No time to visit art galleries in search for paintings? Your answer is moving on the roads. Creative Strokes is a unique mobile art gallery that was started by 28-year-old Laila Sanyal almost two years ago.
The idea struck her when she sold reproductions and prints of European and American masters for an American MNC. "People spent a lot on prints. I gauged they would spend money on modern Indian art too," she says.
Critics may scoff at Sanyal's "mobile art selling venture" as a publicity gimmick but she thinks otherwise. "It's an easier way to connect to clients. I have a wide range of paintings, from watercolours, abstracts, landscapes to even figuratives," she beams with pride. Prices at her mobile art gallery range from Rs 1,500 up to Rs 2,00,000.
Sanyal's modus operandi is simple. Clients call her, inform her of their requirements including the size and price range of the paintings. She then loads her ready stock of 150 paintings in her Maruti Alto and reaches out to those "who don't have time to visit galleries".
By her own admission, "My biggest drawback was not knowing painters initially." Gradually, she built a base of nearly 250 artists including established senior artists like Ramananda Bandyopadhyay, Samir Aich, Prokash Karmakar and Kartick Chandra Pyne along with upcoming artists like S Pranam Singh, K Muralidharan, Sanatan Dinda, and Subrata Pal who supply their work to her. While most artists work on a consignment basis, Sanyal buys the work of some of the younger artists.
Sanyal, who usually sells 12-15 paintings in a month, also holds exhibitions in posh residential complexes in Kolkata. She has corporate clients like Tractors India, CESC, Standard Chartered and Tata Steel buying paintings from her.
"She's an enterprising lady and I found her unique way of selling art very interesting," says Preeti Balaji, a buyer who purchased paintings from Sanyal for her home and office. "I'm impressed with her framing," she adds.
Sanyal has currently applied brakes to her mobile art gallery. She will curate her first exhibition in Kolkata's Gallery Kanishka from January 12-30.
Her mobile gallery has benefitted some upcoming artists. Milanendu Mondal, who works with acrylics, charged Rs 5,000-6,000 for his work in 2003. Today, he commands a price tag of Rs 15,000. That's a whopping increase of almost 150 per cent in just two years.
"Young painters just need a little push to become famous and high-priced. I'm only helping them," says Sanyal.
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