Price of Everything and The Value of Nothing

Art Today.. in India

The other day I received an email inviting me to give few of my paintings in a 'charity exhibition'.. the terms were they mustn't be more that fifty thousand Indian rupees and I get 50% from sale... I agreed and gave away some of my 'better works' priced within the prescribed bracket, for it was a good cause. After a few days I get an email from unknown person claiming to have seen my works on the net and has been very impressed etc... and asking the prices of 2 of my works etc. (Not the works I had given away to the Charity exhibition.) I gave her the prices but never heard of her again; Acting on a hunch I just googled and 'facebooked" her email ID and found her to be some 'potter' (one of those who sell 'designer pots' to the elite.. not the humble potter who makes clay pots for our daily use, they are generally not on Facebook or on the net!!)
I was amused as the person wasn't old enough to look like a serious art collector..
Next day I hear from the 'Charity people' that I have priced my works over "my market price"... The 'Potter' was their spy/ decoy customer... who had enacted the entrapment!!!
This funny and sad episode truly exposes the decadence and utter ignorance that has set into the consumerist Indian society today...
Let me briefly go into the details for the one who are not aware of murky world of "Indian Art" today:
I have been painting and exhibiting my works since 1990 after my completion of four year of art college from Delhi College of Art, India. I never really took up any job as I wanted a fairly independent life and never believed a true artist should do a 9 to 5!! And fortunately didn't have to work in a claustrophobic binding environment... Maybe I was more lucky than the ones who had to sustain their families, and thus went on to join various 'jobs' available for art graduates...
Its been 20 odd years now... a life of hardship, struggle and most importantly of joy and fulfilment!! I have exhibited and sold my works around the globe... I still remember the money earned (Rs 1500) form the sale of my first work.. it was in Madras... well that some other day!!
When I had my first solo show in 1992 there were some really good art critics and they were the old school types... especially I remember Krishna Chaitanya, K.L. Kaul.. both dead now.. was fortunate to get very encouraging reviews not mention Keshav Malik. Later the art critics and writing about art and artists turned into a business... for a bottle of whiskey or cash one got a headline with razzle-dazzle reviews in our national dailies!! By late 90s the bosses at the newspapers must had got wind of the this nefarious activity and put an end to publishing reviews altogether... the critics went to town: "its mass commercialisation, the media doesn't want to waste its precious columns/newsprint on something as insignificant as art...when they can earn huge amount from advertisement etc!!" The reason must have been both. The once mighty art critics went around writing for artist's brochures and invitation cards!!
The one thing I have always have been intrigued is how to sell a painting and how to set a price... here I must tell you the story of my ragging:
I was being raged by two very serious, senior, arty types, the first day of my art college...
Two-serious-senior-arty-types: 'What is art"?
Me-nervous-fresher: 'Art is the out pouring of our soul...blah, blah, blah..'
Serious-senior-arty-types: 'Is it like a part of us etc?'
Me nervous-fresher (now falling in the trap): Yes a part of us...
"Like our own blood... like our offspring?"
"Yes, yes..." I replied getting very carried away now..
Their next remark still rings in my ears:
"Then tell me how come we sell our art? Would you sell your son or daughter?!!"
It was a funny comparison but it made sense...

