Virtual Walls

‘‘We do not support it at all,’’ counters a tight-lipped Ina Puri, on behalf of artist Manjit Bawa. ‘‘Where is the impact of the colours, the size? Digital art is a dwarfing of the giant,’’ she says, asserting that Bawa will never sell online himself. Agrees young artist Baiju Parthan, ‘‘The gallery is a more committed space for discovering new artists and promoting them.’’

Despite Aman Nath of Art Today asserting that with online trade, ‘‘all artists, all day long, can show to everyone,’’ most art dealers are not in favour of online galleries. They, however, agree that a website is useful.

Mumbai-based gallery owners Geeta Raheja of the Fine Art Company and Pravina Mecklai of Jamaat are certain they would never trade in the physical gallery for a virtual one. Recent statistics on e-commerce in India — last month, only four per cent (around 1.36 lakh) of people who surfed the worldwide web in the country conducted cash transactions on it — reveals the reason for their trepidation.

Even Mumbai-based Saffronart, run by Minal and Dinesh Vazirani, which started out as an online gallery, now does a fair amount of travelling exhibitions, and their online auctions actually have physical previews.

Arun Vadhera of the Vadhera Gallery sums it up well: ‘‘Unlike the West, where museums show art and galleries sell them (you cannot enter many without an appointment), in India, galleries double up as museums. We cannot do away with them.’’

SO, does the entry of the virtual gallery reflect a depressed market or, offer a more democratic space where dealers, artists and buyers interact without cutting into each other?

Judging by what gallery owners have to say, it may seem the former. ‘‘Well, the Far East opted for online trade when the economy crashed and galleries shut shop to sell on the net,’’ explains Renu Modi of Gallery Espace.

However, it seems, it is specifically the stagnation in the Indian art mart that has forced many to sell out. ‘‘All galleries are selling the same artists,’’ explains Siddharth Tagore of Art Konsult. ‘‘Very few can create niches. Even if I curate an exhibition of young artists, I have to hang well-known works.’’ According to Tagore, all galleries have the same buyers’ list and the same art works, therefore, the only option for them is to cut commissions. ‘‘Nowadays galleries go as low as 8 per cent from the usual 33 per cent,’’ he says.

Peter Nagy, a New York-based artist and gallery owner, who set up Nature Morte in Delhi in 1997, closed his gallery two years ago. ‘‘I came here to work with young artists doing cutting-edge work because such promotions are big in New York. I thought the same could happen here but I overestimated the market. It is an extremely conservative market and you need to keep your Bawas and Husains on your racks all the time,’’ he says.

‘‘Abroad, a gallery will take on a group of artists and spend a long time promoting them. This means not only ensuring they sell, but selling them to the right collectors, the kind who others will follow, and to museums, so that it gives people the confidence to invest in them. In India, we are still going through an adolescence. There are no role models for buyers,’’ he adds.

It is also probably the reason why almost all galleries have cut down the number of shows in a season. ‘‘I would do six to nine shows earlier, this year I am planning five,’’ says Prima Kurien of the Delhi-based gallery Art Inc. The Kumar Gallery, one of the oldest galleries in India, is also down to six shows a year, while Tagore admits he has cut down on exhibitions considering the 2000 cards sent out for every show ‘‘where not even .01 per cent of the invitees turn up.’’ They are going at it the wrong way, says Vadhera. ‘‘We never sell from our shows, only from our stocks. Exhibitions, like books and catalogues on artists, do not yield immediate returns. They are all about long term gains of promoting an artist,’’ he explains.

Perhaps wisdom lies in the promotion of the artist, whether through galleries or online, and the choice, therefore, lies with the owner. Only time will tell which sells more profitably — a virtual or real gallery.