A Mumbai-born, London-based private equity investor is looking for a gallery space in Mayfair to display his contemporary art collection.
Adu Advaney is the managing director of Fashion Fund One which counts Top Shop (Russia) and the French luxury swimwear brand Vilebrequin among its companies.
Mr Advaney’s wife Ingrid says that the couple are seeking a “private art space in combination with business space in Mayfair”. This will not generally be open to the public.
Mr Advaney already owns a 5,000 sq. ft private gallery in The Hague, Netherlands, which houses a portion of his holdings.
His collection includes around 250 works with pieces by Désirée Dolron (Netherlands), Raymond Pettibon (US), Dubossarsky & Vinogradov (Russia), Alex Katz (US), Vanessa Beecroft (Italy), Hans op de Beeck (Belgium), Jason Martin (UK), Adam Adach (Poland), the artists collective Artists Anonymous (UK/Germany) and Tracey Emin (UK).
Since 2005, the millionaire has also purchased around 24 works by contemporary Indian artists including husband and wife Subodh Gupta and Bharti Kher as well as Jitish Kallat (p44).
Mr Advaney said a visit to a fashion conference in Delhi in 2005 sparked his interest in the Indian contemporary market.
He purchased a large installation by the Mangalore-born artist Sudarshan Shetty at Art Basel Miami Beach last December.
While Indians living both at home and abroad have largely sustained the market for modern Indian art, it has been Western collectors such as Charles Saatchi and Frank Cohen, both of the UK, who have focused attention on contemporary Indian art.
This is slowly starting to change as collectors such as Mr Advaney increasingly concentrate on the latest art being made in the subcontinent.
For a report on Indian buying, p40