I would love to own a Gaitonde: Tushar Sethi

The recently held AstaGuru Modern Indian Art Auction hosted and curated by Tushar Sethi broke the records among all the art auction houses across the country with a whopping Rs.20 crores as the total turnover. The auction housed masterpieces by legendary artists like Raja Ravi Varma, Rabindranath Tagore, Jamini Roy, F.N Souza and many more.
The dynamic director of the ICIA trust speculates that the art market will soar soon and the Masters of Art will come back strongly! Over to him...

What was the key reason behind the auction's whopping success?
The auction had some very rare works like Nandlal Bose, Gaitonde, 1950's Raza etc. We had a national art treasure as well which are from a private collection of a freedom fighter. The late Indira Gandhi had banned the export of a few artists that were rare to come by. These unique pieces garnered a lot of interests from across India, from individuals, who were bidding simultaneously. We did three auctions in a row - first one comprising the Masters like FN Souza and SHA Raza, which started from Rs 20,000. The second was dedicated to contemporary, funky artists, which was followed by a major Indian masters auction. There was 95 per cent sale thanks to the online medium. Procuring is the key element and auction-able artwork is the key. This was our 19th auction.

In December, we are planning our first collectible sale, which will have rare watches, antique jewellery, jamewar shawls, 300-year-old antiques sculptures and carpets besides international memorabilia like a jacket signed by Michael Jackson, autographs by filmstars like Al Pacino and Charlie Chaplin, a guitar signed by the entire Beatles group are lots that shall appear in this sale. There are different things we are trying out in 15 product categories like antiques, textiles, artefacts, etc. For example, a pendant which was made by Anjolie Ela Menon with some diamonds, some jewellery boxes by Laxma Goud and works by Vaikuntam. The antiquities section comprises of Chola bronzes (Chola was the best period for Indian bronze). In future, we'll get into these options individually. Also, in future we want to get into classic cars. This section has a huge potential as this entire segment is untapped.

And most importantly it is our team that brings everything together

What's the demographics of today's art buyer? Are they open to buying new artists or they buy for investments?
It is mostly 35 to 60 - people who have dispensable income. It varies and depends on collectors. The old collectors look for rare pieces while the younger ones look for contemporary pieces to match their home environment. We have 2,500 registered bidders. There are also people who only collect contemporary art and don't look at masters. Every segment has their own buyer base.

How's art as an investment online - authenticity, delivery...difficult to sell luxury online...Indians think twice before they pair of jeans..
Luxury does have an element where one has to mix online and offline. In order to combine the two we host art previews where collectors can come and see artworks. We send out the catalogs to collectors who go through the book and if they like a particular piece, they call and inquire about the provenance condition etc. We have buyers across the board and even internationally hailing from NYC, London, Hong Kong amongst other places..

Authenticity and provenance is very important so we take hardcore precautions like documentation, history of it and also get it checked by experts. For example, Jamini Roy never used artificially paints, He made all his paints himself, we check and test it as well. Art is an important asset class for every one and we take good care to make sure what we put together are the right works

Colours of painting online and seeing it in real and look different on computer, MAC and phones...what precautions have you taken?
We do our photography from professionals and we ensure the colours match. Even light coming out of the computer can change the shades of the painting. We try to be as close as possible to it and we print the catalogues and people know what the work looks like.

Valay Shende a contemporary artist just did an exhibition in Paris and we created a world record price in our auction. As an Indian auction house we have managed to create superb pricing because of the awareness we generate. It's fun and I love it - tapping into new markets, understanding the buyers...We have a fantastic Facebook following which is the largest in the country.

