Auctions go virtual

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Young art buyers and new collectors are enjoying the green season of online art auctions. The recent auctions in July by Indian-based online auction houses like Saffronart and Asta Guru, have been successful, despite the market downturn.

Encountre by SH Raza was sold to an undisclosed buyer at Rs 3,15, 90,000. Not just the established auction house, a recent player, Mumbai-based Asta Guru that auctioned modern masters raised approximately RS 12 crore during July. Veterans in the art market say, younger buyers go by research and prefer to seal the deal in private and doing it online is the option. “Over recent years there has been an increase in awareness about the arts and more information is available to collectors. Many of our new bidders and buyers are younger collectors, who are comfortable with our online platform and technology. We find that some of our newer auctions like the Absolute Auctions which don’t have reserve prices are attracting new bidders who have never bid in any auction before,” says Nish Bhutani, chief operating officer, Saffronart.
The market has been witnessing fluctuations but experts say the silver lining is the increase in the number of buyers. But this doesn’t mean that the newer buyers are looking at large pieces. “Smaller works are in demand - be it masters or upcoming talent. Unfortunately the contemporary art market has taken a hit. A Subodh Gupta work that was selling at about `4 crore, three-four years ago, is now being picked up at `1 crore. Likewise other contemporary artists are bowing to the market,” says Tushar Sethi, director, Asta Guru.
Though it is a recent surge in the online auctions space, gallery owners and those in the trade say, the business of live auctions is definitely impacted. “Galleries would definitely prefer a direct sale first but with the existing trend of online sales hitting the global market, some high end galleries prefer a hybrid sales of both private sales and partnering with public online art houses,” says Deepa Subramanian, creative head & founder of Galerie De’Arts, Bangalore.
Yet there are traditional auction houses that believe live auctions will always be preferred. “It’s not about judging between which format is good or bad. The idea is not to neglect the set of buyers who still like to bid at live auctions. If you see traditional auction houses like Sotheby’s and Christie’s, though their online auctions are popular, they haven’t completely stopped physical auctions,” says Ankush Dadha, managing director, Bid & Hammer, Bengaluru.