Gujarat’s hub of afforable contemporary art work is a labour of love. The people behind Ahmedabad’s Marvel Art Gallery and Marvel Graphic Studio are the Shah family headed by Dhanvi Shah. They have created limited edition silk screen serigraphs, more than 20 portfolios of leading names in the art world like MF Husain, S H Raza, Jogen Chowdhary, Manjeet Bawa and many others.
Motivated by their love for art and their promise to provide affordable works of art to people, Dhanvi’s son Chaitya and the latter’s wife Nidhi are venturing into new media like online art sales. They have come up with an EMI system of payment for Marvel patrons.
Dhanvi says, “Entry in the art world has been limited to connoisseurs, collectors and the wealthy. I believe that everyone, even a farmer, a small entrepreneur, a professional should be able to buy art. This can be made possible by producing reproduction prints, limited edition serigraphs, appealing works by young and aspiring artists, and through installment schemes for who really want to own an original.’’
Over a thousand works of around 150 artists in its collection, the gallery has also held exhibitions of paintings, sculptures, ceramics, glass, textiles, wood and metal art, new media, and even furniture and photographs. Chaitya says, “A customer can get a serigraph of his choice in a modest budget of `500 to `3,000.” Dhanvi, who was in the textile prints business, says he realised that limited edition prints of paintings, produced through serigraphy or lithography, offer a great option for those with modest budgets. “In 2004, my wife and I started the Marvel Art Gallery. I found that our son, Chaitya, too was inclined towards the arts. I worked on developing the gallery.”
The textile printing background was useful. The Shahs produced some fine serigraphs in limited editions which have found favour in Ahmedabad. “In Ahmedabad, not many people would buy a painting worth lakhs.”
The Marvel Graphic Studio was conferred with National Awards for excellence in printing for two consecutive years in Delhi in 2012 and in Pune in 2013 by the All India Federation of Master Printers. Marvel’s serigraphs went for auction at the artnet.com auction in the US and some of the serigraphs are part of the collection at National Library of Congress, Washington; British Museum and St. Bride’s foundation in London.
“Ahmedabad has a market for art. It is appealing, but there are no buyers for very expensive works. For prints, we select only celebrated artists like Akbar Padamsee, Shanti Dave, Thota Vaikuntum, Haku Shah, K G Subramanium, Vrundavan Solanki, Naina Dalal, Amit Ambalal, Ratan Parimoo, and some younger artists.” The interesting studio comprises an office, a stock room, graphic studio and exhibition space.
BUYING WISE
■ Marvel has come up with an EMI scheme that enables patrons to pay for the art works in installments as per pre-decided conditions.
■ It issues a certificate of authenticity with every serigraph.
■ Each serigraph is signed and numbered by the artist to ensure its authenticity and maintain its limited edition value.