lot from the present discussion, and would love to hear more.
Anang.
Bhupesh gupta said:

friends romans and countrymen,
it is indeed a honour of being part of such distinctive gathering and truth be told i was feeling kind of lost in all this exchange of ideas and the accompanying bouquets and brick-bats but looked at the brighter side the woods would be so silent if only the best birds sang in them! my time to crow once again. enough and everthing concievable has been said by the distinct personalities associated with art be it dealers or collectors by way of pro or contra viewpoint and each of the individuals leanings about what appeals to him or her when it comes to preferences about collecting or selling as in my case. mr. sumit this is hardly the platform to further my business because if you were to look around mr. moneybags are nowhere to be found! but never mind i will take it as a collaterral damage as i have " invested intrest " in moderns as well as contemporaries and their is no silver cieling when it comes to knowledge or expanding it's ever widening horizons.
it's upto the reader to soak in what he or she likes from such divergent views put forth by august gathering.
au revoir.

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Permalink Reply by Steven Parker on May 6, 2009 at 11:12am

Dear Nivi,

You are right, what a lovely exchange of ideas especially betwen Arvind and Anang, completely fantastic. Keep it up guys, just adding on to the value of the discussion.

I agree with you Anang, I have like you also learnt from the blogs mentioned here, fantastic stuff posted and really without any bias, keep it going guys.Arvind, checked out your blog too, very nice and intellectual, lovely piece on the Russian market but honestly for the Indian market, I would still log onto indianartinvest.blogspot.com, more candid and really on the plate as they say down under !

Saw your website also, only professional advertised art advisory in India, a welcome effort in the right direction, best of luck with that.

Signing off mate...

Anang Sen said:

LOL @ "spice from daily soaps"



Nivedita Saha said:

Oh this is good'ahhh!!!

Never have I ever enjoyed reading a thread as much as today. It took me more than an hour (considering I'm dyslexic) to read the whole thing till the end :)) I took a print out of the entire thing Anang, yes that is exactly what I just did, so I can make sure I read it over again, mark a few points. I don't wanna miss a thing :)) Yes, there were parts where it sounded like the spice from daily soaps...hehhe ;) Enjoyed that 'Balaji' bit too ;))LOL

I’ve honestly nothing to contribute in this thread. I’m not in the thick of things…if someday I shall…I’ll have all of you to thank for.

Just wanna say a plain ‘Thank-you’ for making the artists aware of unbiased views from experts, about the market, galleries and more…for being so transparent and open about the market trends.

To all you 'Maharathi's of the art world ;)) Anang, Arvind, Summit, Steven, Bhupesh, Cal and the editor of IAN…a big thank you for now

Keep it positive and keep it coming boys :))

Best
-nivi
www.meetnivi.blogspot.com

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Permalink Reply by Shanthi C on May 6, 2009 at 4:49pm

Here are some of the blogs I usually check out. Though they are local to the DC and mid-Atlantic area and not about Indian art, it is always good to see what is going on in the art world:

Daily Campello Art News : http://dcartnews.blogspot.com/ (All kinds of local & other art news, about opportunities and scams..by Lenny Campello, artist, gallery owner, juror....)
http://www.theorynow.blogspot.com/(by Mark Cameron Boyd for his students on Art Theory)
http://thinkingaboutart.blogs.com/art/ (Interesting projects involving artists)
http://eyelevel.si.edu/ (Smithsonian American Arts museum)

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Permalink Reply by Sumit on May 14, 2009 at 11:38am

Well..its been quite some time since I last posted something on this blog. But the latest posting on http://indianartinvest.blogspot.com has prompted me to write again.

It talks about the talented artist, Prajjwal Choudhary. This artist had been on my radar for quite some time and from the works which I have seen, I definitely feel that he is poised to make it big.

My second reason for writing this post was about the recent auctions by different auction houses. I don't know how many of you have seen the works put up by Astaguru, but from what I saw in the catalogue was not exciting enough to command the price that was quoted. But even then it was reasonably better in comparison to the works lined up by Emami Chisel. I could not see any work in their catalogue which looked exciting enough.

