A painting on display at the exhibition

Sahil Desai?s 10-year-old enterprise ? the sale of imported oil reproductions of masterpieces ? is going strong, but original paintings, especially those by upcoming artists, are quickly gaining favour with those who love art but cannot afford to take home a master.

So, while countless buyers queued up for their authentic 2 ft x 2 ft copy of The Last Supper at Rs 10,000 (during The Da Vinci Code craze), Masters Collection Art Gallery has launched its second show of Indian art. The show by emerging artists, titled New Horizons, opened on Monday and will be on till August 26, 11 am to 7 pm on weekdays.

Most of the 25 artists to be displayed are comparatively new or those who haven?t had too much public exposure, like Parag Adhikary, Dilip Chowdhury, Beena Pradhan, Debabrata Chakravaarty, Mihir Paul, Moushumi Mutsuddi, Barun Roy, Manik Kandar, Chayan Raha and Sajal Kanti Mitra. There are a couple of small sculptures by Madan Gopal Dutta and semi-figurative, abstract and realistic paintings in oil, acrylic, watercolour, dry pastel and mixed media.

Investment in paintings today is second only to stocks, said Desai. ?Upcoming artists are more in demand because buyers seem to enjoy the gamble. The prices of works grow manifold as artists gain fame.?

Even authentic reproductions gain in resale value when a company or artist withdraws copyright, explained Desai, who sources his reproductions from well-known companies like Danashe (US), Mondial (Italy) and Master?s Collection (US).

The originals are chemically transferred on canvas, which are hand-painted with oil colours to give them some of the texture of the originals.