Saffronart in Big Apple, to paint city in Indian colours

KOLKATA: Leading domestic online auctioneer Saffronart is throwing open a swanky gallery space in the Fuller Building in New York at the junction of Madison Avenue and 57th Street. Spread over 5,500 sq ft, the gallery will preview the auction house’s online and stage 3-4 exhibitions annually. Among other functions, the gallery will focus on networking with non-Indian galleries and art companies and institutions to internationalise Indian art even further.

“The gallery space is coming up in the centre of Manhattan where top galleries and malls selling the high-end brands are located. We had already set up an office and smaller gallery in New York earlier. Part of the reason to move to a space like the Fuller is to increase the interaction with non-Indian galleries and art companies and institutions. The interest level in Indian art is very high, but non-Indian galleries don’t have an avenue for interfacing with this field of activity,” Saffronart director Mr Dinesh Vazirani told ET.

Mr Vazirani said that the presence of Indian art is growing in New York. But at the same time, there has to be a more active crossover where non-Indian collectors get a closer feel of Indian artworks. “What happens is that as you interact with the non-Indian trade, you also end up boosting the association with non-Indian collectors.

And that whole process gradually grows and deepens the market,” he said. According to him, a lot of effort has gone into building the market within India. Now, it will balance the market in bringing an international audience in touch with the Indian diaspora. Incidentally, the gallery is being launched with a preview of Saffronart’s June auction of the modern masters.