The sheer number of stereotypes thrown up by Hindi films has left hardly any sphere of Indian life untouched. Mention the word painter and invariably a typical set of images flash across your mind -- a creased bony figure against a sad background of grey and brown, whose ragged kurta-pyjama tell his life's sad story. But the filmi chitrakar, like most other filmi things, is far from reality -- the artists who graduate from the city's art colleges are new and fresh, and an extremely confident lot if the price tags on their works are anything to go by.

The struggling, starving artists, are a thing of the past and these '90s painters exude all the brash confidence of corporate yuppies. The price list, oozing attitude, generally has nothing less than Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 for smaller works and around Rs 10,000 for bigger paintings. For someone straight out of school, people argue, these prices are very high.

Vickram Sethi, director, The Arts Trust Gallery, does not think that new artists deserve the astronomical amounts they ask for. He "feels strongly" for the young artists but quoting thousands for a single painting is still "ridiculous" on their part, according to him. "One good show and the painters talk in terms of Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000 for a painting. One has to realise that a lot of people earn Rs 10,000 at the end of the month," he says, "If they quote less they would sell more."

The humungous prices are a fairly recent phenomenon though. Kamalaksh Shenoy, painter and the founder-keeper of the Plaza Art Gallery for fresh artists, located on the footpath outside Jehangir Art Gallery, gives an inside view. Till recently, according to Shenoy, there were only a few buyers and they were all well informed. They knew what talent was all about. The artists, therefore, could not dictate terms. But a larger market was created by the nouveau riche and corporate sector's sudden surge of appreciation for the canvas. "Informed buyers ceased to be," he says and a buyer's market was fast becoming a seller's market. And since art collection became the latest fad for those shopping for style and class, the new painters in the market quickly hiked up their prices.

Simple snob appeal also dictates the prices and anything which might remotely seem like a bargain basement purchase is ignored by the buyers. Where you buy a painting is, for some, more important than the painting itself. Says Shenoy, "The paintings in the Plaza Art Gallery are priced as low as Rs 200. But there aren't any takers. People feel that it's below their dignity to buy from the footpath at such low prices." But if the same paintings make it to the insides of the Jehangir Art Gallery, then these works would go for thousands. "The artist then has all the reason to quote bombs," says Vaishali Narkar, a fresh graduate of the J J School of Arts.

Despite the economics, nobody in the art world grudges the quick success that new artists find nowadays. Asks the acclaimed painter Laxman Shreshtha, "If the artists quote an amount and get it, what's wrong?" Shenoy agrees, "If artists want to earn money, who are we to stop them?"

But Sethi has a new artist who agrees with his view -- Shilpa Pandit, a J J product says, "It's imperative that your paintings reach the people first. Higher prices would keep one's works away from them. The prices can be hiked later."

Ajit Deswandikar, a 1996 graduate from J J, is quick to remind of logistics of mounting an exhibition. Most new painters list it as the main reason for their skyrocketing prices. Many of them can ill-afford Mumbai's swanky galleries and "The paints, the canvas and framing all come in exchange of money," he comments. Says Shenoy, "Painters have to recover their costs, if not make a profit, in the sale of four to five paintings."

Though there is an unanimous agreement that prices quoted are very high, the market forces even out exaggerations. Since the buyers are buying in bulk, they want discounts. And new artists probably get the worst of the bargaining since they do not have a reputation to support their prices. "People go by the age of the artist.They actually say `He doesn't have grey hair'," says Sundeep Shukla, a 1994 graduate of the L S Raheja School of Art. Age overshadows talent and works are looked upon as mere products. The price that new painters eventually get is around 30 per cent less than what they would have quoted.

But, what should be the basis of pricing art? Shenoy prefers to leave the decision to market forces, "The price at which a painter is ready sell the work should be his price and the amount which the buyer is ready to pay should be the buyer's price." The actuality, ultimately, lies somewhere in between.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.