Get art smart!

Looking at owning art that will lend your home that classic touch and work as smart investment as well? We tell you how to go about knowing and then buying your art - from scouring through various talents to budgets. Check out our recommendations! By Smita Singh

Art and You
If you have been keeping yourself away from indulging in art because you don’t fancy yourself as a connoisseur, it’s time to bring home your first treasure. No expert can tell you which piece of beauty will be a joy forever, it’s what you feel when you look at a painting that will help you make the right choice. Here, we take you through the amazing process of seeking and finding what you respond to the most.

Where to go?
There are several prestigious galleries in most major cities and also exhibitions in smaller ones - keep your sight on announcements for these, subscribe to art magazines, make contact with private curators and visit the many websites that list new artists, fresh styles and reviews. Some of the most prestigious galleries in the country are in Mumbai - the topmost being the Pandol Art Gallery where even an unknown artist is catapulted to a great future if featured. Chemould Art Gallery in Mumbai is worth a mention too. In Delhi you have the Delhi Art Gallery with a great website - http://www.delhiartgallery.com. Other impressive art galleries in Delhi are -Vadehra Art Gallery and Dhoomimal Gallery. Also in Delhi the Bose Pacia Art Gallery from New York partners with Nature Morte Art Gallery focusing on contemporary art in India. In fact Art Alive Gallery that has curated shows and catalogues has a great website that aids your choice - www.artalivegallery.com. You can also visit the online gallery http://www.indianartcollectors.com/ as well as http://www.affordindianart.com for a great display of a variety of work.

How to make the decision
Owning a fabulous painting is a joy in itself, but plenty of galleries and curators today suggest that it’s also an investment- a collection that will give you delight for many years and great returns on your investment when you are ready to pass it on. We are aware that a celebrated M F Hussain painting will cost you millions, but there are plenty of artists within reach whose imagination, craft and journey you can follow even though they may not be as recognised now. So start with exploring art at a gallery near you, follow exhibitions and auctions, meet artists and spend time learning what you like- the colours, the themes, the brush strokes before narrowing down on the artist. Once you know what you respond to, take time to seek information about the popularity, scope and potential of that artist’s work, as well as hot sales and styles to help you decide if this is a valuable investment for you.

Picture Perfect - Affordable Art
If you are just starting out, and want to collect pieces without spending too much in the beginning, you could start with buying bigger works of lesser known artists or on the other hand, you could go for the established artists but buy limited editions rather than unlimited since the price gets more competitive for the former. A good thing for beginners would be to go for artists who are backed by galleries and always demand for a document of authenticity while making the purchase. Here are the various brackets and artists whose work you can take a look at -

Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 50,000 - Mohan Malviya, Apurva Desai, Manish Modi, Mithu Sen, TM Aziz
Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 100,000 - Partha Shaw, Ravikumar Kashi, Viraj Naik, Nupur Kundu
Rs. 100,000 to Rs. 200,000 - Akhitam Narayanan, Harshvardhana, Shuvaprasanna, Vaikuntam, Sujata Bajaj, Veer Munshi
Rs. 200,000 onwards - Anjolie Ela Menon, Laxman Goud, Paritosh Sen, K G Subramanyam, Yusuf Arakkal, Lalu Prasad Shaw, Sakti Burman

If you are not looking for investment but would like to light up your space within a budget, you could go for signed prints of established artists like Anjolie Ela Menon, Laxma Goud, Vaikuntam, and Yusuf Arakkal that cost anywhere between 2,500 to 5000 Rupees.