Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Fall in art prices – artists follow the affordable art route






The market in 2011 has not been very favourable for Indian art. After the euphoria that existed in 2006, the prices of Indian artists have mellowed down. Both modern and contemporary artists have shown a falling trend. For instance, there has been a 20% drop in price of Raza’s paintings (source: Art trust).
Artists however have adopted a new strategy to make sure that their art is still affordable to the public. There is a noticeable two-fold strategy they are following:

Artist are creating smaller format works and reducing their per square feet prices a bit. The combination makes sure the works are affordable and does not hurt their overall market price (in terms of square feet).

The other strategy to provide the public with affordable art is to move to the use of pen / pencil mediums rather than acrylic or oil as they can justify the lower prices. Most of these are done on paper, which again is a relatively inexpensive material.

This is a win-win situation and a quite innovative one at that. Art lovers get to buy their favourite and/or renowned artists at lower rates than the usual canvases. This also makes art more affordable to a larger base and helps bring in new collectors wanting to possess an artwork. On the other hand, this strategy helps the artist increase their fan base and keep their tillers ringing. It also encourages innovation in their works in terms of subjects.

I think now is the time to make purchases of renowned artists, as they may not be this affordable a time later. It’s a good chance to possess some previously unaffordable signatures and names.