Time is GMT + 8 hours Posted: 27-Jan-2008 15:03 hrs

• India’s economic boom fuels investment in art by new rich Indian workers- giving last minute touches before the opening of a press preview for Christie’s Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art collection, in New Delhi, in August 2007.
• India’s economic boom has fuelled demand for condos, cars and company stocks but some of the new wealth created in Asia’s third-biggest economy is finding its way into art.
• The trend was on show last week at a Bangalore sale to snap up works by modern Indian artists such as Maqbool Fida Husain, Jamini Roy, Vasudeo Gaitonde and F.N. Souza 

, “We all live under the same sky, but our horizons differ…” this saying comes to my mind seeing this newspaper clipping in the Economic times about art in India…!

A Bit about me : I am Rukshana Hooda from Mumbai, India, Passed out doing Fine Arts, as a Textile Designer from Sir J.J. School Of Art & Sophia College Mumbai, a Visual Artist a simple down to earth, sensitive, human-being, in love with nature, I love to paint with acrylics, charcoals, on canvas, thick cartridge, teak, fabric, create texture through various interesting mediums ~ I can always admire everything in nature, its funny but the simple things always fascinated me, like the birds chirping, the sunrise , sunset, the skies with those wonderful hues, the trees, the horizon, I simply love & adore the people here in India, their simplicity, their daily chores, the village life, all this has played an important role in my thinking, my paintings, my lifestyle, & how I would love to work with them, help them, when traveling listen to these common people., their life, their thoughts, their vision, again which is so simple….! This is what I try to transform on my canvas. TO SIR WITH LOVE ~ Dedicated to my Teachers who changed my Life, What they taught me & What I Learn’t.

 My Painting “The Gurukul” 

We are learning everyday, & hopefully till the last breath…!!! Life is like a River, Life itself is a challenge, Life is knowledge, Life is a Teacher, Life is Love, I love challenges, sometimes, i wonder how boring it would be if everything always went right, we have nothing to look forward to, to work for, nothing to do, nothing to aim for, nothing to wish for…..

I love LIFE, It is beautiful, the toughness of it makes you, though maybe some feel it breaks you, actually i feel, LIFE shows us different roads, one more brighter than the other, new, mysterious, Adventurous, however narrow or steep, nonetheless, something to learn from, something that changes you, & change is compulsory, a necessity, inevitable…..These are my thoughts, my vision & This again is something I try to capture, on canvas…..!

 Art is to be cherished, its creative, like writing a book, like how an orator talks, a writer uses the Pen…The artist paints…each one speak volumes about their own field. Love for beauty is Taste. Creation of beauty is Art. Creativity is…seeing something that doesn’t exist already…. I  feel one should invest in art, Buy Original works from either known, famous or  new up-coming artists…Its wonderful to gift a Painting, as that is like giving a part of you, but, … it is really sad to know a lot of people buy a wonderful piece of art just for gifting….!  Here I have also added certain newspaper clippings, views by my Family, Friends, Feed-back from my very dear clients, art - buyers, Colleagues, for you to get a better idea regarding art as an investment.. “I feel very blessed to have this opportunity to express myself through painting. I love that people say my artwork enhances their lives.”

INVESTING IN ART: Art has finally been accepted as one of the golden key to creating wealth in the medium to long term investment with little or no risk involved. Investing in art is one alternative investment strategy, which has been gaining increasing acceptance around the world. The increasing activity of art auction houses over the last decade has provided an important secondary market which has resulted in easy liquidity of prominent names in the contemporary Indian art scene. 

Indian Art has given a 2000% return over the last 5 years; this figure has been calculated by taking an average appreciation in value of paintings by 50 artists over the last 5 years. Compare this with some of the best Equity Mutual Funds have given a return of 1100% over the same period as compared with the Sensex which has appreciated by only 200% And property which is considered a safe investment has given a return of 250% over the same term. The conclusion is that art has out performed them considerably giving the highest returns.

In the past 2 years, investors have started at least 4 “art funds” in which a curator buys and sells artworks instead of stocks. How to start? Start watching a lot of art by going to galleries, art shows, reading art books, catalogues, speak to artists, art teachers, see online if you are net freak and finally try to think which one appeals to you more and why does it catch your breath. Join network groups and discuss art and I bet you will get loads of information from the net these days. What to look for? So if you have decided to make an investment on an artwork it is very important to keep in mind few points:

• Love at first sight - This holds true to artworks and it has worked for me all the time and I hate to part with some works though.
• Artist - Few artists are committed to selected galleries who command high price range but the growth aspect is more unlike artists who sell their works from their home studio. New artists are better bargain.
• Authenticity - Very important when you are investing your hard earned money, insist on artists counter signature and buy from known or the Artist itself.
• Availability - Always try to buy something which is not available in majority of shows - laxma goud is famous for painting with watercolor, try to look for his work on other surface like glass or acrylic sheet which will cost you more but will pay you more when you want to part with it for resale (this is just an example and not a rule).

How much should I? One can make a modest start with limited edition prints and grow to pencil sketches of senior artists to the canvas work of renowned artists over a period of time gradually. There are 2 variables to follow: Buy unknown artists bigger works for less price or buy known artists smaller work for bigger price, it all depends on your affordability of funds at a given period of time. Let me warn you here at this juncture that it is addictive and also contagious as per my knowledge. Watch out for artists, new, online, regular works, and art-shows. One of the great ironies of the art world is that artists rarely benefit as the value of their work appreciates over time. Collectors don’t just honor the dead. Living artists are also doing well in the art rush. So what’s going on - and, more importantly, how do you get a piece of the action? Demand is, of course, the big driver of prices. And there is plenty of demand for artworks. Many of the big buyers these days are from the burgeoning economies of Asia, the Middle East and Russia. Domestic demand is also high. Investors with cash to play with are trying to find alternatives to a shaky stock market and a rather precarious property market.

