The presence of top foreign galleries at the India Art Summit is areminder of the worldwide interest in Indian art.

The western wind blowing at the ongoing India Art Summit at Hall No. 7 of Pragati Maidan has brought along happy tidings. There are as many as 16 galleries from abroad at the summit, who have come scouting for young talent in India. In fact, most of them have already pocketed some of the choicest contemporary names from India with great success, representing them in reputed A- list art shows globally.

Neither recession, nor swine flu has prevented gallery owners, art critics and collectors from abroad to pitch a tent at the second edition of India's biggest art fair. India, after all, has been next only to China when it comes to making news in the international art world, for quite some time now. In fact, it's the contemporaries (younger lot of painters) from the country who- ' ve for long been hailed as the next big things.

Sadly, however, they are all waiting in the wings right now, for the global economic recession to end and make it easier for connoisseurs to dig into their deep pockets to buy their art.

Till the economic downturn knocked sense out of our heads, the story from the world of Indian art had read thus - the masters had finally been acknowledged, they'd earned their crores and a place in history, and now, it was the turn of the contemporaries. Some among them like Subodh Gupta, Jitish Kallat and T. V. Santhosh had even begun scaling heights, but then, the juggernaut of recession hit us all.

Thomas Erben of the reputed Thomas Erben Gallery of New York that represents emerging names like Chitra Ganesh and Yamini Nayar, among others, says, " Recession has ensured that only collectors, who buy only very good work, remain in the market. Some Indian contemporary names like Subodh Gupta and Nalini Malini are above market forces as their works sell irrespective of the state of the economy. We were the first to hold a mainstream show of contemporary Indian artists in 2004 and we have faith in the new talent from India." Young artists consistently producing quality works, Erben says, hold great potential post- recession.

Like Erben, Rob Dean from London, of Rob Dean Art Ltd., affirms the views of his New York counterpart. Dean, who was Christie's representative in India in 1998-2000, says, "In 2003, I had done a show with these artists which included Jitish Kallat and Atul Dodiya, and only one painting had been sold. Now most of them have made the move from domestic to international circuit." Dean calls it a drip-down effect and adds, "With many young collectors now, contemporary artists are going to be in demand." While London and New York are the first stops for any Indian artist travelling abroad, it's the representation from countries such as Germany, Latvia, Netherlands, Japan and China at the summit that makes the foreign interest in Indian art worth noting. Katja W. Ott, representing Beck & Eggeling gallery from Dusseldorf, Germany, (along with the managing partner Stefan Wimmer), says, "India is a very popular destination for German tourists. They are enamoured of the whole cultural package, and that includes art. Some Indian artists, such as M.F. Husain, F.N. Souza and S.H. Raza among masters and contemporaries such as Subodh Gupta are known very well to connoisseurs

In Germany. That's why we are here." The gallery promotes five contemporary names from India - Viveek Sharma, Desmond Lazaro, Sonia Mehra Chawla, George Martin and Hema Upadhyaya.

OTT adds that Beck & Eggeling has been following the response to Indian art abroad, such as the Hong Kong art fair which drew a great response. She adds that it is the element of exotica that excites the gallery's clients in Germany. Peter Louis, director of RL Fine Arts, a New York-based gallery, echoes the sentiments of all the other foreign participants at the summit. Though his gallery is not participating at the fair, he is in India to check out the vibrations in the art world in the country. We caught up with him at the party hosted by Bhavna Kakkar at the launch of her magazine, Take on

Art, a day before the beginning of the summit, at Agni at The Park, where he had come in the company of Subodh Gupta and Bharti Kher. Talking about his interest in Indian art, he said, "There is a lot of interest in the US. Subodh Gupta is a name that is already very well known and we are consistently showing young, emerging artists from India in our show." Birendra Pani is one such name. Other international names, like the Arario, with galleries in Beijing and New York, and the HB Galerie of Hans Bakker from Rotterdam, the Netherlands, are also participating, though they are not showing any Indian artist. But, their presence affirms their growing interest in Indian art, and presumably, contemporary is the way to go. Now, only if recession would get over quickly.