I feel that lately there has been a general drop in the standard of these auction houses. The artists and works lined up by them do not seem to be in sync with the art market reality.

I would love to elicit response from fellow members on Prajjwal and about the recent auctions and get more fresh views on the subject.

Ciao till then

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Permalink Reply by Cal on May 18, 2009 at 12:30pm

I would read this entire post in the context of Ben Lewis's article posted on the main page of this forum. I think the days of such 'statement art' dressed up as deep concept, laced with a heady splash of colour and topped with a icing of pop culture appropriations, are over. Do we still need someone to tell us in a 12 feet canvas that the art world is hungry for the next big thing?

Sumit said:

Well..its been quite some time since I last posted something on this blog. But the latest posting on http://indianartinvest.blogspot.com has prompted me to write again.

It talks about the talented artist, Prajjwal Choudhary. This artist had been on my radar for quite some time and from the works which I have seen, I definitely feel that he is poised to make it big.

My second reason for writing this post was about the recent auctions by different auction houses. I don't know how many of you have seen the works put up by Astaguru, but from what I saw in the catalogue was not exciting enough to command the price that was quoted. But even then it was reasonably better in comparison to the works lined up by Emami Chisel. I could not see any work in their catalogue which looked exciting enough.

I feel that lately there has been a general drop in the standard of these auction houses. The artists and works lined up by them do not seem to be in sync with the art market reality.

I would love to elicit response from fellow members on Prajjwal and about the recent auctions and get more fresh views on the subject.

Ciao till then

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Permalink Reply by Cal on May 18, 2009 at 9:08pm

Yeap, we do need a bit of cheer nowadays.
Though I do find the whole thing genuinely funny in a sort of 'pessimism be damned' kind of way.

Anang Sen said:

"Do we still need someone to tell us in a 12 feet canvas that the art world is hungry for the next big thing?"

Too michievous and too funny @Cal.
Lol.



Cal said:

I would read this entire post in the context of Ben Lewis's article posted on the main page of this forum. I think the days of such 'statement art' dressed up as deep concept, laced with a heady splash of colour and topped with a icing of pop culture appropriations, are over. Do we still need someone to tell us in a 12 feet canvas that the art world is hungry for the next big thing?

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Permalink Reply by Steven Parker on May 24, 2009 at 11:49pm

Well,Damien Hirst did well in Korea ! if you guys read that one, still think the market is down although sales may be slightly picking up.

Nice post on the Indian auction scene at www.indianartinvest.blogspot.com, how do you think Saffronart will fare Anang ? I like this catalogue better than the last one, which was even worse except for that lovely NS Harsha work. Surprised by the contemporary Christies catalogue Sale 2707 also, very mediocre from an indian art perspective.

Signing off mate

Steve



Anang Sen said:

"Do we still need someone to tell us in a 12 feet canvas that the art world is hungry for the next big thing?"

Too michievous and too funny @Cal.
Lol.



Cal said:

I would read this entire post in the context of Ben Lewis's article posted on the main page of this forum. I think the days of such 'statement art' dressed up as deep concept, laced with a heady splash of colour and topped with a icing of pop culture appropriations, are over. Do we still need someone to tell us in a 12 feet canvas that the art world is hungry for the next big thing?

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Permalink Reply by Steven Parker on May 24, 2009 at 11:51pm

Hi ! Cal, didnt really understand your message mate,what did you mean ?


Anang Sen said:

"Do we still need someone to tell us in a 12 feet canvas that the art world is hungry for the next big thing?"

Too michievous and too funny @Cal.
Lol.



Cal said:

I would read this entire post in the context of Ben Lewis's article posted on the main page of this forum. I think the days of such 'statement art' dressed up as deep concept, laced with a heady splash of colour and topped with a icing of pop culture appropriations, are over. Do we still need someone to tell us in a 12 feet canvas that the art world is hungry for the next big thing?