A painting/sculpture is very dear to us..and selling it is a difficult act. Leonardo carried Mona Lisa around for 16 years (it was a commissioned work)... on pretext it wasn't finished yet!! But then it is also a happy occasion that its accepted and appreciated. I still feel the pang when I finally pack a work off to a buyer.. never to see it again. But I think these emotions are now a thing of the past with the crazy advent of art as a commodity, as an investment... the craze to sell overpowers all other emotions. Agree selling our work is important as its also our only source of livelihood.. here am referring to artists who are refereed to as "full-time". But that's how it is and has always been.. since a long-long time.
Something changed as we entered an era of liberalisation et al... suddenly there were loads of buyers, art galleries (these are not to be confused with galleries in the west... these are basically basements owned by rich husbands to lets his bored wives do a bit of arty business!!) and lot more 'artists' selling their wares!!! Artists and buyers both were now in a frenzy pace to become hot selling artists and big collectors respectively!! Like this diamond merchant from Bombay who bought some of my paintings sometime back. Within a few months he emailed me to know if my "works are going to go up or has they gone up etc?"!! I told him they don't go up and down like the stock market and anyway I am no 'investment' artist!! He felt betrayed and remorseful!! I don't expect him to buy my works ever in the future!!
Some years back when I was in Delhi I would visit my artist friends' studios while they are painting. They all painted in a frenzy... and all using Acrylic, the most important invention of all time in the medium of painting! No fuss, no smell (o I love the smell of linseed and turpentine...my wife loves me more because of that..she says!!) drys off as it leaves the brush!! And once in a while these artists would move away from their 'masterpiece' and ask: "बिकेगी? Will this sell, Roy?" Not how the work is coming along etc!!
They all goaded me as to why am not exhibiting and that there are so many buyers... and mostly they would laugh at my size... that is the size of my paintings!! I generally paint "small size" accordingly to them... like a 9x6 inches or a 10x12 (20x30cm, 30x 40cm)etc!! The maximum size I would paint was about 20x30 inches or 30"x 40" (100cm x90cm). Well the arguments was if you paint large sizes you get more money!! That is, a large painting is valued more in the Indian art market than a small 10x12inches!! So all these frenzied mad artists were busy painting humongous sizes like 78x 120inches!! Also during this time I heard the bizarre story that artists in Bombay (the so called Art capital of India) are now selling their works at 'square inch rate'... that is each artists has a rate say - Rs 1000 per sq. inch'!! I, of course didn't believe it till I got this email from the 'Charity people' who 'calculated' my 'rate' by taking a quote of some of my works and then dividing it by the size of the canvas!!! God please help me... (this is coming from a staunch atheist!!)
Yes size can be one of the factors.. but it is not the only factor which can make up the price of a painting!! Size only can affect the physical part of the painting.. like a big size canvas, more paint, more on logistics, may take more time and 'labour'!!... But these cant makeup the cost-value of the painting... a paintings cost because of its artistic value..it cannot be calculated with the size of the canvas... it makes me sick even to explain all this... this is so fundamental, even a child knows!! So what are those? The quality of the work is first and foremost... and this the artist decides..mostly...we asses our work first and then put a price, also I have had many a discussions with gallery owners or friends and have taken their views too... I judge my works very critically.. why it should be so priced..etc and its always the quality of the work.. the workmanship, skill... For artists are all human and we don't paint, cant paint in the same quality every time.. that's why we have this concept of a Masterpiece.. meaning a master's piece.. the best of the best.. and likewise we do produce some bad paintings..trash!! And those, I paint over...reuse, linen/ canvas is expensive!!
An artist cant possibly paint consistently, our quality, skill, workmanship, et al keep changing from canvas to canvas.. from one period to another... So lets say a canvas 24x30 inches cant possibly be exactly as beautiful as the next one.. so how can 2 works with the same size be priced same? Yes its convent for the galleries (Art shops) do price them evenly..but the artist must hold his ground..this his territory. He must decide.
There is also a policy a senior artist must price his work high.. and I don't get it... there were some who sold all their life works at a very consistent and affordable prices.. even when they were very famous.. I recall an Artist from Bengal who kept her prices very middle class through out her life!!
And now we have most artists (who are senior) trying to command unheard of prices only because they are old..and have been painting for long!!
The tragedy is that many of them try to fix a price according to their years in the circuit...which calculates to such an astronomical figure that they don't end up selling at all!! Recently one of them committed suicide as he was unable to sell!! I had know him since my art college days... a humble stupid man.. he rose high and for some years was very successful... but then he kept increasing his price..trying to keep up with others of his hierarchy... and a time came there wasn't any buyer left who could afford him!! He died penniless!!
I am not in their league and I have kept my prices very very humble... giving away many of my work free at times.
But my price is my price and i set it...not by size!! by my conviction of what it's artistic merit is..
To come back to the 'Charity Art people'..they told me I would have to bring price down and they gave me a figure!! Of course I had already backed out of the show!! But they were not used to artists standing up to them... they told me most of the "(Indian) art buyers are well educated and well versed with both trends as well as pricing of the works of the participating artists." The farce of selling and buy art has come to such that its now reduced to just taking a sample off and a simple calculation.. lo and behold you have the pricing of an artists!!! Just the way one shops for curtain/upholstery material, fabric!! My wife when she heard this said: "Tell the 'Potter spy' to make large-sized pots... it would definitely fetch her some big money!!!
This is where we have fallen..in a dark damp pit!! Imagine now sculptors selling their wares by kilogrammes!!! Rs 1000 per kg!! Or by volume?
What about writing? Poems? and short story writers? Lev Tolstoy's War and Peace would make a killing while Hemingway's Old Man and The Sea would find it tough going!!
When we judge some of the well know works around the world do we do so it by size?


