Art: There Is a Market but No Thoughts — By Dr. Ved Prakash Bhardwaj

(Reflections on the Vanishing Discourse in the Age of Record-Breaking Auctions) 

 April brought staggering headlines for the Indian art world—not for its ideas, not for its provocations, but for its price tags. On March 19, M.F. Husain’s monumental painting Gram Yatra was sold for an astonishing ₹118 crores at Christie’s. A 14-foot-long work made in 1954, this untitled piece is composed of 13 panels and is a celebration of India’s post-independence rural life—colorful, diverse, and honest. But in today's environment, what is being talked about is not what Husain painted, but how much it sold for. His painting has become India's most expensive, a new record—but what of its artistic value? This silence speaks volumes about how art today is consumed, discussed, and valued. 

 From Spontaneity to Speculation 

Gram Yatra hails from a period when Husain was not yet a cultural icon galloping across canvases or mingling with celebrities. His art then carried a raw, spontaneous energy. In this work, we see not Husain the hero, but Husain the observer—quietly chronicling the rhythms of a country in transition. But now, Husain is rarely discussed as a painter. His name appears in auction headlines, not in critical discussions. This is not just his story, but the fate of many great Indian artists—where art becomes a commodity, and discussion is reduced to digits. 

A Culture of Numbers

Not Nuance Just days after Husain’s record sale, Tyeb Mehta’s Trusted Bull fetched ₹61.80 crores at Saffronart’s anniversary auction. Created in 1956, before Mehta adopted his well-known diagonal composition style, this work is a powerful precursor to his mature period. It reflects a different aesthetic language—layered, exploratory, and intensely personal. Once, Husain had publicly acknowledged Mehta as the greater artist. But the market has quietly rewritten that relationship as a rivalry. Who is the most expensive? Who leads the chart this quarter? The answers lie not in exhibitions or essays, but in bank transfers. These records may suggest that art is gaining prestige, but they also reveal the shrinking space for serious thinking about it. In our collective fascination with price, we have forgotten to ask what the painting means, what it says, what it dares to imagine. 

 The Death of Art Criticism 

What’s more troubling is how the art media has adapted to this market-driven ethos. Coverage is often limited to sales figures or celebrity appearances at openings. The opening night has become more important than the exhibition. A recent experience illustrates this: At a Delhi gallery, I was speaking to a senior artist when a photographer asked him to pose—alongside another artist he hadn’t even greeted. A photo was taken. No conversation. No context. Just an image for the papers. This is now the extent of our art journalism. A culture that once produced rich, critical discourse now runs on curated visuals and glossy write-ups. The very platforms that once enabled nuanced conversations now chase visibility over vision. 

The Cost of Neglect

There is one upside: the general public now sees art as valuable, even investable. But the downside is graver—the slow erasure of thought from our relationship with art. The value of a painting is no longer about what it reflects, challenges, or reveals. Instead, it’s about whose wall it hangs on and how much it fetched at auction. This transition has made art a spectacle, not a statement. A status symbol, not a social or emotional inquiry. And this loss—of reflection, of criticality, of deeper engagement—is perhaps the true price we are paying.

Who Will Talk About Art?

When M.F. Husain and Tyeb Mehta are reduced to auction house legends, when paintings are discussed in terms of crores instead of concepts, when galleries become red carpets and critiques become Instagram captions—we must ask: where is the thought in art? Until we reclaim the space for ideas in art, we risk letting the market write our history, our values, and even our tastes. In this new economy of aesthetics, let us not forget: art is more than a price—it is a question, a conversation, and sometimes, a quiet rebellion. 

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Flower Sutra by Manu Parekh

An Exhibition by Manu Parekh

It is not possible to separate Manu Parekh and Banaras. Like Ram Kumar, he has been painting the various dimensions of Banaras for years. Both the physical and spiritual aspects of Banaras are visible in his art. Recently, his solo exhibition was held at Nature Morte Gallery in Delhi, in which flowers are at the centre.

