Owning art is only a click away: Women-led Delhi Art Community auctions paintings on WhatsApp

Hindustan Times

2 days ago

Amrita Nalwa is excited about buying an artwork for the first time. A school principal in Amritsar, Punjab, Nalwa, didn't need to go to an art gallery. Instead, she bought it on WhatsApp. Women-led Delhi Art Community conducts auction of art on WhatsApp in a new initiative to transform the Indian art market (Photo: Delhi Art Community)
"I have always wanted to own art to be put on the wall of my home and passed on to my children when they grow up," says Nalwa, who bought a work of Uttar Pradesh-born contemporary artist Nawal Kishore two months ago. The untitled 8" X 8" 2D installation, acrylic on fibreglass with a 12" X 12" frame, shows two faces, representing yin and yang.
"I liked the small art installation. My house is vintage and an ideal place for an artwork," beams Nalwa, who has never bought art before. "I paid about 30,000 rupees for the work. And it was bought on WhatsApp," she adds. "I received a certificate of authenticity with the work."
Silent auction benefits first-time buyers of art and little-known artists from remote corners of the country (Photo: Delhi Art Community)
Nalwa found Kishore's artwork on WhatsApp, specifically, on a new platform for art buyers founded by three female entrepreneurs from Delhi. Launched last year, the Delhi Art Community (DAC) offers art lovers the opportunity to own works of art from "artists of India", as the founders describe their clientele presented online.
Art under virtual hammer
Every Tuesday, DAC creates lots, some 25-30 artworks by five to ten artists from across the country, and makes it available to six WhatsApp groups of art lovers, who are then able to participate in its Art Auction on WhatsApp the next day.
Each group has 1,000 members, who are able to access the details of the artworks on a PDF file, which has a short synopsis, material, size and minimum bidding price of each work. The bidding takes place on Fridays between 12 pm and 1 pm.
Nalwa is among 700 art lovers, most of them first-time buyers, who have bought art from DAC's auction on WhatsApp since it was first introduced in June last year. "We had the 47th lot this week," says Anika Kalra Kalha, who co-founded DAC with her friends Disha Batra and Priyanka Agarwal, all Delhi-based entrepreneurs.
Uttar Pradesh-born artist Nawal Kishore's art installation was sold by DAC in May this year to a first-time buyer in Amritsar, Punjab (Photo: Delhi Art Community)
"Our aim is to create a community of art buyers and art lovers and bring them to a platform together with 'artists of India'," says Kalha. "At the centre of our community are the artists," she adds. "There is a human touch behind every art. That is why the artist is at the centre."
"We want everybody to be an art collector," says Batra, a former senior marketing executive. "A WhatsApp message is sent out every Tuesday, in the form of a PDF, about what is going on auction. The artworks on the lot are selected carefully by our team," she adds. "We are in the process of creating a seventh WhatsApp group."
Meeting of art and technology
The DAC virtual platform is already pushing ahead of art galleries in scale though not in terms of sale. "Each physical gallery can hold 30-40 artists, but about 15,000 artists have shared their works with our platform from the remotest places of the country so far," says Agarwal, a former journalist.
"It is all about technology. Most people open their WhatsApp at least 20 times a day," says Batra. "You can sit at home and become an art collector," she adds. "We are creating new collectors, who are young mothers and working people."
"A lot of people are scared of visiting galleries for buying art for fear of not sounding educated about art. There is no fear in sending a WhatsApp message and receiving synopsis and resume of the artist. Any questions can be asked about artists," says Kalha.
The DAC, which has its origins in the thinking of its founders to bring artists and art lovers together through technology, has 85,000 followers on social media, including on the Instagram accounts of the three founders.
DAC's Art Auction on WhatsApp every Friday has 6,000 members in six WhatsApp groups (Photo: Delhi Art Community)
"We showcase artworks to our 6,000 clients on social media. The bidding on WhatsApp always starts below the estimated gallery price for an artwork to create competition among buyers and to help them buy an artwork at unheard of prices," says Kalha.
Will the dependence on technology keep the non-digital population away from the art world? "If we can reach many more people, we feel we can bridge the gap between artists and art lovers," explains Kalha. "The mindset of art for the elite has to change. Art is for everybody."
Art for the masses
"We receive 600 messages from new artists every week who want to be part of the platform," says Agarwal. "The bidding on WhatsApp is a silent process. The minimum bid can be as low as 10,000 rupees," she adds. "We are trying to change the art scene in the country. The art should be accessible and for the masses."
The DAC's philosophy of art for the masses include raising the profile of little-known artists, art auction, immersive experience with artists through physical workshops and the creation of a separate Kids Arts Community through workshops for children with artists.
"I came to know about DAC through Instagram last year," says Rajendra Kumar Urveti, a Gond artist based in Amarkantak, a pilgrim town in Madhya Pradesh. "It was a time when there was a slump in the sale of works of tribal artists. Since then I have been able to sell small and big Gond paintings on the DAC platform. The prices are good," adds Urveti.
Visual artist Seema Kohli (sitting) with Delhi Art Community founders Isha Batra (extreme left), Anika Kalra Kalha (second from right) and Priyanka Agarwal (extreme right) (Photo: Delhi Art Community)
"All information about the painting is first sent to DAC, including a video on the artwork. The original work is couriered to DAC once it is sold in the auction," says Urveti, whose works reflect tribal traditions of respect for nature and life.
The artists who have participated in DAC's immersive experiences include Delhi-based contemporary artist G R Iranna, a participating artist at the 2016 edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, visual artist Seema Kohli and Telangana-born artist Laxman Aelay.