A Dalliance with dali

When Gaurav Assomull planned a gallery to showcase European art in Delhi in January, the art mart was still on a high. 8220;There was a boom and everything was selling,8221; says the CEO of Marigold Fine Art.

Want to see Salvador8217;s watch melting over a tree? The new gallery at the Claridges will show its miniature reproduction, along with Picasso lithographs and Arman8217;s violins

When Gaurav Assomull planned a gallery to showcase European art in Delhi in January, the art mart was still on a high. 8220;There was a boom and everything was selling,8221; says the CEO of Marigold Fine Art. Ten months hence, as he readies for the inauguration of his gallery that will replace the space occupied by Ye Old Bakery at The Claridges hotel, the timing may not seem perfect anymore, with recession seeping in, but Assomull is confident that the collection will find takers. 8220;There is always demand for quality art,8221; beams the 23-year-old, admiring Pablo Picasso8217;s self-portrait in lithographs and Salvador Dali8217;s sculptures in miniature version that will comprise the inaugural exhibition that will begin on November 22.

Among Dali8217;s four limited-edition sculptures are Profile of Time where the watch melts like camembert on a branch and reminds you of his famous painting The Persistence of Memory; and Space Venus where Botticelli8217;s beauty turns into a headless, surreal torso hallucinating about evanescence. The three Picasso lithos from the Portraits Imaginaires series show his vigorous, quirky strokes and. Signed by the master, they are about 65 cm x 75 cm.

Besides the Dalinian world and Pablo gazing at himself will be original works by French-born American artist Arman aka Armand Pierre Fernandez. His violins deconstructed in bronze, including the 2005 Violon Cubiste, come for Rs 8-15 lakh. There will also be original works by four young European artists and an American settled in Europe. The German Jorg Doering8217;s canvases featuring icons like Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn will occupy one wall, and suspended close to them will be 40-year-old American David Kracov8217;s shadow box images of Warner Bros8217; characters, including Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. The French sculptor Stephane Cipre, meanwhile, has made Gandhi in metal. At Rs 49 lakh, it the highest priced.

8220;People may not be familiar with all the artists, but those who come to see the masters will get a chance to look at other works, and might just like them,8221; says Assomull, who spent a year researching the market, collaborating with artists across Europe and getting hands-on experience by working at Bel Air Fine Art Gallery in Geneva. 8220;We did not want to bring anything that might create controversy,8221; adds Assomull.

The Picasso lithographs cost between Rs 5 lakh and 10 lakh, while a miniature reproduction of Dali, authenticated by the Salvador Dali Foundation in Barcelona, is priced at Rs 15-29 lakh. 8220;This is bound to appreciate and I8217;m willing to buy back a work from anyone who is unhappy with it a year later,8221; says Assomull, who has another exhibition of European art lined up early next year and hopes to expand to Mumbai. 8220;The response during the inaugural show will determine the future course,8221; he smiles. And though Indian art will be absent from the display, the gallerist promises that he will have the artists in attendance for the opening.