The third and final New York City fall Indian art auction took place on 21st September with Sotheby’s Contemporary Art South Asia sale, and ended the week with quite a buzz. The morning session had 80 lots up for sale; of these, 35 (60%) surpassed their pre-estimated range, with some selling well—very, very well.
Buyers seemed to be in a discriminating mood, more discerning in their tastes, as 21 lots (26%) were passed in favor of break-through artists who are generating prices the PAG did not too long ago. For starters, Zarina Hashmi’s cast paper piece Phool, estimated at $15,000 - $20,000 finished at $73,000*, a Shobha Broota untitled oil on canvas for $61,000 (est. $8,000 - $12,000), and G. Ravinder Reddy’s pigment and gold leaf on terracotta bust for $70,600. Other names making their mark were Jyothi Basu (untitled oil on canvas, $82,600), Jayashree Chakravarty (her large-scale 'scroll' painting Space Within, $61,000), and Rashid Rana (The World is Not Enough, $91,000).
Midway through, bidding skyrocketed for exceptional works by exceptional artists. The final hammer fell for Subodh Gupta’s mixed media life-size sculpture of a family on a Vespa at $277,000, Chintan Upadhyay’s installation with thirty-three sculptures titled New Indians at $529,000, a TV Santhosh oil on canvas for $205,000 (est. $20,000- $30,000), and the show-stopper, Atul Dodiya’s Father, an enamel paint on metal roller shutters, acrylic and marble dust on canvas piece that came in at an eye-popping $601,000 (est. $230,000 - $280,000). Another work by Dodiya, Man From Kabul sold later on for $313,000.
Other artists who may be making a name for themselves, as this sale suggests, are Ashim Purkayastha, Abir Karmakar, Jitish Kallat, Justin Ponmany, Sonia Khurana, Shibu Natesan, GR Iranna, and Farhad Hussain.
Collectors and dealers of Indian contemporary art might be driven by demand for strong artworks with an outstanding provenance, created by talented artists; whatever the case, total sales for this day were a very nice $3,202,300. Include Sotheby’s and Christie’s auctions earlier in the week, and that figure rises just shy of $20,000,000. A very good three-day tally for artwork of this still-growing and dynamic art market.
* All prices include Buyer's Premium
Friday, September 21, 2007
Superlative Works Get their Due at Sotheby’s
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3 comments:
I dont understand this market at all. How can someone pay for just colors on a canvas. I am be I need to get intellectual education here.
This market is very interesting to watch it seems the Asian art market in general and especially India and China have been growing by leaps and bounds in the past few years. This spring when the auction season starts back up will be a very exciting time to see if the market continues to go upward
Wow. I think it's really cool that Tamarind Art is helping some of these artists get exposure and recognition through sales.
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