I’d read about this sometime back but did not get the time to post.

Three Indian artists have sold their paintings for a total of $70 Million via an auction on Christie’s. The complete article as reported by DNA can be found here.

I managed to get thumbnails of what the paintings look like - none of the news stories were carrying the pictures and they are as following:

Chintan Upadhyay : Mutant

Ashim : Fake Error

Harsha : Melting Wit

It does get better and better for Indian Art and Indian artists. The above artists are supposed to be “new” on the scene and not in the league of Raza or Hussain but have done exceedingly well in the auction. One of the factors that might contribute to an artist’s paintings’ popularity might be the name of the painting - or it seems from the above.

I recently met up with an art dealer - someone who represents the artist and works for them to sell their paintings and artwork. This person informed me that the main reason why a lot of Indians [ and other interested parties ] are buying art is not because of their love for it but because it is a good investment.

Any artist who is worth his salt, who has sold a painting in the market, is only going to appreciate in value. If the artist dies in penury at a young age, then the paintings will appreciate faster. No benefits for the artists as far as I can see.

Maximum selling paintings are from the genre of semi-abstract and abstract. The more a painting does not make sense to the buyer, the higher it might sell for.

Being an art middleman/dealer is one of the most lucrative career options nowadays. I have seen full-page advertisements of a particular art dealer in the daily newspaper’s city supplement. An art dealer I know personally makes atleast ten times more money than his ad job allowed him.

It’s a good time to be in the market for an artist, good time for Indian art - show and sell. And as far as I can see, it will only get better. I wish I’d get some percentage of sale value when my painting exchanges hands more than once!