Seeing Red Dots

Gaurav Assomull of Marigold Fine Art rotated the artwork on display. “We have around 30 works. We have sold 45 per cent,and another 30 per cent is on reserve,” he said,as visitors gushed at the two Franck Tordjmann sculptures at his stall,each of which had sold for around Rs 6 lakh. The two Pablo Picasso lithographs also found takers.

At the Dusseldorf-based Beck & Eggeling stall,a Pablo Picasso etching,Le Cirque,sported the red dot as did a Viveek Sharma canvas titled Deep,which attracted attention due to its Obama imagery. “We have a few works on reserve. At the fair,we started to build a client list in India,” said Katja W Ott of the gallery.

Domestic galleries too found new collectors. “It is not just the regular collector,a new crowd is also reaching out to art,” said Uday Jain,director of Dhoomimal Gallery. He sold two Satish Gujral drawings for Rs 3 lakh each and two HA Gade watercolours. “The response has been much better than last year,” added Sunaina Anand,director,Art Alive gallery,who had a curated a show titled ‘Think Small!’. The collection included small works of veteran artists like SH Raza and Anjolie Ela Menon as well as those of Farhad Hussain and GR Iranna and the younger Angeli Sowani and Deepak Tandon. The price ranged from Rs 25,000 to Rs 7 lakh,and the stall registered a 40 per cent sale. “Since the size of the works was small,the price was affordable. Thus people who always wanted to own the works of renowned artists,could do so,” added Anand.

The Summit was also a platform to build contacts. “We sold only four works,but we succeeded in introducing ourselves to the collectors,” said Wahida Ahmed of the Guwahati-based Easel gallery,that was showing artists from the Northeast. Malini Gulrajani,director of Dubai-based 1×1 Art Gallery,showing a solo of Chittrovanu Mazumdar at the Summit,added,“We sold some small works. The larger installations are more difficult to sell,but people have shown interest.”

Three of the four Bhupen Khakhar watercolours on display at the Latitude 28 booth sold even before the Summit began on August 19. During the event,director Bhavna Kakar found a buyer for Rajesh Ram’s Ghar Ki Murgi Dal Barabar. It was picked up by a Korean auction house for Rs 2.10 lakh.

Michelle D’Souza,director of Lisson gallery,where Anish Kapoor’s works pulled in the crowd,said,“We have 35 works and have sold a fifth of these. An Indian collector picked up an Anish Kapoor.” She will be back next year. “The registration has started. Over 20 international galleries have registered,” smiled Kirpal. The footfalls at the Summit ’09? Over 40,000m; a fourfold increase from the crowd in 2008. And for once,many had come with the cheque-books ready.