Back in 2018, as a literature student at the University of Delhi, I visited the National Gallery of Modern Art with my friends. Standing there, in front of a painting made over a century ago, I was in awe.
It wasn’t the first time I had been to an art gallery. But I remember feeling floored, like it was the first time in my life I was truly appreciating art. It was almost as if I was finally resonating with what Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh had said in the 19th century, “…and then, I have nature and art and poetry, and if that is not enough, what is enough?”
Art, really, was enough. To make a young person feel seen. To tell someone, who had in the past year left their home, that this was home too.
This was seven years ago, though. Now, a lot has changed. In the past few years, especially post the pandemic, there has been a shift in the way the youth engages with art, for the better and for the worse, thanks in large part to social media.
In full form
Right now, when you speak to art galleries about how young India consumes art, there’s one thing they all say in consensus. For the longest time, the art world was an exclusive space, niche in its existence, not very welcoming to those who might not know much about art.
Not anymore, though. A growing
shift in the last few years has seen more young people come into art galleries, look at art works, and cultivate a certain appreciation for it.
Aparajita Jain, director and partner at Nature Morte Gallery, tells FE, “Social media has revolutionised the art world by broadening its reach and making it more accessible. It serves as a bridge between galleries and young audiences, allowing art to reach people who may never have previously considered visiting a gallery. We see this as a positive shift, one that actually democratises the access and reach of art.”
Today, more and more young people are documenting art as well — through photos, videos, reels — and letting it speak to them at their own pace and in their own time.
Mayank Bahl, a business consultant in the art and culture space, has an interesting point to add to this. According to him, while a lot of people might perceive clicking pictures at art galleries as an act of vanity, he thinks that young people are making art more accessible in their own way, because museums and galleries can be an intimidating space.
Access granted
At the same time, galleries are also actively trying to engage younger audiences through narrative-driven exhibitions and walkthroughs about issues they are deeply concerned about, and by embracing digital innovation and interactive media — whether it be online catalogues of art works, comprehensive guides, or investing more in social media channels.
Shabana Zia, an art curator with the Tuli Research Centre for India Studies, also says that on one hand, galleries are increasingly tying up with educational institutions to encourage young people to generate an interest in art, and on the other hand, they are also looking at featuring artists from the grassroots and hinterlands of India. She adds, “There are galleries now also acquiring NFTs and digital artworks. We are really moving towards an all-encompassing age in the art space.”
Jain smiles as she says, “Young India is redefining how we experience and interact with art, often questioning traditional norms in favour of a more inclusive, open-minded perspective.”
Galleries are trying to make themselves more accessible in the physical sense of the word too. Siddhant Shah, a national award-winning art and accessibility expert, and founder of Access for All, also tells FE that a lot of galleries across the country have been collaborating with his organisation to make their venues more accessible for people with disabilities.
Shah says, “People engage with art to enrich their lives, to nourish their souls. Why should people with disabilities be left behind in this? So we create ramps at galleries and museums, we create tactile art works and braille handbooks for pieces of art, etc. At the same time, we also run a collective of artists with disabilities who get to station their art at different galleries.”
Adding to this, Bahl does mention that even festivals like India Art Fair organise collectors programmes for young and seasoned collectors, in a bid to be more inclusive, while also giving more opportunities to emerging artists by featuring their work.
Visual basic
But Jain does feel that the ‘Instagram-ification’ of art has led to a certain sense of surface-level consumption of art.
Roshini Vadehra, the director of Vadehra Art Gallery, also feels the same. She says that it sometimes gets challenging to actually bring people in because they believe that seeing something on Instagram is the same as seeing it in person.
Vishnu Vardhan Marthi, a 31-year-old Delhi-based communications trainer and art enthusiast, confides in FE that because of social media, there is a certain clout that is now dictating which events to attend. For instance, the Van Gogh 360 immersive that came to India in 2023 became more of an ‘Instagrammable’ event. He says that when an exhibit becomes ticketed or premium, a lot more people want to go for the sake of it being ‘cool’ rather than to appreciate art truly.
