Osian's Auction Catalogue India The Passionate Detachment | February 2001

14 it becomes one reason a premium price is justified. Another is the belief that the price will increase in the future because incorporating the significance of this critical-historical narrative will still be recognised in the long run (ie: scholarship on the arts, in general, does not represent a passing prejudice, bias or fashion). Thus a clear link between aesthetic understanding and academia needs to exist, which the economic system must in turn find credible, and be able to incorporate it within itself in a systematic manner. — The manner by which the works of art are chosen, inter- related and contextualised must clarify and nurture the required appreciation process. For example, a historical context needs to be created, in which various levels of categorisation and different kinds of ideologies can dissolve, leaving only the aura of the overall ’quality’ to dominate the curatorial exercise. — The auction house organisers must be prepared to create and sustain the highest levels of financial transparency and public accountability. — The success of achieving actual prices within the Price Estimates must be relatively high (60% +) to establish clear links between curatorial knowledge and its financial grasp; the proportion of lots sold must be even higher (70% +). — The documentation which communicates certain related features of an art work must strive for an intellectual and aesthetic excellence in both style and substance. — The auction network must try to tackle the financial anomalies and inconsistencies inherent in the system, such as the variation in Sales Tax on art between states, the lack of credible valuation methods for Capital Gains Taxation & Insurance purposes, or even the ironic case of the Government of India charging a 50% Import Duty on Indian art wishing a return to India! — It must discipline the tamasha aspect associated with auctions, and yet engender an increasing popular interest which maintains the integrity of the works to be auctioned. In this context the medium of the internet throws up interesting challenges. At one level it lowers standards of quality and integrity; on the other, by opening up a vast audience for the subject, it evolves the necessary competition over time, so benefiting all. If the aforementioned factors can be satisfied, there is a genuine chance for a domestic art auction house to succeed. Within the next few years, the Indian modern arts may soon become the model market amid all Indian cultural disciplines, capable of not only raising the level of aesthetic sensibility and respect for the creative process, but also helping transform the black economy and its corruption into a vibrant, transparent and integrated infrastructure. With such self-sufficiency in place, the task of helping other artistic- cultural disciplines improve their infrastructure takes on a new credibility and momentum. To then change the educational system for the arts may not be the forlorn task it is today…. Idealism Clarifies The human consciousness demands to know itself. To be true to this self-awareness confronts all of us. Absorbing this uncertainty is the underlying motivation to life. Varied are the evolutionary phases, ranging from the sheltered idealism which yearns for freedom, love and courage, to the hesitant stages where one is awakened to the material duties of idealism. In sustaining these phases to their logical limits comes freedom for the individual, freedom from all sense of obligation, and the will to give to another without reciprocity. This hard fought freedom is the bedrock of spirituality. Sustaining each evolving phase of this self-awareness determines the individual’s contribution to humanity. From unconnected ideas and concepts the individual will create an idealism, which may clarify into a vision. These phases will structure events, projects, institutions and an infrastructure, at different stages, amid a jungle of inter-relationships, across time and space. It is the duty of the material context to utilise, harness and integrate these individual contributions into an effective system. It is this process of transformation and integration of the idealistic into its material institutional forms which determine the quality of life in a nation. A simultaneity of vision and action is the basic pre-requisite for any effective effort in India. The simultaneity implies the need to harness detachment within the creative action, along a path which cannot help but absorb contradictions with equanimity. It is this passionate-detachment which allows one to respect and integrate each specialised corner to serve the wider multi-faceted intelligence. It is through this fearless attitude that the essential compassion and humour to sustain such a journey arises, from which may emerge a new conviction and vision for non-violence. Vision is nothing but idealism clarified, ready to take on a practical mantle, to find one’s battleground, to take up arms without hesitation. Vision emerges from the struggles of one’s private-public persona dissolving away, which in turn forces idealism to become accountable to a voice other than one’s inner integrity. This surrender of the self occurs when a faith in humanity decides to raise its voice and stand up. It is probably the most difficult and thankless decision of introspection, and yet essential if any privately nurtured idealism is to become a public source of inspiration. Thus to know the idealism which awakens to and then confronts its materiality is the first task of infrastructure-building.