Most of the time (art dealers) are selling rubbish to fools,” concludes artist Sanjeev Khandekar in his critique on the state of current art markets. He also makes no attempt to conceal his contempt for such markets, and their supremacy in the buying and selling of art. So, why then was he there?

Khandekar, 51, was invited to a conference at the Guild Art Gallery in Colaba, as part of an ongoing six-day conference series. A few nights ago, eager art students filled the sombre off-white room looking for answers about how to avoid the pitfalls of current art markets. But what they heard was not particularly helpful: markets are evil; figure them out on your own.

“An artist’s life is very difficult” admitted Khandekar, during the Q&A session. It would seem, then, that any tool that could make this rocky career path less bumpy would be welcomed with open arms, including understanding and utilising current markets. But this was not the discourse of the expert speakers.

Art markets exist, so why pretend they don’t? Art gallery-owner and collector Abhay Maskara explains that artists and markets have always maintained a “love-hate relationship”. With over 30 years in the business, Maskara says that above all “what you need is balance”.

As prices sky-rocketed over the last five years, artists were stretched to produce works to meet demands. But the global art market is contracting; it dropped 10 per cent at the beginning of 2009. Maskara underlines that as prices and output come back down to “healthy” levels, collectors have the money to buy and artists have the time to create.

... contd.