Volume 14, Number 4 Article by Geetha Mehra December, 2002
View from the Gallery :
To develop a successful business in art, one has to rely a lot on intuition. Unlike other businesses, there is no data available, no rules to go by, and the product itself is, in a sense, intangible. Each work of art is unique, with a unique value. Stepping into this arena in the mid 80s, intrepid artrepreneur Geetha Mehra set up the Sakshi Gallery in Chennai to provide a space for Indian artists to exhibit their work to the public, and to further the cause of contemporary art in India. Learning and growing in the business, Ms Mehra went from strength to strength, and within a few years Sakshi went public in order to expand. Thus the Synergy Art Foundation was born, opening two more branches in Bangalore and Mumbai. Sharing her hands on experiences with IIMB Management Review readers, Ms Mehra describes how she built up her clientele. Relationships both upstream and down, she says, are at an informal and very personal level. In order to get the show on the road, she had to start by educating her market. Traditionally, Indian art has been bound up with religion and ritual, and the idea of art for art’s sake is a fairly modern, post independence phenomenon. Because of this relatively recent interest in contemporary art, and the inadequacy of government patronage, she explains, art galleries in India have had to straddle multiple roles—they have had to nurture and sustain the artists, the market, and the entire support system like writers and critics, publishers, art historians, administrators, conservators, curators and restorers. But it is a challenging and exciting field, and with a thriving secondary market and the returns on art getting really good, it is beginning to be seen as a good investment. Today art is a growth industry, but the client profile is changing. A lot of the buying is by individuals rather than corporates, and some important collections are being built up. But it is important to remember, Geetha Mehra warns, that ultimately this is a very subjective business; one never knows what drives this market.
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