NEW DELHI - The third All India Art Trade Fair, a direct selling platform for artists, began at the Sai International Centre here Friday with a spotlight on tribal and children’s art.

The two-day fair will be hosted by Art Bank, an art promotion organisation and archive that also rents out expensive art to both individual and corporate clients.

The fair comprising 45 stalls will display nearly 1,000 works by 60 artists.

The highlight this year is a special display space for children of three schools in the capital - G.D. Goenka School, Manav Bharti School and the Air Force Bal Bharti School. Talented children from the three schools, who have won competitions at the school level, will exhibit their works and also sell them directly to buyers. It is an encouragement to children to take up art as a profession. The concept is new and I don’t think it has been implemented elsewhere in the country, Adishwar Puri, the founder of Art Bank, told IANS.

The ethnic art section, another important feature, will feature works by indigenous artists from villages in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh.

We have a large collection of Tanjore paintings and tribal art from Karnataka. Durga Bai, an artist from Madhya Pradesh, has brought works by 15 tribal artists from villages in the state, he said.

The art is priced between Rs.3,000 and Rs.60,000.

The fair, which began as a platform to give artists total freedom in interfacing with buyers and selling their art without the help of galleries which charge 33 percent as commission on every sale, has made space for six galleries this year.

I don’t think they are charging commission from the artists because they are promoting fresh talent. There are two galleries from Baroda, one from Ahmedabad, two from Delhi and one from Kolkata, Puri said.

The fair, which has expanded since it opened three years ago with nearly 25 stalls of canvas and water works, will also showcase ceramics, sculptures, photographs, pop installations, digital and video art, mixed media and performance art to represent the full spectrum of contemporary Indian creativity, Puri said.

The market is responding better this year. An artist has already sold two of his works even before the fair began. Last year, the Sensex crashed a day before the fair, hitting sales, Puri said.