new delhi indian auction house saffronart is stepping up live sales and targeting southeast asian markets besides expanding its portfolio by offering a wider range of items from antiques to bollywood posters founded originally as an online platform to auction art and jewellery saffronart recently hired hugo weihe former international director of asian art at christies as ceo hes charting out new business plans that will take the company to the next level the indian art market has been showing signs of revival and there are exciting opportunities here said weihe who moved to mumbai two weeks ago the company is strengthening its play in live sales by dealing in highvalue artworks by modern contemporary artists and antiques in the online space we will experiment with new and affordable categories like popular art collectibles and items such as bollywood posters he said saffronarts focus is to become a global auction house hence the move into southeast asia weihe said two auctions will be organised this year beginning september there would be around 75 works that will go under the hammer including works of fn souza sh raza and mf husain in the first sale he said there will many works from the bengal school of art according to him the indian art market has picked up christies sale two years ago in india was a strong sign he said weihe was involved in the christies sale which raised rs 100 crore in 2013 when asked if saffronarts upcoming sale would meet with similar success he said it will be a wellrounded sale and we would like to get close to what christies did he did not elaborate on the companys revenue and profit figures