 Les Iris Oil on canvas 71 cm × 93 cm (28 in × 36.625 in) 1889
Sold Price: $105, 000,000!!

What is the size of Mona Lisa? (77 ×53cm), Sunflowers (92.1×73cm) and Irises (71×93cm) by Van Gogh... some of Monet's Lilies are large.. but his intention were not to get more out of buyers!!
Here lets talk only of living contemporary artists... The pricing farce has reach such ludicrous level that some time you just feel like you are in a mad house!! For example we all are aware there is price for things attached to famous /infamous people... those who are dead and gone long back... like if I had an umbrella used by Monet, it would get me good money... its knickknacks like these which 'item collectors' pay and is often auctioned, quite understandable... they have their charm. But does it make sense in a country like ours where the so labelled 'famous senior artist' selling their scribbles, mindless drawings etc. for over cores of Indian rupees?!! This idiotic piece of 'Pen and Ink' on paper by Jogen Chowdhury (alive, famous-senior-artist-type) is priced at Rs.1,500,000 / USD $33,333 ?!! Its laughable..and plain stupid that someone will ever may pay such an amount!!

http://www.artflute.com/Products/Monument-To-The-Unknown_19.aspx

I want to end this essay with S.H. Raza, was in news recently for his work went for around $3,486,965 or approximately Rs 16 crore, a record amount and the media has gone mad over this..in fact media person is hoping who will now break this 'record' and reach a Rs 20 crore !! à la cricket score!!

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/kishore-singh-price-rise/459532/

After spending over 50 years in France when S.H. Raza wanted to donate his works et al to the place where he lived the city municipal refused!! Non of his works have been acquired by any of France's innumerable Museums...He returned to India few years back and I remember had gone to a nondescript art gallery in Haus Khas, New Delhi.. to get my works back.. as I waited patiently.. being told curtly by the gallery manager, "We have customers!!" as some foreign tourist walked in.. and all staff got busy sucking up to them!! Of course I raised hell and shot back, "And an artist is nothing? Is this a shop or an art gallery? Hold your customers at bay and return my works at once!!" In this melee an aspiring journalist who had come to interview the gallery owner came up to me and I took the opportunity to give 'the interview'!! Told her some hard facts about the state of art we live in!! On one corner of this art shop sat the company parrot making one phone call after the other, à la telemarketing. Parroting the same line over and over:
"We have Raza, we have Raza, world famous artist, M F Husain's friend blah blah etc"
It was pathetic... neither the caller nor the ones he was calling had any idea about the artist!! They must have got hold of his work as the old man was in town!!
Now wheelchair bound and painting in his lonely apartment. Outside a long queue of art galleries, art collectors awaiting to snatch up whatever Raza can paint...The scenario is like on National Geographic TV.. the vultures closing on an old dying majestic elephant!!

