Multiple Choice

Several other gallery owners share her opinion and have been scouting for a second address. While Kapoor opened shop at The Gallery,where her neighbours are interior designer Raseel Gujral and fashion designer JJ Valaya,Ashish Anand has opened the second outlet of the 16-year-old Delhi Art Gallery (DAG) at DLF Emporio. A few feet away from DAG,Gaurav Assomull is finalising artwork that will feature at the new outlet of Marigold Fine Art that operates from Sunder Nagar.

In July,Vadehra Art Gallery ,which has a space at Okhla and Defence Colony,also opened at the high-end mall where the rental is Rs 300-600 per sq ft. “Some people feel intimidated to visit a gallery; a mall overcomes that,” says Parul Vadehra,director,Vadehra Art Gallery,“There was a slowdown,but we took a risk and it has worked in our favour. We have several new clients.” Apart from artwork,the 800 sq ft store also has books on art,George Martin paperbags,Arpita Singh coasters and Rameshwar Broota mouse pads.

At DAG’s new store too,the artwork is moving. Since October,Anand has sold,among others,works of FN Souza and GR Santosh. The grand solos that Anand is known for will continue to take place at his 10,000 sq ft gallery at Hauz Khas Village. The 1,000 sq ft gallery space in Emporio,taken on a nine-year lease,is for showing and selling select works. He does not mind shelling out the rent for the mall gallery. “It will lead to additional sales. The initiated are also directed to my other gallery at Hauz Khas,” says Anand.

Maintenance of multiple galleries requires additional effort too. “One has to train more staff. The gallerist is not around all the time,” says Kapoor. The economics need to be calculated. Anand warns,“A gallery should look for another space if it has something more to show. It should not become a liability.”

“Before opening another branch,the gallery should estimate the cost. Apart from the rent,there are several overheads,” says Shibani Chawla who runs Chawla Art Gallery at the Sheraton hotel and another few metres away at Square One Mall. The former is meant for larger exhibitions and in the latter Chawla exhibits sculptures. “This justifies the need for two galleries. We avoid organising simultaneous exhibitions; one space is always available to show the gallery’s collection to interested buyers,” says Chawla.

For new entrants,multiple galleries can help make their presence felt,says Assomull: “We deal with international art,which is still new in India. More interest can be generated through two avenues.” He intends to rotate artwork between Sunder Nagar,Emporio and his Mumbai gallery.