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Permalink Reply by Steven Parker on June 6, 2009 at 8:44pm

Congratulations ! Kapil, really well done, Lovely article, I am happy that half a million people will now have access to your thoughts in the Telegraph newspaper. I always said that your blog deserved to be the best for its candid, frank and honest opinion. It is a great honour to be selected to write for a newspaper and that also with half a million circulation, no newspaper here in Australia does even close to that. Best of luck to www.indianartinvest.blogspot.com

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Permalink Reply by Steven Parker on June 22, 2009 at 10:00pm

Dear Anang,

What are your comments on the contemporary market now, are you buying something ?

Steve

Anang Sen said:

Hi Steven,

Since you do me the honour of asking for my opinion, I shall try to rise to the occassion (bait?) and stick my neck out even though I am hardly an auction expert :)))

Firstly, I would require some input from you. Can you clarify on the point about estimates vs. reserve prices please? What do we make of this? Are estimates just a reference point for the bidding, or is there a basic floor price involved? What is the significance of an estimate if it is not going to dictate a basic floor price?

Anyway, assuming these estimates to be just helpful guiding advice, my take on this collection is that Saffron Art has managed quite a good grouping compared to the last few auctions by various others. Notable in this are the works by Hussain, Raza, and Kishen Khanna, which are taken from somewhere among the top of the line of these artists. My fave is lot 71 which is a stunning work by Hussain! I am not going to comment about their pricing though (given my confusion over estimates vs reserve) and am not sure if the estimates are good or bad, but the works themselves are a credit to the auction and should get attention. Apart from the Moderns, the collection also represents a decent grouping of contemporary works, which are a mixed-bag but tending towards a better selection overall than seen in recent times.

As for the staple fare of the auction, I feel that while there are some really sad, irritatingly mediocre, and overestimated works, there are also quite a few that are in the right price-quality ratio. My list for the latter is :

29 Riyas Komu, 18,52 Chittrovanu, 51 Vaikuntham, 70, KK Hebbar (a lovely work), 73 Raza (interesting but a bit on the high side?), 74 Ramkumar, 75 Souza (even though it is from his prolific chemical series, it is still a very good work), 80 Prabhakar Barwe, 82 Ganesh Pyne.
These are the works which acc to my reckoning should do well. But then again, what has been given are estimates and not reserve prices, so maybe other good works will do well too which are at present saddled with high estimates. These are as ff:

25 Ashim Purkayastha, 30 Hema Upadhyay, 55 Anju Dodiya.

Not sure at all about the Subodh Gupta painting which is too way over the top for me.

My comments are more about the artistic worth of the works and how it has been estimated in the catalogue. It should be a well-attended event and, going by the significant number of good works, it should draw an encouraging response.

I am tempted to list the works which are atrociously made and even more atrociosly estimated, but I think I had better listen to my better sense this time ;)



Thanks,
Anang.



Steven Parker said:

Well,Damien Hirst did well in Korea ! if you guys read that one, still think the market is down although sales may be slightly picking up.
Nice post on the Indian auction scene at www.indianartinvest.blogspot.com, how do you think Saffronart will fare Anang ? I like this catalogue better than the last one, which was even worse except for that lovely NS Harsha work. Surprised by the contemporary Christies catalogue Sale 2707 also, very mediocre from an indian art perspective. Signing off mate Steve

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Permalink Reply by Steven Parker on June 24, 2009 at 11:27pm

Well, Seher Shah is really great and I would buy her any day, the work that she showed at Armory was just amazing, dont folow the second one and Vibha has a lot of talent but getting overpriced now, her prices are up 50 % from last year and much better to avoid when instead of coming down they keep on going up not looking at market realities.

Well, I am looking if I can get an excellent Mithu Sen work.

Let me know your thoughts ?

Anang Sen said:

Hi Steven,

I am not going the auction route, I'm afraid. What appeals to me is primary purchase and I have a wish list of three artists:

Seher Shah
Samaraendra Raj Singh
Vibha Galhotra.

I have been able to source the first and the last one, but Samaraendra refuses to surface! I got to know that one of his stunners is in the possession of Amrita Jhaveri, but she refuses to part with it at any cost. Lol.

Otherwise, I am going to basically scout the shows of lesser known artists and try to spot a rising star.

What about yourself? Let's hear from you on all this pl.

'best,
Anang.

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