Reminiscences of an Unknown Artist

There is an old saying in India... "an artist can change society.." and like many old sayings its not applicable in this twisted world of today!! For an artist, poet, et al to do so, they must come up from cream of the society.. V.S. Naipaul said somewhere, since most of the bright and talented are driven these days to opt for other lucrative career, less and less talented are into writing, paintings...etc. and thus we see a drastic fall in the standard of thinkers, poets, artists, musicians, intellectuals... most are of poor intellectual level and without talent. This trend is more defined in the last 20 odd years. Back in school I remember when we had to chose in Senior Secondary School (Class/Standard 11 & 12) after completion of Secondary School (Class 10) I was the only one among boys to take up Arts (Humanities) rest in my group were all forced, as their grades/marks were too low!! All the "bright ones" en mass joined the other two branches: Science and Commerce... the top graders went to Science the next best took up Commerce.. and the rest, the rejects, the dumbs, the stupids.. had no choice but to take up Humanities or leave studies!! In art college, which one could joined only after the completion of 2 year of Senior Secondary(+2) many boys came came via a stint or struggle of few years in Science/Engineering/Commerce colleges etc. Only exception were the girls.. they all came straight from school as Indian parents consider painting as the ideal hobby-course for their daughters!! It raises the bar for them, later in 'arrange marriage market'!! In the case of boys it was a disaster to be in an art college!! A common joke in our art college days:
One mother to another:
"What does your son do?"
"He is painting ...artist."
"OK, but what does he do?"
Painting, sculpture, pottery etc was only for girls as it enhances their charm in the arrange marriage!! I am sure things haven't changed much since.

An artist can change society etc. only when he has come up the right way.. through his talent and hard work.. an artist who is weak, corrupt, one who is here only for the lure of money can hardly do anything worthwhile.. as a child my father would constantly say: "Only the best should be in fine arts, there is no place for the the second best in art... you are either an artist or not at all.. you can not be a 'bad artist'.. its a misnomer!!"

Now, like the other old saying its not so, the art world is a crowded place... all and sundry can be artist!! The right connection, the right look, ability to speak English and you can be one!! Your ability to draw or paint is of no consequence!!

Artist community driven only by the lure of money has created a strange kind of breed. Let me illustrated the point with some real life anecdotes.

One of my aritsts' friend's father also an artist, in his younger days had gone to Kathmandu, Nepal for a show with his fellow artists... the show was a dismal failure in terms of turn out and sale, as was the case with most art shows during 60s, 70s. At the end of the show they sat looking at the 'streatched canvases' and wondering how would they take it all back etc. Having exhausted all money in putting up the show in a far away land.. Some hanger-ons and passerby suggested "Why don't you leave it here?"

The group of young artists decided to burn their works in a huge mass fire and came home empty hand...

Now let me give you today's scenario: one of my buyers from Bombay, who I feel is a bit of a connoisseur tells me this:
"Roy, tell me what's wrong with you guys?"
"You know I love to brows paintings etc after my office and many a time after office love go to Jehangir art gallery but if it happens to be the last day of a show and closing time... then I had it!! Artists exhibiting would follow me out and beg on bended knees:
"Please sir, please pick up any work.. price no issue.. its our last day etc.!!"
"Please sir, we don't have money to take them back!!"
As I heard this my face burned with shame and I wanted to disappear..

There is an old-old distant aunt living in Italy... once a contemporary of M.F. Husain, F.N. Souza, Biren De etc. fairly successful artist of 50s, 60s.. then she like many migrated to Europe, and she is very honest about it... "Animesh all these artists who are now big in India, all drove away to the West for money. India in the 50s, 60s, 70s was a tough place for artists with a very bleak future.. One could only at best get a school teacher's job... so don't believe all these romantic bullshit about being driven by desire to see Cezanne and to study European art, it is a cover up.. all were looking for a way to be able to sell, survive on their work.. and what better place than the West in those times.." Many got married there and settled down..and many more managed various scholarships to prolong their stay...once there, their artistic stature too raised back home..'Indian artist in Paris' had charming effects on Indian collectors...

