About Art of Marketing
and the Marketing of Art

"The world today is inevitably rooted in the dynamics of marketing and that is where Indian art and its artists are treading with quick returns" - Washingtonian.

Uma Nair

`Indian art in the West is gaining ground because a sense of professionalism and efficiency has entered the very functioning of the major players in the league,' said a collector in Washington who wished to remain anonymous. `The world today is inevitably rooted in the dynamics of marketing and that is where Indian art and its artists are treading with quick returns,' says the Washingtonian.

A closer look at the Indian art mart reveals and reflects that the marketing savvy genius is M.F.Husain though he has got into deep trouble with his nudes and the recent Bharat Mata debacle. When quizzed about his marketing strategy last year on a short visit to Delhi he simply said: `Marketing yourself is something you learn along the way. When I sold my first work for Rs 25/,50 years ago I knew nothing about marketing. It is something you pick up as you know people and develop connections. I don't think art is about marketing it is about connectivity. In modern day terms people call it marketing. 'Every artist should take a direct and personal interest in the building up of his works over the years rather than the marketing of their career,' says the patriarch of Indian contemporary art.

But the art scene reflects another trend. Regardless of whether an artist is just beginning a career, or not advertisement agencies and hard sell media tactics are ensuring that even sub-standard new age fledglings are being showcased as   seasoned hands and widely acclaimed masters. Today marketing art has become the signature of representation and the important dictum is `must sell' no matter what the caliber of the works in abundance.

One might ask why? A recent example was the case of a fledgling artist who had her first show who also happened to be the wife of a high flying bureaucrat. It wasn't the quality of work or the sensibility that was discussed, it was the spectacular sales of `all sold'(even though hushed whispers suggested buyers were sections of `obliged' personnel who had to keep up the good vibes with bureaucracy).

`We never had any marketing in our days, I have never marketed my work, not even today,' says media shy Tyeb Mehta who recently proclaimed in an interview `there are no art critics there are only buyers'. Artist Ram Kumar follows it up with, `why does a good artist need marketing? A good work of art speaks for itself. I don't think marketing is important, I think if you need marketing and you are so dependent on it your work is not of an acceptable quality. Too much marketing results in disastrous trends,' warns Ram Kumar.` The laws of demand and supply proclaim inflation and recession,' says the economist in the artist.

`My job is to create art' says Ram Kumar. It is somebody else's "job" to do the marketing'. `An artist's role is to be primarily focused on creation of his/her work of art ', it is for dealers and other representatives like galleries, to perform some marketing functions on behalf of the artist. But I see an aggression which is alarming.'

However, recent reports of a group of success stories in Mumbai as well as the case of other artists in Delhi , all point towards the fact that  an artist's career is a business and marketing is the means whereby a business promotes itself to the community at large.

Artists who treat their careers like the business that they are and pursue an astute long term marketing program will more likely reap the rewards in terms of career recognition than those who do not. India's greatest marketing success story according to most people has been Husain's one man industry which is now reportedly being handled by his children who charge Rs 85 lakhs to 1 crore for a painting depending on its date and subject. `Husain has over 60 odd years kept his networking alive and animated with  dealers, collectors, friends, critics, arts journalists, museum curators and others', says a close friend . 

Husain has stayed in contact with many art journalists throughout the country. He has been the subject of several newspaper and magazine articles, some major and some minor.  Additionally, having stayed in contact with his gallery and collector base resulted in his dealers selling out almost every work that he made available to them.  Demand for his work has been sufficiently large that he also launched a successful line of fine art lithographs which have sold quite well. Today's art market shows that artists are taking a direct and personal interest in the marketing of their careers. Today art is all about marketing and all professionals are joining in the act of perfecting it!

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