Other art enthusiasts agree with this as well. Niharika Dabral, a 26-year-old Delhi-based editor, says, “Many young people visit galleries and museums to put a checkmark on their Instagram stories to portray that they are ‘cultured’ but because their engagement with the pieces is then driven not by an appreciation of art, it just becomes a shallow medium of consuming art works. Art is now simply a social currency for the online world.”
The fine print
Thanks to this sense of increased accessibility though, a lot more young people are now also collecting art. Vadehra tells FE that many young people are intrigued by contemporary art. She goes on, “They are open to different mediums of paintings, photographs, sculptures, and also open to artists from all over the world, not just India. They don’t necessarily go for blue chip or known names, and have more of a risk appetite in the way they collect art.”
Ushmita Sahu, director and head curator at Emami Art, agrees with Vadehra. She says that young collectors, especially under the age of 40, are drawn to “contemporary and experimental art that reflects current social, cultural, and political issues.” She adds that they also are moved by “pieces that embody fresh perspectives and resonate with their lived experiences. Some are also mindful of the potential for artworks by emerging artists to appreciate over time.”
And whose art are young people buying? To this, art galleries don’t have one answer. There are established contemporary artists like Shilpa Gupta, young artists like Biraaj Dodiya, Thukral and Tagra, and emerging South Asian diasporic artists like Zaam Arif who do enjoy a certain appeal among young collectors.
Sahu also says, “Young collectors tend to be interested in artists who challenge conventions and experiment with new media. Artists with strong narratives, who explore themes relevant to today’s society — such as identity, sustainability, and technology — often resonate well with this demographic.”
But, as always, the OGs reign superior for many still. Ashish Anand, the CEO and managing director of DAG (formerly Delhi Art Gallery) says, “Dare one say that Husain remains the first choice among emerging collectors, as do the other Progressives.” He does add, though, that younger collectors are also “daring and inquisitive,” investing in artists who have gained popularity in the last decade and are still affordable such as GR Santosh, Rabin Mondal, Avinash Chandra, Madhvi Parekh, Gogi Saroj Pal, Shanti Dave, Rajendra Dhawan, J Sultan Ali, Ambadas, Anupam Sud, and Laxman Pai, among others.
Of course, while there’s an innate interest in collectors to acquire art by masters, Sunaina Anand, the director of Art Alive Gallery also says that young collectors are really not biased and collect art that truly speaks to them.
Art for art’s sake
However, all the galleries also maintain one line of thought. Yes, people collect and buy art as an investment. But, they say, “it’s not something we encourage.”
Vadehra tells FE, “We want people to look at art for the love of it, and acquire it as a future family heirloom, and not as an investment.”
This is something that Sahu’s ideas of art are consistent with too. In her experience, a lot of young buyers focus on the aesthetic and emotional value of artworks because for them it is a meaningful addition to their lives.
It’s also that not everyone has the money to spare for art, as crude as that might sound. Art can be expensive. Harsh Vardhan Singh, the director and CEO of Progressive Art Gallery, says that many young people purchasing art either want to deck up their homes on a budget, or having done their homework, already know which piece they want from what artist, and request a specific quote. There’s hardly anyone in between these extremes.
The big picture
But where is this increased interest in art stemming from? Kaavya Lakshman, a 30-year-old Art History scholar from the National Museum Institute, attributes multiple reasons for this.
One is that the younger generation today, especially millennials, have more of a disposable income that they want to use to stand out from their peers. Acquiring art says that they’re people who have a certain taste, and it speaks volumes about the collector.
Lakshman says, “People want to purchase art because it helps give them a form of expression. Young people don’t want to express themselves the same way they did 10 years ago. They are evolving and they want their surroundings to reflect that too.” She goes on to add, “Other than that an important factor has been the accessibility of art. There are a lot of artists who have been attempting to democratise art — in the form of street art, open exhibitions, and putting themselves out there on social media. So, a lot more people now also have a better understanding of art thanks to this exposure, and as a result, want to consciously invest in art.”
DAG’s Anand agrees with this. He tells FE that there’s also another factor: the second- and third-generation collectors, who have seen art in their parents’ homes now want to acquire works that more suit their tastes.
For him what’s also interesting to observe is that while the youth today is open to ideas and suggestions, they do have their own well-informed opinions and strong likes as well.
For young India, art, in its truest sense, increasingly is becoming enough!
