New York, May 14: In a sign of the increasing recognition of the Indian art on world canvas, 26 works from contemporary Indian artists would go under the hammer at the International auction house Christie's Spring 2008 sales of Asian Contemporary Art.

Tagged with hefty sums, the paintings of a host of Indian artists would be auctioned in Hong Kong on May 24 and May 25.

Among others, top-tier works by Subodh Gupta, Jitish Kallat, Anju Dodiya, and Atul Dodiya will be up for grabs on the opening day. On the next day, selection of works from these and other noted Indian artists including Thukral Tagra, T V Santhosh, Shibu Natesan, Justin Ponmany, Jagannath Panda, Hema Upadhyay, Baiju Parthan and Talha Rathore will be available.

The auction would also feature a selection of significant works by many Pakistani artists besides the ones drawn by their counterparts from China, Japan and Korea. The Indian modern and contemporary art category has grown exponentially, with increasing global demand seen in every one of Christie's sales in New York, London and Hong Kong. Since launching Modern and Contemporary Indian Art sales in New York in 2000, Christie's sales in this category have grown from USD 656,000 to USD 36 million in 2007. Among the highlights is Atul Dodiya's ‘Woman from Kabul’ which is estimated to sell between USD 114,400-153,800.

Regarded as one of the leading artists of his generation, Mumbai-born Atul Dodiya's works show influence of culture and history of India.