Profitable, Coffee Table133; Art

SUDDENLY, anything concerning contemporary Indian art is hot. And the latest industry to enjoy the glow is publishing. Books and catalogues on Indian art are flying off the shelf in Indian metros. Last year alone, over 30 new titles on art have entered bookstores. They all seem to find buyers, despite costing upwards of Rs 2,000. 8220;Not everyone can afford to buy paintings for Rs 2 lakh, but you can spend Rs 2,000 and admire them in a book,8221; says Poonam Malhotra of Full Circle bookstore at Delhi8217;s upscale Khan Market. Full Circle has started what it calls the Art Book Studio within their premises, a spe-cific area dedicated to books on Indian artists and art. Over 35 per cent of the shop8217;s sales in the coffee-table book segment comes from art books.

Not only books on art, but art catalogues are also get-ting increasingly impressive. As the industry becomes more mature and customers more demanding, galleries are spending serious money on art catalogues. Renu Modi of Delhi8217;s Gallery Espace believes a swank glossy on the artists goes a long way with buyers. 8220;New buyers like to know about the artists8217; previous exhibitions, back-ground and education,8221; says Modi. 8220;We put it together and it serves as a reference point.8221; These catalogues are distributed among curators, collectors and customers. Top galleries spend close to Rs 2 lakh pub-lishing just 500 copies. Peter Nagy of Nature Morte gallery in New Delhi says there8217;s grow-ing awareness about Indian artists abroad. Nature Morte8217;s catalogues are available at the Metropolitan Museum in New York and the Asian Art Archive in Hong Kong.

8220;Overseas buyers want to increase their knowledge of Indian artists,8221; says Nagy. 8220;In-ternational quality documentation is essen-tial to tap the overseas market.8221; However, there are skeptics who question whether we have an art reading public. Art historian Alka Pande be-lieves galleries spend on books on artists to flatter them, hoping they8217;ll choose their gallery to exhibit their works. 8220;Remember, there8217;s a huge shortage of works by senior artists,8221; says Pande.

Three books on artist Krishen Khanna came out simul- taneously in 2005. Gayatri Sinha, author of Krishen Khanna: The Embrace of Love says there are more people commissioning books on art than ever before. 8220;People like me have a lot of work,8221; she says. 8220;But we still need art historians to document trends and do analytical studies on various Indian art forms.8221;

As prices of art hit the roof, customers are spending more time reading books which help verify the authentic-ity of the artist8217;s work. It also helps reassure them of their investment, in case they choose to resell the painting. A bestseller these days is The Edge of Desire8212;Recent Art in In-dia by Chetanya Sambrani. Flamed Mosaic by Neville Tuli and 101: A guide to Contemporary Indian Artists by Amrita Jhaveri have become must-reads for the new art buyer. A biography on Amrita Sher-gil by Yashodhara Dalmia is currently doing well. Says artist Iranna G.R, who8217;s spent 15 years painting and is ready with a catalogue of his works: 8220;I8217;ve changed, my work has changed in 15 years. This is to remind me of my past.8221; And us too.