LuxeBook December 2020

The world wide web of art T his year, many art fairs were cancelled, and art galleries were closed for a long time. The art market, traditionally, has always operated offline but the pandemic pushed the entire industry to embrace digitisation. Those who challenged their creative and business acumen to pivot, largely benefitted, changing the way the industry functions forever. Vadehra Art Gallery (VAG), a 33-year-old gallery and one of India’s most respected art spaces wasted no time in fortifying their presence in the virtual world. Parul Vadehra, Director of the gallery says that they have been selling to clients based outside Delhi for years. “Sales over email or WhatsApp happen quite often with our regular clients. If they see a work of a familiar artist, they usually know what it looks like physically, so they are more comfortable buying virtually,” informs Vadehra. In the lockdown, as the world delved deeper into the world wide web, even first-time buyers are viewing and buying works online, even of artists whose works they may not be familiar with.“In addition to images and PDFs, we show people art works on video calls, helping them BY ALIYA LADHABHOY Parul Vadehra , Director of Delhi’s 33-year-old Vadehra Art Gallery, takes us through their digitisation journey and talks about its merits and challenges ART 22| L U X E B O O K | D E C E MB E R 2 0 2 0 D E C E MB E R 2 0 2 0 | L U X E B O O K | 23