Art index

Sun, May 11 12:05 AM

Art is serious business. We know that.

But here's how serious it is becoming. With buyers and banks tripping over each other to set up art funds and collections and loans, it was only a matter of time before serious economists sat up and took notice of the phenomenon.

International art already has dedicated websites like artindex.com that keep track of art like the stock market.

Pradeep Das with Bid and Hammer is currently working on a model to study the phenomenon in Indian art. Mayukh Dass, a PhD candidate at the University of Georgia is doing some hardcore research in this area.

His study revolves around the bidding and auction phenomenon and aims to look at the "dynamics of price formation and price forecasting in Indian art auction." "I also use art auction information to analyze the Indian art market structure" says Dass whose big project is building an "efficient Indian Art Index.

" Dass explains that the biggest problem in the Indian market is that no one can accurately estimate the price of any art item. This leads to problems for art investors, art hedge fund managers and art collectors, not to mentions artists themselves.

In light of this he feels an art index is of utmost importance. Dass' website www.

modernindianart.net provides an overview of Indian art and compares Indian art prices foreign artists.

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