The number of visitors thronging the venue at NSIC Grounds in Delhi only seemed to have grown. But though it was the third and the penultimate day of the fair, there emerged a mixed response from both Indian and international galleries about the business they had generated, most being cautious about responding to enquiries about sales.
“It is our debut at the fair so we did not come with the expectation of selling at all,” said Benito Chicano of Imaginart Gallery, Spain, “we are happy enough with the encouraging response to our artists.” The artists Chicano is referring to are Picasso, Salvador Dali and Joan Miro. Interestingly, the gallery had chosen to show lithographs and prints of these masters which are priced in the range of Rs 13 lakh to 16 lakh which according to the gallerist was the right choice for the Indian market as “people would be able to buy.” But even though the gallery also had work by less famous names like Mariano Vargas and Martin Copertari, in the range of Rs 25,000 to Rs 1, 30,000, no deal had been struck by the end of the third day.
The same seemed the case with Dubai’s Gallery 1 x 1 which had introduced five most renowned Iranian artists to the fair as well as highly recommended artist Chirrovanu Mazumdar’s textile based wall installations. At the booth, young artist Simrin-Mehra Agarwal had a complete wall covered with a subtle yet powerful installation. Titled Hierarchy and comprising of 34 individual yet connected pieces in acrylic, wood and linen, the work is a reference to the personal memory of her family which is believed to have descended from the royal Jhargram dynasty. “I had shown Chittrovanu Mazumdar earlier at the fair and it was a sell out. Though I have had many enquiries about his work, I have not yet sold anything,” said Malini Gularajani, who hoped that the last day of the fair would see conversion of enquiries into sales.
Mumbai’s Sakshi gallery, which has one of the biggest booths at the fair and boasts of works by stalwarts like Ravinder Reddy, N. S Harsha and Sudhir Patwardhan among others, shared that though they had sold works by Surendran Nair and Rekha Rodwittiya, “business was slower than expected.”
Big names like Hauser and Wirth and White Cube, though “delighted at the response” did not confirm any sales so far either. But there were also those who could be seen smiling. Delhi gallery Latitude 28, which has five large scale mixed media works by Baroda-based artist Dilip Chobisa in a solo booth, confirmed that the entire booth was sold out. The gallery owner Bhavna Kakar was, however, quick to point out that the sale did not reflect the overall mood at the fair. “Younger artists, whose prices are far more accessible, sell more easily,” said Bhavna Kakar of Latitude 28.
Several galleries complained that buyers were getting confused because there were several galleries representing the same artist. “There is no exclusivity of any artist or any artwork any more,” said a gallery owner on condition of anonymity, “and while for younger names, one can make an instant purchase, to shell out big money, people want to think and ponder.”
A similar sentiment was voiced by Shefali Somani of Shrine Empire who had chosen to show work of artists only the galley exclusively represents. “We have sold Suchitra Gahlot’s video installation and Samanta Batra Mehta’s cabinet-installation. In the last edition, we had sold everything so I am a bit disappointed this time.”
And as the galleries prepare to go into a super aggressive mode for the last day of the fair, tomorrow will be another day.