Will Asian Art survive the recession?

Recession has hit everyone from the biggest bankers to the smallest share holders, from the corporate honchos to the retail shopkeepers. But while many of the sectors of economy are struggling to suurvive somewhow, one sector, it seems is already showing signs of battle fatigue. It is art.

The last ten years had seen an unprecedented growth of the fine arts sector.  The indian republic, which is the largest and the most populous country of the region accounts for almost forty percent of the region’s global trade. Indian films dominate the film market in the entire area and has a sizeable presence in the middle east. In 1991, the government of India had opened up its economy to international trade and since then the Indian market got exposure to international brands.

Painting by Devajyoti Ray

Along with the global business houses, India also witnessed the entry of international art auction houses like Bonhams, Borubudur Auctioneer, and then Christie’s and Sotheby’s. Indian art and artists got international exposure and many soon became the toast of the western art world.

Subodh Gupta, one of India’s young generation artists fetched record price for a contemporary art-work ever at an auction organised by thwe Christie’s. Bose Krishnamachari, another artist took Indian art to a new high as he organised a series of participations for artists from Indian subcontinent in various Internatioanl fairs. This helped artists like Rashid Rana of Pakistan, Iqbal Ahmed of Bangladesh among others to ttain international standings. Many of the artists’ art works were aquired by important international art houses, museums and galleries. All these artists are young and below forty.

Such unprecedented growth was possible due to largley the expatriat subcontinental community now living in Europe and America; a community that is not only quite large but latelya has also become quite influential in the socio-political affairs of Europe and America.

But now with recession, suddenly the sales of the art works have fallen drastically. The expatriat community is losing jobs in Europe and USA, the international auction houses have decided to not sell Indian art works for the next one year. And all the hulabaloo that was happening in the art world looks like a bubble in rear-view mirror.  Many of the galleries in India and Pakistan are closing down, many of the artists have cancelled their shows. Clearly the art world looks scared.

Yet all is not bad, says some. While the boom in art market had attracted almost anybody with money to open a gallery in the hope of cashing  in  on the situation, the recession is likely to throw most such non-serious players out of market. Many flashy artists with very little talent supported bya corrupt press touted themselves as the next big thing. Such artists are also likely to exit the arena. So it s a cleansing process that was required, argues some, inorder to make art prevail over gimmicks.

As can be seen from a recently held show at Karachi, some of the best artists of Pakistan like Ijaz ul Hasan are still holding grounds. Devajyoti Ray one of India’s best known artists in recent time is holding shows successfully in Dubai, and Europe. His works are very much in demand in Middle East. Also many of the auction houses like Bonhams continues to buy works of subcontinental artists though at bargained prices. Borubudur recently bought a whole lot of works of Indian artists, which would be presented at a future date for auctions when the art market revives.