Celebrities lend the glam quotient to art auctions

Kolkata: Celebrities and artists are increasingly collaborating to bring off art pieces which are later either auctioned for a cause or exhibited at a leading gallery. While celebrities gain a special edge by getting involved in the art world, the artworks tend to fetch heftier higher prices with the celebrity air enveloping them. Even works by middle rung artists climb to higher levels on the price front.

“This trend of an association between celebrities and artists has started to take off in quite a big way in recent times. The fad really picked up with the art event staged by the NGO outfit Khushii. It went off so well that more such innovative ideas revolving around celebrities and their direct involvement with art are hitting the canvas,” an art market source told ET.

The latest initiative in this sphere has been taken by a media house which has tied up with one of the world's oldest art auction houses Bonhams to auction 80 paintings. These paintings have materialised as a result of a collaboration between artists and celebrities. This time Shah Rukh Khan and MF Husain will paint live at the auction.

“One of the reasons why celebrities are collaborating with artists is because art is in the limelight at the global level. Art is the happening thing. Everybody likes to associate it. The other reason is that art adds a lot of class and respectability to those associated with it. Art is taken very seriously because it has a different aura. Both celebrities and artists benefit from such collaborative efforts. This happens from the point of view of media coverage and prices of the artworks which invariably go up at the auctions,” the source said.

Artists who have lately collaborated with celebrities are Yusuf Arakkal, Jogen Chowdhury, Anjolie Ela Menon, Satish Gujral, Jehangir Sabavala, Manu Parekh, Paresh Maity, Veer Munshi, Sunil Das, SH Raza, Shamshad Husain, Gopi Gajwani, Neeraj Goswami, Chandra Bhattacharjee, Bose Krishnamachari, Jayashri Burman, Hemi Bawa and Sujata Bajaj. Delhi-based portrait artist Anjanna Kuthiala was also part of an event, which was unveiled in both Mumbai and Gurgaon, where several Bollywood personalities painted on her canvas on Shah Rukh Khan.

“We still don’t know how long this trend will continue. But, what is certain is that it’s having a strong impact. Besides, this appears to be a development which has crystallised only in India. We haven’t heard of such things happening abroad. It’s pretty novel that way. This could be taken a step forward by roping in Hollywood stars for collaborations with Indian artists,” the source said.
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