AstaGuru’s online auction: South-East Asian art steals the show

The Kala Ghoda-based auction house presented 21 paintings and sculptures by artists from the region.

Over the past two days, art aficionados from across the world had a glimpse into South-East Asia’s bustling contemporary art scene with AstaGuru’s online auction that culminated on Monday night.

Zhang Xiaogang’s family portrait, Heaven No 4.

For the first time, the Kala Ghoda-based auction house presented 21 paintings and sculptures by artists from China, Singapore, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, along with works by Indian artists.

“In our previous auctions, we’ve mainly had Indian buyers. This time, we had international bidders based in Hong Kong and Singapore as well,” said Tushar Sethi, CEO, AstaGuru. The auction featured 97 lots, of which 74 were sold. The total sale was pegged at ₹24 crore (inclusive of buyer’s premium). Chinese artist Zhang Xiaogang’s 2010 painting Heaven No 4 fetched ₹7.7 crore against an estimate of ₹5.94 crore. Chinese artist Wang Guang-Yi’s painting Great Criticism - Gillette, earned ₹1.9 crore. London-based sculptor Anish Kapoor’s six-foot-tall stainless steel and lacquer installation, Mirror (Brandy Wine, Gladstone Red) fetched ₹6.5 crore.

Nine works from reclusive advertising mogul and gallerist Charles Saatchi’s Indian contemporary art collection were also up for auction. A bidder put ₹40 lakh on Jitish Kallat’s Eruda, a huge sculpture of a young boy selling books at a city traffic stop. Subodh Gupta’s 2007 installation titled 27 Light Years, and Sujata Bajaj’s Ganesha sculpture also drew interest.