How's the future of the gallery scene and gallery openings given the digitisation wave?
Digital is the future definitely although a genuine look feel and touch has to be there. To understand the artwork one has to see them personally. We have got put together 150 artworks at St Regis as part of an art programme with the hotel. We are curating it for them. India lacks museums. Mumbai only has Prince of wales and NGMA. Internationally, awareness of art comes from experiences like a school trip to a museum, which is not there in India. We want to take St Regis as a flagship scenario where people can interact with artworks. Thanks to Atul and Gayatri Ruia and Amit Bhosale we'll have catalogues placed in every room and people can go through artworks. There shall be an art walk organised for guests 3 times a week. They will be taken around and shown the artworks comprising Husain, Raza, Souza as well as contemporary artists. This shall be a step in the right direction for people at large to interact with artworks in a public space

JJ school of art and other colleges are primarily art knowledge centres in India while most Indian art students have no options but to go abroad for a formal art education?
Art in India has only started changing momentum in the last 10 years. Parents would never encourage their kids to pursue art because no artist was ever rich and most of them starved. However, today kids are encouraged to go to art schools. India lacks good education but there are bastions like Shanti Niketan which has superb heritage artworks. India is still in a very early stage. A Husain painting comes to a crore but an international master in China shoots up to 20 million dollars, which is a 150 crores for a painting. As paintings become rarer prices will go higher. Someone like a Tyeb Mehta who sells for Rs 15 crores, has only created 300 to 400 paintings which is a small amount for India's wealthy buyer base

Which city according to you is the art capital of the world and why?
New York because it's got a large numbers of galleries and also liquidity, which is essential to drive the art market. Also, the city has varied tastes and the culture is so metropolitan comprising graffiti, wall art, sculptures and taste coming from across the world - European, Indian, Japanese, Chinese, Russian. Major auctions done by Christie's and Sotheby's happen in NYC.

Which art movement in history appeals to you and why? Also, which art movement sells and why?
Every era has its own importance be it - the Expressionist era or the Surrealist era of Salvador Dali or Pop art by Andy Warhol ... everyone is important and each one created spectacular artworks. Old masters sell - be it Monet or Picasso, which is the most successfully marketed artist or Francis Bacon. Paul Cézanne's Card Player sold for Rs 1,500 crore.

Which nationality buys Indian art the most and why?
Indian art is bought by Indians across the board and same is true for Chinese and Russians, who buy their own art. Picasso has a demand throughout the world.

Any painting or artwork on your wish list and why?
I love buying and collecting. I would love to own a Gaitonde, because I don't have one.

Three upcoming art talents you admire?
Valay Shende, Suryakant Lokhande is superb and Nantu Bihari.

Modern Indian Art Auction Statistics
Astaguru successfully concluded its 19th fine art auction with some record braking figures. The auction which was conducted on 20-21 August, 2015 registered a total turnover of around Rs. 20 crore, making it the highest ever recorded by the company for a single auction. In terms of efficiency, Astaguru matched the figures of some of the leading auction houses with 93 per cent of the total lots presented sold in this auction. A headline grabbing moment went to Lot number 10, Untitled, paperwork by Nandalal Bose which went for a record breaking price of Rs. 2.9 crore (including buyer's premium). It became the most expensive work to have ever sold of the artist in an auction.

Contemporary Indian Art Statistics

It has been a rocky road for the contemporary market in recent years. However, Astaguru's auction held in July, 2015 indicated it wasn't all bad. The total turnover for the evening stood just over Rs. 4 crore. On individual front, two artists set record prices for their respective works. The first was Neeraj Goswami, his Untitled, oil on canvas work sold for just over Rs. 22 lacs (hammer price including buyer's premium). The work which previously held the record was sold back in 2008 in an Asatguru auction for around Rs. 6 lacs (hammer price including buyer's premium). Similarly Venkat Bhotsa, the other artist, whose untitled sculpture sold for a record price of Rs. 11 lacs (hammer price including buyer's premium). Like Neeraj Goswami the work that held the record previously was sold right before the market crash in 2008 in Astaguru's February auction.

Although Valay Shende's sculpture- 'Dabawalla' which featured in Astaguru's contemporary auction 2015, might have fallen just short of breaking the all-time price record it did however become the most expensive artwork sold in an auction in India at Rs. 68 lacs.