Nature Morte is pleased to present a new body of work, "Flower Sutra," by one of Delhi's most prolific senior painters. Continuing an artistic practice that began in the 1970s, Manu Parekh shows no signs of slowing down or resting on his laurels. The exhibition of works on canvas and paper created in the past few years is evidence of a mind that continues to challenge how the heart can come together with the hands to create works of passion and bravura.

In his latest works, Parekh continues his lifelong engagement with dualities: order and chaos, stillness and movement, creation and decay. A painter attuned to life’s energies, he channels these tensions into compositions that pulse with rhythm and contrast. Energy is central to Parekh’s practice, made visible through his brushstrokes. Layers build upon each other: thick impasto meets delicate washes, jagged lines cut through fluid colour, creating a surface that hums with spontaneity and intention. His paintings don’t just depict movement; they embody it, drawing the viewer into their restless depths. Rather than impose order, Parekh embraces flux. His brushwork reveals movement, capturing the restless energy that animates both nature and human experience.

Manu Parekh, Madhavi Parekh and Nupur Kundu

Amitava Das, Madhavi Parekh and Mona Roy

Uma Shankar Pathak, P R Daroz and Sambit Panda

Suraj Kumar Kashi and Uma Shankar Pathak

Flowers, a recurring motif across cultures, anchor his work in a broader artistic lineage. In Indian miniatures, they symbolize abundance; in Dutch still life, transience. Here, they mark both change and continuity, dissolving and reforming within the painted surface. As Parekh has noted, "Where there is faith, there will be the presence of flowers. Life, birth, marriage, and death: flowers will be there. I have visited the Vatican, Ajmer, Nizamuddin Auliya's dargah, gurudwaras, and Banaras. There were only two things common to all these places: faith and flowers."

Dr. Ved Prakash Bhardwaj

(Photographs by Praveen Mahtoo)

Lal Bahadur Singh: Art in a social context

artist Lal Bahdur Singh with writer Dr. Ved Prakash Bhardwaj and artist mukesh Shah

Lal Bahadur Singh's art seems to be a powerful commentary on the conflict between urban development and nature, highlighting not just a critique, but also a vision for a more balanced future. The way he incorporates birds and other elements of nature into his work, particularly the symbolism of their diminishing space in urban landscapes, is both poignant and thought-provoking. His installation made of cloth, symbolizing the relationship between food grains and birds, beautifully weaves together nature’s interdependence with human systems, offering a glimpse into a more harmonious coexistence.

The idea that development, particularly in metropolises, often comes at the expense of natural systems and wildlife is something that resonates deeply. The imagery of birds in his paintings—whether perched in the spaces between brick walls or hovering over piles of construction material—creates a stark visual representation of this tension between progress and nature. You can almost feel the suffocating effect of urban expansion on life, both human and non-human, which Lal Bahadur Singh critiques so effectively through his art.

What strikes me as particularly powerful is how his art does not just present a problem; it also proposes solutions. The organic city and organic home depicted in his work are more than just artistic visions—they’re potential blueprints for a more sustainable future. It’s a rare and refreshing approach where art doesn’t just highlight a crisis but urges us to think about ways to navigate out of it. His solo exhibition is currently going on at Bikaner House, New Delhi from 4th to 9th April 2025. This exhibition has been organized by Gallerie Navya.

Triveni Kala Sangam Sculpture Department Show

For art creation, an environment is required more than training. This environment can be the external world or the inner world of a person. However, for art creation, the internal environment is more critical, and vision, sensitivity, emotions, thoughts, etc. are more important. When this inner world meets the external world, then an artist comes out shining. This external world is the art institute and fellow artists. Triveni Kala Sangam is an institute that has turned 75 years old but still seems young. This institute has a craft department where such people come to learn craft art who never got an opportunity for it. Such people include people engaged in administrative and defence services, and also their family members. Dr. Kosal Kumar Sharma teaches such people to master various forms of craft. On the foundation day of Triveni Kala Sangam, a group exhibition of these students is going on in the craft court there these days. On the evening of 6 April 2025, I got the opportunity to see this exhibition and talk to many artists. These artists have given concrete form to their feelings and thoughts through mediums like Metal, Fiber, Ceramic, etc. The crafts displayed are impressive. The difference in the work of these artists even while working together can be called the specialty of their art.