Going Once, Going Twice, BANG, Sold!

I've been reading or hearing about contemporary Indian art for several years. Back in NYC tons of little galleries were showcasing the best of the Indian masters and then there were auctions by Sotheby's and Christie's — the works were fetching enormous sums of money just as India was gaining its rightful space in the community of nations.

The piece of Indian art that fetched the highest price to date was an F. N. Souza oil on board, titled "Birth", that sold for close to $2.5m at a Christie's auction.

Anyway, I digress. When my friend Lola called me a few days ago to tell me that she had an extra invitation to an elite art auction, and would I like to go? I thought, why the hell not. I'm not going to be bidding on anything but lets see what the world of Indian art has to offer. Better yet, I wanted to see a live auction. Neither Lola nor I had been to an art auction before so we were brimmng with the curiousity of first timers. The venue — the Taj Man Singh — suggested a posh affair, and the collection of art, I was told, would draw quite the crowd.

The auction, organized by OSIAN, a self-proclaimed, 'pioneering arts organization' in India, was timed around the organization's film festival, Cinefan. As a first, I have to admit I was a bit disappointed. I had expected the room to be abuzz with art buyers and Delhi's art-erati. There were about 100, maybe 120 people there and many of them seemed to be voyeurs like me. You could tell by the number of people holding paddles that this was more of a buyers market than a few years ago when people were willing to sell all their valuables for a little piece of art.

Still, it's always interesting to experience an art auction first hand. A row of smartly dressed telephone operators sat at a long, white table on the right of the chairs, fielding calls from interested buyers. A few, maybe three or four, were successful in making purchases. Lola brought my attention to a suited fellow with a thin moustache sitting in a chair below the auctioneer's podium.

"What a funny role his is," said Lola, my equal as a novice and voyeur in the world of art auctions.

Indeed, this fellow, had the role of bobbing his head from side to side to scan the crowd ( if the total number at this auction could be called a crowd) for any waving paddles missed by a tired auctioneer. To be fair, he did direct the standing man's attention to a few quiet calls and half-raised, somewhat unsure paddle holders forcing them into the competition.

I had been expecting the auctioneer to be a robust, rapidly yapping half jester, partly a stereotype in my own mind and partly a result of my only other experience with an auction: a bike auction on the greens of Tappan Square in Oberlin, Ohio, during my first year at Oberlin College. I can still hear the fellow (and he was robust), rattling off a series of potential and existing bids ranging from $2 to maybe $10 for hundreds of used bikes. It was fantastic. By comparison, our friend at the podium at the OSIAN art auction, was disappointing.

Some of the art, however, was lovely.

See these examples:

Bombay Monsoon Street Scene by Syed Haider Raza (watercolour on paper)

Landscape by Frances Newton Souza

A Fabled Building by Avinash Chandra

Circus by Sakti Burman

Unidentified Soldier by Rameshwar Broota

Ravana and Jatayu by Kalal Laxma Goud

http://www.globalpost.com/notebook/india/091031/going-once-going-twice-bang-sold