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’ve been fascinated with Lord Ganesha and related mythology. Typically I am not a superstitious or even religious person - more of an atheist really - but for some reason I almost feel as if Ganesha’s a friend

I’ve never done a Ganesha earlier so am not even familiar with the various elements. I started with a dirty sketch in Photoshop based on the elements in a Ganesha picture that had top-of-the-mind recall. Following will show you just how bad my drawing skills really are!

Then I wanted to refine the drawing of these elements and came up with the following one-page sketch.

I then moved to the Canvas board and pencil sketched the outlines.
I laid out some gesso for texture on the white space outside of the Ganesha drawing and acrylic-painted the outlines of the Ganesha in a number 26 black.

I’ve shot the photograph but developing the film is going to take sometime. I’ll keep shooting at various stages of the painting and once the film is developed [ which will happen probably once the painting's actually done ], I’ll upload the photographs and update this post with the complete process.

This was the first stage of the painting.

This was phase two.

I’ve finished the painting [ and it's been sold already too! Yay! ]
I took photographs at some particular stages of the painting but with my Analog Fuji SLR so those shots are going to take time to be developed. Meanwhile I’d shot the final painting with my Nokia N72’s 2 megapixel camera and here’s the picture:

And here’s some more detail

This is the largest canvas I’ve done so far : acrylics on canvas board. Size : 60.96 cms x 91.44 cms or 24 x 36 inches. [ I use the Tri-Star Colman 100% canvas boards - their grain is better than the ones made by Camlin ].

The final painting.

UPDATE : September 07

I’ve bought the painting back from the original buyer after the got reviewed in the Mumbai Mid-day. The midday article is below and clicking on it will take you to a larger picture of the article.

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!