Dealing with the young at art

Dinesh Narayanan/Forbes India

Many art experts feel the next four-five years present a solid opportunity to invest in the next generation of Indian artists. A painting is not a bond. A sculpture is not a share certificate. You like an M.F. Husain or Tyeb Mehta painting because you can look at it for hours and marvel at the brush strokes that evoke history, politics, religion, philosophy; interpreting the scope of human existence itself within the four corners of an otherwise mute canvas. It is a thing of beauty. And you appreciate it. That is why you are willing to spend a few lakhs or even crores to own one. It is incidental that over the years, demand for these pieces of exquisite art will increase and the oldest law of economics will kick in, bringing you, what bean counters call, a fabulous return on investment. However, if that becomes the point of buying art, well, what