Invest in the artist, not art!

(My Article published in the Srijan Wall Mag by Arts & Aesthetics Forum, TAPMI)

“But I can make another one better than this.”

“Then, come to me when you have made a better one,” said the curator to the young artist. Notwithstanding stiff resistance, the artist wished to exhibit his paintings at the local Art Gallery! A very bold approach indeed - for a person of his age and a painter of his experience. Two opportunities are lost here at the same time. An upcoming artist does not get his first step to fame and recognition & an investment opportunity is lost!

India has been home to great forms of art and culture since the Harappan civilization. Literature, Music & Theater have found their way into the lives of every Indian today but what probably has been lost, is that the artist in every child, in every household, has been curbed to a mere biologist, with a good hand at human diagrams or an architect dreaming the next two-bedroom flat! The role of the next-door art teacher and even most art schools has been restricted to developing a flashy hobby in your child so that he can paint a few canvasses for the walls of his home. Is this what art has come to in India?

An artist is no different from an entrepreneur.

A dream to paint the ‘Monalisa’ – followed by the motivation to make a mark in the art community – has been his traits since the day he painted his first mango. He has improved his skills by starting from landscapes, moving on to still life, then human beings & finally, abstracts! He has learnt about various art forms across the globe from various sources & has carved his own niche, distinctly away from the cliché! His strengths lie in his individuality, his novel ideas & his ability to paint (which attracts masses or doesn’t – it doesn’t matter to him).

One difference that can be thought between an artist and an entrepreneur is that ‘probably’ the artist is not motivated to provide for any social cause. As one can see that most of the entrepreneurs in India are generally, motivated by a sense of giving back to the society what they have gained from their experience & innovations. An artist on the other hand, chooses to be an individual of solitude, creating pieces of work mainly for his own satisfaction. Seldom does one find an artist who paints for an audience or what others want him to!

So where has he got lost in the past few years? Has he transformed into the guy who designs your daily newspaper, your weekly magazines or into that advertiser, who coaxes you to buy the next big ‘unimportant’ product in the market? Probably yes!

The land of Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Abanindra Nath Tagore & most recently, M. F. Hussain is slowly becoming the land of Prahlad Kakkar and other famous names of creativity. Some not-so-famous ones have transformed into dress designers, copywriters and billboard painters. Seldom do we find artists making headlines about making the next “The Last Supper”. Even if they find a passing reference, it is in the last few pages of the newspaper where they would be criticized for their work. Unfortunately, the era of ‘Breaking News’ chooses to create a sensation out of the rampage in art galleries & art schools for ‘blasphemy’, instead of finding the reason why the society is not ready to accept artistic ideas. This doesn’t seem very different from the stories of business entrepreneurs dying an early death in many communities where business just doesn’t come as a career option to many!

So is there a way out for this category of entrepreneurs in today’s investment oriented world? Well, there is & but a long drawn one!

For a long time, art has been only looked as a good investment. In fact, paintings & sculptures have always been a very important avenue of investment for the rich. Ironically, one can say that it is one of those rare investments where the asset appreciates with time, like real estate (the risks attached might be also similar). People have invested in paintings to decorate their living rooms, offices & conference rooms. Organisations have patronized a particular artist by allowing him to paint for a particular office on a given theme! In fact, organisations like Google promote employees to decorate their own cubicles, according to their likings! Investors have many a times parked their money in paintings of famous painters in India & abroad in order to show it as an expense in their business – however, they reap the profits on a later date as the value of the art appreciates. But what is stored for the small artist who wishes to be recognized on all this chaos? The entire industry of investment in art seems to be profit driven. Can this help the local guy?

Again a probably, but a yes!

Investors should choose to invest in the artist and not art alone. Taking cue from a few art galleries in ‘art-crazy’ Delhi, one can say that these art galleries have now started showcasing paintings of small artists, who intend to come in the limelight in the years to come. The work of these people is debated upon by prominent artists, rated by galleries & ranked by publishing houses. In fact, these art galleries are helping the artists find prospective buyers for their work & help them get into long term contracts – based on how promising he or she is! Like every other investment avenue, the beauty of a painting lies in the versatility of the artist. If one takes a long term view on an artist, promotes him in the media, helps him find suitors for his creations & finally allow him to hang up the canvasses on the walls, one can look at this as a very good investment avenue. It is true that slowly people have started entering this field professionally after portfolio managers have realized that there is a dire need to diversify investments across different classes of assets. I think the opportunity lies here for the ‘artistic’ entrepreneur.

Like every other asset or investment product, the value of a painting or artist also fluctuates with time. Due to the entry of a new artist, due to changes in trends & likings of connoisseurs of art and due to the volatility of investment in this field, the price-tags of paintings can act irrationally. Currently, there might be no theories to find the right price of a painting in India but some news items indicate that some work has been initiated by art galleries in this field in collaboration with corporate bodies. However, the key issue here is all these changes in the field of art should eventually trickle down to the small artist. If this does not happen in the times to come, this avenue of investment is going to die an early death. With him is going to die the young artist.

Yes, some finance enthusiasts might call this investment as a ‘derivative’ & sometimes, it might behave also in the way. No one knows what creation is going to land on the walls of Jehangir Art Gallery next Monday, in order to price his current investments. No one knows who is spending nights after nights, thinking about the next big idea that will click with the investors. Probably, the differences between an artist & an entrepreneur would vanish by then!

If everything goes right, probably someday the ‘back-bench’ artist in every class will dream of making that perfect caricature of his teacher – as his first ‘business plan’.