In January comes a week-long art fair from New York to exhibit the best contemporary works from around the world, and India. The difference is in the venue: art lovers and buyers will view paintings displayed in virtual booths online. Closer home in the capital, two art collectors have set up a site that's bringing in business for new and struggling artists, threatening to make galleries that turned them away redundant. Art has gone digi, and how, says Dhamini Ratnam. Do the

After not selling a single work for over three years, Paribartana Mohanty's Kala Hukka aur Safed Rumaal sold this September
for Rs 95,000 on Bestofcollegeart.com

In July 2010, this new media artist logged on to Bestofcollegeart.com, a website that had just launched and was inviting artists to upload images of their art works free of cost.

Two months later, at an exhibition organised by the site, Mohanty sold all seven paintings. "The Internet made my talent visible," he says.

For emerging Indian artists like Mohanty, the Internet has become the new gallery, one that skirts red tape and long waiting periods, reaching out to an audience from Kurnool to Kansas City.

Launched this July by Delhi-based art collector Kapil Chopra and art consultant Swapan Seth,u00a0 Bestofcollegeart.com has sold 60 works since its launch. "Every year, nearly 1,200 students graduate from art schools around the country, but only a handful make it big. We have sold 60 works in five months. No gallery can boast of such a figure," claims Chopra.

A tea shop owner from Aizawl, Mizoram will agree. Thirty five year-old Ishwar Gurung sold a painting 12 years after he had created it. Aerial Boundaries was sold to a Canadian collector barely a month after Gurung had uploaded his works on Bestofcollegeart.com.

Globally, the art world is relying far more on the world wide web than back home. Next month, two Indian galleriesu00a0-- Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai and Nature Morte, New Delhiu00a0-- will join 139 blue chip galleries from across the world to participate in the VIP Art Fair, the first ever international art fair to be held online.

The week-long Viewing in Private (VIP) has been founded by 11 of the top international galleries of contemporary art, including the Gagosian and David Zwirner in New York, the White Cube in London and Gallery Koyanagi in Tokyo.

Developed by Jane and James Cohan, owners of the James Cohan Gallery in New York, and Internet entrepreneurs Alessandra and Jonas Almgren, the fair that kicks off on January 22, 2011, aims to replicate the brick and mortar structure of a real gallery, in a virtual space.

Images of the paintings will be placed on a horizontal wall and will be displayed to scaleu00a0-- a human figure standing beside the wall will provide a sense of the work's dimensions.

Sculptural installations will be placed on the 'floor' of the booth. While the fair is open to all, viewers interested in interacting with galleryu00a0 representatives and inquiring about prices will have to acquire a VIP pass that costs $100 for the first two days, and $20 for the remaining five.

You can view videos of artists discussing their works, with a new video of a famous and private art collection added each day. The organisers held a tutorial on site navigation for participating galleries at the Art Basel Miami 2010, that concludes today.

"The art world has changed at an enormous pace. Our clients live all over, from Kuala Lumpur to Cologne. Collectors too, live all over the world, and we need to find ways to reach them on schedule and at their convenience," says Cohan.

The organisers have asked galleries to have a representative online for at least 12 hours, for that very purpose.
Shireen Gandhy, owner of Chemould Prescott Road gallery in Fort, Mumbai, is not sure she'll be able to manage that. But the self confessed "non-techie" is looking forward to participating in something that has no precedence, or for that matter, overheads.

"We won't spend on lodging, transporting works or foodu00a0-- all of these are unavoidable expenses when you visit a real art fair," she says.

While the Indian galleries haven't frozen the list of showcasing artists, Nagy, owner of Nature Morte, is certain that Atul Dodiya will be part of his virtual collection.

An established painter, Mumbai-based Dodiya however, isn't too moved by the idea of displaying works online.
"Nothing can compare to showing your work, and viewing other works of art in a gallery," he says. "That's the only way you can experience how a work has been treated, by looking at its texture, pigments and scale."

But Dodiya readily admits that the Internet makes business sense. "The Internet is a powerful medium of exchange of ideas and business transactions. But only expertsu00a0 will spend their money on buying a work online. Others will want to see what they buy," he says.

Close on the heels of VIP, the annual Art Dubai fair (March 16 to 19, 2011) will launch an online version. The organisers will upload videos of the booths, and of gallery owners and artists talking about their works.

Everyone is invited for a viewing. "We want to extend the life of the three-day fair. Besides, everyone can access the virtual fair," says Antonia Carver, Fair director.

Five Indian galleries including Colaba's Lakeeren, will participate. "The Internet is an effective marketing tool for galleries," says Lakeeren's Arshiya Lokhandwala.

However, not all Indian gallerists share Lokhandwala's enthusiasm for the Internet.

A 10-minute walk from Lakeeren stands the 58-year-old Jehangir Art gallery, a Mumbai landmark. It boasts a waiting list like no other, with artists having to wait four years before it's their turn to exhibit.u00a0

But Jehangir's trustees feel no need to establish an online presence. Their website went defunct last year.
"What will we do with a website? We only provide gallery space. We don't need to provide information or programme details on a website. It is the artist's responsibility to sell his works," says Karthiayani Menon, secretary.

Art collector and co-organiser of Bestofcollegeart.com Swapan Seth says Indian galleries "haven't understood how to use the Internet to best effect." Seth, who buys some of this art online, describes what the art world will look like in the near future.u00a0 "With paucity of time and decreasing attention span, the Internet helps us overcome geographical challenges. Soon, we'll be visiting galleries located anywhere in the world and purchase art online."

While high-end galleries in the West, like David Zwirner and the Gagosian offer buyers a menu of available works, Indian galleries are catching up. Lakeeren has the prices of its art works up online, while Sakshi Gallery in Colaba allows you to add the works you like to an online shopping 'cart'.

As Indian galleries jazz up their websites, introduce video clips and three-dimensional views of works, some like Seth and Chopra believe the Internet will elbow real galleries out of the picture.

Sakshi's Geeta Mehra says the future lies in the two working in tandem. "The more artists use new media and different textures in their works, the more the physicality of the experience becomes important." But the Internet, she feels will be an important interface that galleries can ignore only at their own risk.

Mohanty feels the Internet "changed his image as an artist," but ultimately, he reminds us, "it sold in a real exhibition."

In new york: Now, YouTube videos become high art

The Guggenheim, a blue chip museum in New York curated an interesting show this October. The works of art were online videos, and the display spaceu00a0-- besides the Internetu00a0-- was the fa ade of the museum building. The videos were projected on the facade for pedestrians to view.

The Guggenheim Museum and YouTube began the YouTube Play: A Biennial of Creative Video initiative in the beginning of 2010. YouTube Play was about recognising the effect of new technologies on creativity and sought to showcase talent working in the realm of digital media. YouTube Play wanted to reach the widest possible audience, and invited everyone with access to the Internet to submit a video for consideration.

By July, they had received more than 23,000 videos, which a jury whittled down to 25 (that according to the Guggenheim website, "displayed a selection of the most unique, innovative, groundbreaking video work being created and distributed online during the past two years"). The videos were also shown at the Guggenheim Museums in New York, Bilbao, Berlin, and Venice.

International galleries are already used to collecting video art and the medium is fast catching on in India. But the Guggenheim has paved the path for high art to include web videos that cost virtually nothing, and can be shared with ease.

Watchu00a0 Watch the ones that were selected on: https://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/interact/participate/ youtube-play/top-videos

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