Now this aunt few years back was planning an exhibition in Delhi and asked me to take her around some galleries to catch up the trends and to see gallery space etc. We go into a public gallery with a show going on, she looks at the works hanging on the wall, the artists is present, rushes with his price list. My aunt asks the young man some questions about his works, prices and gives her good wishes and we leave. As we do so, the artists has followed us out and confronts us with:
"Madam how much you want to pay?"

Once my old aunt, in the 60s was exhibiting in Bombay and a very well know starlet had dropped in.. I don't remember the details, but she threw out the film star on a minor issue:
"Miss, please get out!! This is no film-set of yours..its an art gallery!!" etc.

That was then and this is now.. as I see innumerable snapshots of todays' artists getting their show "inaugurated" by nondescript actors, TV anchors, models.. I just cringe in shame!! Do we really need them to enhance our work?!

According to an aspiring artist, I meet some time back, we do. I was planning a show in the capital after a 10 year hiatus!! Someone suggested I speak to this young artist, well versed and up-to-date with present day scenario!
Called him up and he replies like a pro:
"Look dude, this is long term."
"Yes I agree, " my reply.
"See I am doing it very methodically..."
"Sure that's the way to do it.. long रिअज़, लगन,  practise, साधना.. as our Gurus, our उस्तादs would say..." I added my bit.
There was long silence at the other end and then the young upstart says:
"Look I have been going through 'Page 3' of all English Dailies and making cuttings.. and now, I know fairly well 'who's who of art' and what to do.. I advise you start your research too."
He sounded dead serious !!

As I reached my venue to put up my works on the D-day..the artist who's show had just finished, was winding up.. he was in high spirits. He had managed to sell most of his works, wares.. No, he wasn't from any recognisable art schools.. he had put his show with his equally enterprising wife, a broad spectrum of works, paintings - acrylic on canvas depicting Ganesha (Diwali was right down the corner), and portraits of a grotesque looking man he proudly said, "Buddha is very popular now.. more than Ganeshas!!", sculptures, pottery and a huge eagle in plaster of Paris!! His show looked like an Indian Government school art room!!
"So who is inaugurating your show?" he asked, as he started to pack the huge plaster eagle...
"No one in particular.. actually no opening ceremony... just some of my friends are coming etc.." I mumbled at him.
"No-no-no-no.. you have to call some celebrity, then you see you get mentioned on Page 3 etc. etc.,"  was his shocked response.
He looked at me as if I was suicidal!!

My show was a quite affair and most disappointed were the gatekeepers of the gallery:
"किया साहब, आप भी... "
"किसी Mandira Bedi को बुलाते, दीखते कितने काम आपके बिक जाते!!"
(What sahib, why didn't you call some starlet? All your paintings would have sold!!")
He obviously did not mention his chance at ogling at some skimpily clad starlet.
He was right, I didn't attract much crowd during the show and sold even less!! During the show one of my old gallery owner from a well know gallery came to cheer me up... while with me at the gallery he was busy talking most of the time on his mobile:
"Yes, yes, lots of Page 3 people are coming (and he parroted off a list of 'VIP of Page 3' from Delhi)...."

He was in the processing of organising an art exhibition, à la India style!!


You can view my works here..

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1150497601464.2023841.1198322224&type=1&l=1afa8461db

Art of Animesh Roy

Left Blooming Alone
Acrylic on Paper, 10 x 13.5 inches 1991-2(?)
Sold

Red Roofed House with Lilac Trees
 Oil on Canvas, 50x40cm
April 2011
For Sale
Painted on location

Sunflowers, Tuscany, Italy-2
Acrylic on Linen
21 x 21 cm
8.3x8.3 inches
2011
Painted on Location
For Sale

Lanckorona-2
Oil on Linen
22cmx27cm
8.7x10.6"
March 2009

you can view more works here:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1918500561058.2115644.1198322224&type=3&l=5f5c50fb7b