In this day and age of start-ups and cutting- edge technology, art is something that lends a semblance of sanity and gives a breath of fresh air to this disrupted by information, world. While producing the labour of love and soul satiates the creative hunger of the artists, the commercial aspect of art is murky in the Indian art scene.
The Dubai based Alturaash Group is promising a game changing proposition for the Indian artists.
Lead by its founder and chairman – Asif Kamal, Alturaash Art and Culture will be the only Non-Banking Financial Corporation that will provide loan against Indian Art. “The Alturaas Art Fund” is an initiative of Alturaash Art and Culture, an international organisation which promotes artists globally. The process that is followed begins by lending a contemporary art work, asset of the artist. Then a team of experts check the authenticity and history of the artwork.
Alturaash is opening its first Indian branch in Delhi. The man behind this unique venture, Asif Kamal, is keen to promote Indian art, internationally, while making the art trade commercially viable for young investors, and the already existing investors and collectors.
He was recently awarded the “Art Connoisseur of the Year” award in the ‘Times Now Global Leaders Award’ Enterprise Edition 2019, and the laurels seem to make him hungri and bolder.
A web venture called "Art Wally", which would be an online marketplace for art, artefacts and limited edition of Art and photography prints is also in the offing. The idea is to make the art accessible to everyone, by sourcing limited edition prints of young artists and selling it through this dedicated art e-commerce site in at affordable prices, and the aritst benefiting on every print sale without having to sell his original painting.
Talking about the website, Asif said, "We all are running around Indian modern masters or established artists of the yore, they all have had excellent market access and their prices are set in the market, so, no one takes care of the young emerging artists who are really in need of a push, in-order to grow. This venture will really help the artists' work to reach the masses. For the limited print editions, we'll also be paying a royalty to the artists, so as to make and sell prints of their works and make it a profitable deal for them."
While setting pace in the Indian market, the group plans to build an exhaustive Indian art - knowledge base, with the construction of a library and an archive in the Middle East.This is to be supplemented by a bi-monthly magazine on Indian art, that would provide the latest information to the potential investors about the various Indian art forms, and in-depth knowledge on how to invest on it. With all this in the fray, Alturaash has opened its first Indian office in New Delhi