Gallerists in India — and elsewhere —have been waiting out the low season for several months now. However, many are still marching on bravely, putting up planned exhibitions, knowing that very little will sell. Galleries, on the other hand, are still ensuring that they remain visible at the usual art fairs around the world, enduring the status quo — mostly selling nothing. Of these, one gallery finds that it might be lucking out, thanks to its attempt to make art affordable. This is the AICON art gallery.

AICON is located in New York and London, representing contemporary Indian art in two continents. It has out-lived the hyped Bodhi Art Gallery, which recently shut down its New York branch, and is en route to monopolising the Indian art terrain in that city. Like all other commercial ventures, sales are vital to its survival. Expectedly, it’s been hit by the recession, but it’s being able to use the time to expand its base innovatively through a new venture, AICON editions.

The idea is simple — how do more people own a work of art that is not a miniaturised reproduction of something else? To do this, the gallery decided to look at media that could offer such a thrill — sculpture and computer- generated prints, for example. In each case, an edition is the original, not a generation removed from the original. Each is created as an edition of 75, and priced (for the international market) at $1,000, $1,500 or $2,000. What you buy is the original. There is no other final, desirable, tantalising out-of-reach collectible that has birthed this work. There are, logically, no paintings because it is hard to create with any artistic sincerity 75 identical original paintings at this price.

It’s not the first time we’re seeing this idea. Khoj, in Delhi, has done this thrice, using prints and steel sculpture as part of a successful fundraising effort. AICON takes the existing idea a step ahead in two ways. First, it explores the new visual media with confidence. Baiju Parthan’s Rods and Cones series are a case in point. Second, it collaborates with artists that work in the same media as the editions offer, so you can see an artist working in a media that is their strength regardless. The portfolio they offer has some (but not a hundred per cent) truly good work — Debanjan Das’s re-casting of Gandhi and Baiju Parthan’s Rod and Cones works are examples.

This is an excellent strategy. For a thousand-odd dollars, anyone thinking of trying to live with contemporary art will be willing to dip their toes into the water. The price and quality both offer new buyers a hook. And the more buyers there are in the art-going community, the more likely it is that there will be larger numbers of buyers looking for contemporary art in the future, peering beyond editions. These are baby-steps in creating new buyers instead of fighting over existing ones. Cultivating buyers, offering them the chance to experience the zing of owning art even during a low market, is what makes AICON’s idea a really good one. AICON itself didn’t conceive the idea as an anti-recession devise. It approached the artists when the going was better. The busting economy tested and possibly tempered the idea.

Such investment in future investors in Indian art may or may not pay back — at least directly to the gallery. A clutch of interested new collectors may explore the terrain with fresh eyes, buying from others. Even so, it will further enliven the art world, and force greater quality from the competition.

Artists benefit too, because for a small investment, buyers become curious about their work and begin to follow it. They might even want to expand their collection as they learn more. Besides, as AICON takes the editions to art fairs, they are represented in all kinds of fairs without any additional effort.

As those at AICON say, this is “democratising” the art space. I wouldn’t go that far, because democratising art is itself a complex idea premised on the idea of all art being undemocratic. Besides, democratisation shouldn’t be primarily measured by a financial yardstick. What I like about the idea is that AICON is boldly exploring and pushing its own boundaries, in a manner likely to be a win-win for the art itself.

(bharati@chintan-india.org)

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/bravinglows/358891/