Yash Birla makes his way into US art mart by following the money

NEW YORK: US art buyers don’t have to rely solely on Asian galleries and auctions at Sotheby’s and its rival Christie’s to buy great contemporary Indian art. Mumbai industrialist Yash Birla is now bringing modern works to the US though his new global art distribution company. 

The young Birla scion’s Birla Art International not only has an impressive inventory of hundreds of works by over 40 contemporary Indian artists, but it also offers potential US art dealers and retail galleries a peek at works in progress. It will even help US buyers get in touch with Indian contemporary masters so that they can commission new works. “The Birla family has always been a great patron of art and therefore this venture was imminent,” said Birla, chairman of the Yash Birla Group. 

“Contemporary Indian art seems to be heading for new frontiers and art is being looked at as an asset class like equities, gold or real estate,” he added. 

Truer words were never spoken. Today, wealthy Indians both at home and abroad believe investing in art can be as “prestigious as a good address” and as profitable as playing the stock market. BusinessWeek pointed out that art has been the “best investment” in India in recent years and given higher returns than even bellwether firms like Wipro, Tata and Infosys. 

“To get supercharged returns, you’d have done far better with a painting by Ram Kumar. A 6-foot-by-4-foot oil that sold for $32,000 in 2003 might fetch $500,000 today — a 1,462% run-up,” calculated the US magazine. The Birla Art International catalogue will not only carry works by Ram Kumar that are zooming in value but feature other established and upcoming artists like Jogen Choudhury, Krishen Khanna, Deepak Shinde, Vilas Shinde, Jitish Kallat, Bose Krishnamachari. 

Photo historian and curator Niyatee Shinde has worked hard to build an eclectic Birla Art catalogue for US dealers and veteran collectors.

Shinde has also picked trendy modern works that will appeal to younger Indian art world newcomers.

“We have consistently worked with belief in the work of Indian artists and our roster of artists reads like a hall of fame. These names constitute the finest,” said Shinde who will rotate art works between Articullate Gallery in Mumbai and the US market. 

There has long been a global market for Indian miniature paintings, sculptures and antiquities. But now there is a surge of interest in the country's modern art. Last month’s Sotheby’s auction of Indian art in New York fetched a record $15 million. Tyeb Mehta's 1987 “Falling Figure” sold to a multinational corporation in Singapore for $1.1 million smashing the presale estimate of $8,00,000.