Pakistani art boom

When a market is relatively small, it doesn't take a lot of new money to make it jump.

Pakistan's art market has gone crazy over the past year, with prices multiplying 10 to 20 times over. And famous artists are not the only beneficiaries.

In the nearby Unicorn gallery, a fresh art school graduate declines an attempt by a collector to reduce the price of her oil-on-canvas portrait of a woman from $580 to $450.

This is in sharp contrast to veteran painter Tasadduq Sohail who hardly received more than $50 for a painting until he was 65.

But then in 2006, one of his works was sold for $32,000 at an international auction.

Pakistan may have undervalued its artists up until recently, but is this sustainable?

Major buyers often do not even find it necessary to look at what they are buying.

"I know buyers who have been sending their servants to book entire shows before they open," says Saquib Hanif, a collector and art critic based in Karachi.

From the BBC.

Posted by David on July 11, 2008 3:56 PM