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METROSCAPE
Art Of The Hammer
 Patrick
Bowring, who just a while back seemed like a auctioneer with nowhere to
go, is back distributing paddles. In an alliance with The Oberoi group
(the modalities of which remain fiercely undisclosed) he has opened Bowrings,
Fine Art Auctioneers, a wholly Indian company with P.R.S. Oberoi as its
chairman. The company hopes to achieve what no art market disciplinarian
has done so far: a transparent art bazaar where both the buyer and the
seller get the best price. Bowring has the experience: in his 28-year
stint with Sotheby's, he had helped set up a branch of the company in
India and was overlooking the sales of contemporary Indian art. (The branch
wound up when it was blackened with the charge of antique smuggling about
three years back.) Bowring now minces no words: "The highest standard
of ethics will be maintained at all times."
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| AUCTION FELLA: Bowring; a bronze figure of
Mercury estimated at Rs 12-22 lakh |
The other euphoric news is that contemporary
art will only be a minuscule component of the sales which essentially
include jewellery, armour, silver, textiles and the traditional rest.
Definitely has more pizzazz and is more up-tempo. November 5, their first
auction, will be the acid test.
-Anshul Avijit
Adworse
Advertising in Bengali doesn't have its own
Golden Lion, but recently the award that came closest-Srijan Samman-gave
people a chance to see what ads in Bengali look like today. And it's not
a pretty picture. The evening had enough Tollywood stars, ad world honchos
and glitterati around, just not enough ads.
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| IN A LOSING GAME: Ad winners in Kolkata |
Of the 14 categories chosen by the panel of selectors
(TV, B/W promos, newspaper stills) many had only one entry each. Also,
the same clutch of agencies mopped up the awards. Where are the others?
Indrani Sen of HTA thinks it's because agencies do not take as much care
with language ads as they do with the English ones. Most, for example,
simply use a translator rather than one on-the-payroll copywriter for
catchlines. Nor are clients willing to spend more. Considering language
newspapers and magazines sell more than those in English, and ads in the
former have greater viability, this could be a bad move. The awards are
a start. Hopefully the good stuff will follow.
-Labonita
Ghosh
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