The following Q&A appeared in Art+Auction’s August issue, which profiles the world’s top auction houses of 2016. ARTINFO will be publishing the articles from this issue over the next few days. Click here to see related stories from the issue. To find all our coverage of the 250 Best Auction Houses Worldwide, as well as ARTINFO’s top picks for the best in visual arts, architecture and design, performing arts, lifestyle, and culture and travel, visit our Top Lists page at blouinartinfo.com/toplists.ArtHouse ContemporaryHeadquarters: Lagos, NigeriaKavita ChellaramFounderIn 2007, Indian-born, London-educated art collector Chellaram founded Arthouse Contemporary, an auction house based in Lagos that focuses on modern and contemporary art from West Africa. Since then, the house has held auctions twice yearly, selling art worth more than $6.5 million dollars and achieving some record-breaking prices. We recently caught up with Chellaram, a trustee of the Prince’s School of Traditional Arts and a member of the African Acquisition Committee of Tate Modern, to discuss Africa’s nascent art market and its potential for growth. Could you tell us about the current market in Africa, and Nigeria in particular?The art market in Nigeria is steadily growing, and our auctions attest the viability of modern and contemporary African art as an investment. When we launched, there was very little transparency in terms of pricing and structure in the art market, so our goal was to provide a platform that could monitor and evaluate such a market. We achieved a 90 percent selling rate at our first auction, and since then our sales have consistently provided positive results—even during the global economic crash, during which we still sold 70 percent by lot. With more global opportunities available for artists in Africa to get on the international radar, such as Okwui Enwezor’s 2015 Venice Biennale, Tate Modern’s focus on African art, the launch of the 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair, and dedicated sales such as Bonhams Africa Now, to name just a few, the interest continues to grow. In terms of the global art market, modern and contemporary African art is still largely affordable. This allows for a great opportunity for new collectors and investors to develop serious collections. Arthouse Contemporary recently launched a new project aimed at emerging collectors, titled the Affordable Art Auction. A yearly supplement to our biannual auctions of modern and contemporary art, it allows first-time buyers an entrance into collecting. It is important for us to create a new collector base that can expand the opportunities in the market.Has the collector base grown with the local economy, or is demand for African contemporary art still largely driven by European collectors?Collectors in Africa are increasingly becoming the buyers of African art, lessening our reliance on a European clientele. This is incredibly rewarding, as it creates an indigenous group of collectors who can build the appre-ciation of art and local artists, particularly here in Nigeria. In this country, being Africa’s largest economy and largest oil producer, a new class of collectors is emerging with an interest in art as an asset and its potential as an investment. You have expanded your operations to include more support for local artists. Tell us about that.We recently launched Arthouse—The Space, which organizes exhibitions of works by contemporary artists such as Yusuf Grillo, George Osodi, Emeka Udemba, Eva Obodo, and Victor Ekpuk. We also established the Arthouse Foundation, a nonprofit program in Lagos that offers artists three-month residencies.And the dates of your upcoming sales?Arthouse Contemporary, which inaugurated its online platform in June, will host its 17th auction on November 21, and the second edition of the Affordable Art Auction will take place in February 2017.
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