Possible Risks and Benefits of Art Investment.
Risks	Benefits
§        Possibility of owning/selling frauds and fakes	§        Possession of rare or one of a kind item.
§        Illiquid auction/dealer markets.	§        “Non paper” financial asset.
§        Maintenance, restoration costs.	§        Potential price appreciation.
§        Artworks produce no income unless sold.	§        May have limited correlation to other assets.
§        High transaction fees.	§        Possible diversification benefits.

  Art’s unpredictable value makes it as easy to lose as to gain.  Art is basically at the mercy of the ever changing public taste and trends. Just buy the art because you love it says Leah Warf an Art Collector.

 

“The interest in art is part of the lifestyle change we are witnessing,” said Maher Dadha, 54, chairman of Bid and Hammer Auctioneers, who estimated the minimum value of the combined collection at 100 million rupees. “Wealth has percolated down and people are buying art just like they are buying penthouses,” he said.  The hammer went down on a 1971 Husain watercolour on paper, entitled Shiva, at 3.4 million rupees (86,374 dollars), the top price paid at the auction. At the start of this decade, Husain’s works fetched less than 600,000 rupees.

Auctions of modern and contemporary Indian art have raised millions of dollars overseas in recent years, with Christie’s selling a Tyeb Mehta painting for 1.6 million dollars in 2005.  ”Now it’s an internal trend, where Indian art is getting recognition in India itself,” said Dadha, adding that India’s rich “don’t blink for a moment over cost.”

Economic growth running at an annual nine percent, a stock market that rose a record 47 percent last year and surging salaries for finance and technology professionals have created a middle-class clientele for art.

 Collecting Indian art has been traditionally a pursuit of former maharajahs, industrial houses, overseas collectors and rich expatriates.  

The local art market — both gallery sales and auctions — is worth between 400 and 450 million dollars and expanding as prices jump, said Arun Vadehra, owner of Vadehra Art Gallery in New Delhi and a consultant to Christie’s.

 Gallery sales have jumped from barely two million dollars in 2000 to 150 million dollars, said Vadehra.

 ”The art market is very hot,” said prominent Indian art critic Ella Datta.  

“The collector base is growing with lots of of people like doctors, lawyers and IT professionals who can afford art coming into the market,” she said. “The vaster base should sustain the market’s growth — I don’t see it crumbling.”

 According to Bid and Hammer, the most renowned Indian art currently delivers solid annual returns of 35 percent.

 ”Eight years ago, I bought a Jaya Jhaveri for a small throwaway price and today it is worth at least 100,000 rupees,” said Bangalore entrepreneur Sudhir Udayakanth, 34. “Today art has become an investment,” he said.  

In 2006, auction house Osian’s raised 1.02 billion rupees for a fund dedicated to art, luring investors with the promise of converting the country’s cultural wealth into capital assets.

 The fund was open to those capable of depositing at least one million rupees for three years. Osian’s paid a dividend last year, becoming the world’s first art fund to share income with investors before the lock-in period ends.

 Indians also have access to purchasing art online, with Internet auction sites such as Saffronart opening up.

 The online market is worth between 30 and 40 million dollars a year, said Dinesh Vazirani, a co-founder of Mumbai-based Saffronart. — AFP

    KOLKATA: Art circles are now wondering which category of artists will rise faster on the price charts. With young contemporary artists setting new benchmarks at the recent Christie’s auction, market watchers are trying to project the potential of price rise of these different segments of artists. “There are varying scenarios being experienced by the artist groups. Some of the highend contemporary artists are fast shooting up on the price front and could be heading toward the dizzy heights achieved by some modern masters. Contemporary artists seem to be enjoying the advantage of attracting a wide cross-section of buyers from the across the world. This includes domestic Indians, NRIs and mainstream foreigners in the West and Asian countries. In fact, the young contemporaries from India appear to taking after their Chinese counterparts, some of whom are scaling prices which are 10 or more times above the Indian levels,” an art market source told ET.

Investors may be also projecting that the younger generation harbours a longer period of creativity which would enable them to stock more works and look for further appreciation in prices. Analysts are of the view that a section of the bigger league contemporaries could finally catch up with the tallest price brackets of the modern masters.

“Some of the modern greats have reached astronomical price points and have entered a consolidation phase. In recent times, these names have not seen much growth in prices. The feeling is that these artists may take a while to set new benchmarks. Of course, there is scope for speculation on that score. The view also is that the auctions are not always seeing rare and top quality works by these masters. In the event that such a piece gets featured in an auction, the prices could jump to the next higher stage,” the source said.

  Myinvestmentbuddy.com Notes: Rukshana Hooda is a visual artist/painter from Mumbai and her paintings are sold in local as well as international market including some of the websites like http://www.picassonet.com/rukshanahooda/, http://www.yessy.com/rukuh, http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZrukshanahooda, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5090496  her own website http://www.rukusgallery.com. We would like to thank her on behalf of all MIB readers for taking time out from her busy schedule to share her views on Art Investment with MIB readers.

Rukshana Hooda can be reached via rukshanahooda@yahoo.co.in 

 Disclousre: The views and ideas on art investment expressed in the above article are personal expert views of Rukshana Hooda and not of Myinvestmentbuddy.com or anybody from the Myinvestmentbuddy.com staff.