It is customary to talk about the cover story first but let’s break form and talk about another story in our ranks. Art and Commerce have always had an ambiguous relationship. The two remain distant enough to keep the attraction alive and must tango for the latter to have respectability and former to keep body and soul together. It is natural then that people who connect these two disparate worlds must have knowledge and charm, to get you over the line when logic fails. Neville Tuli has both in copious amounts. He had the drive and chutzpah to set up an auction house, art advisory services and later an art fund in just a few years time. He also has the mind of a riverboat gambler. Till the economy was doing well he held all the aces. His gamble, unfortunately, is in now in bit of a tangle. The downturn has meant that his art fund has under-performed. The story on Osian’s lays bare in all its richness the problems of the Indian art market and indeed Tuli himself. The trio of Dinesh Narayanan, Elizabeth Flock and Shloka Nath have travelled high and low to get you this story.
(This story appears in the 05 February, 2010 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)
Gr8 work on the osian's story
on Feb 15, 2010