Artist Subodh Gupta joins million-dollar league

London: Artist Subodh Gupta, known as New Delhi’s Damien Hirst, has moved into the record making million dollar bracket alongside Francis Newton Souza and Tyeb Mehta with the sale of his untitled installation of steel pots for $1.2 million at Christie’s sale of Indian contemporary art here.

Gupta, Souza and Mehta were the stars of Wednesday’s sale and set new records. Souza’s 1955 work “Birth” was bought for $2.5 million by the sister of Tina Ambani, who runs the Mumbai-based Harmony Art Foundation. Mehta’s untitled painting, part of a dramatic series he has done to mark the miseries of rickshaw pullers, went for $1.9 million, beating his previous record price of $1.6 million at a New York auction in 2005.

Of the 111 lots, Christie’s sold 78. Although some works by Souza, Syed Haider Raza and Maqbool Fida Husain failed to find takers, young artists like Gupta and T.V. Santosh helped Christie’s make a profit.

Gupta is becoming increasingly popular among international buyers. His work at Art Basel, the world’s largest fair of modern and contemporary art that is held in Switzerland, caught the eyes of buyers and collectors last week. His seven metre wide “Triptych” sold for $1 million.

Indian art in general had a higher profile than before at Basel this year. New Delhi dealers Nature Morte sold everything from a set of three sculptures by Gupta for about $1 million to “Enemies’ Enemy 2”, a painting by rising star T V Santosh, bought by British collector Frank Cohen for about $170,000.

Last month, Subodh Gupta’s painting of a man pulling an airport luggage trolley was auctioned by Christie’s for a record price of almost $1.2 million in Hong Kong, which set a new record for India’s younger contemporary artists.

Subodh Gupta now holds two such records at Christie’s and has become the youngest Indian artist to enter the million-dollar fold.

Source: Indo-Asian News Service

About visionsart

Visions Art is a premium gallery for Modern and Contemporary Art. Established in 2001 in Mumbai, advising private and corporate collectors on predominantly Indian Contemporary Art. Since 2003, the gallery opened up its new space in heart of south Mumbai, India. The permanent gallery space is designed as a private art space where both changing and its permanent collections are shown. The gallery’s program draws upon a diverse range of disciplines and intellectual perspectives while maintaining a clear progressive thread. Supporting mid-career and historic figures, as well as launching emerging artists. The gallery represents works by artists who are considered to be at the forefront of Indian contemporary art and is constantly looking to establish a roster of the more progressive artists from India and abroad. Indianartnews.info is a news post blog providing a viewers updates on the latest news and events related to indian art from across the world

View all posts by visionsart →

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.