Art Mumbai 2024
This year’s Art Mumbai took place from 14 - 17 November. This is the second iteration of the fair, the first of which spurred the India Art Fair to add a Mumbai event to their schedule for 2025. A few weeks ago this was quietly shelved, so Art Mumbai have the floor…
The 2024 edition was considerably bigger than the 2023 version, including several additions from overseas: Ben Brown Fine Arts from London, Rossi+Rossi from Hong Kong. As well as the roster of expected Indian galleries there were the usual suspects from overseas – Aicon, Galleria Continua and Grosvenor Gallery. The fair was heavily weighted to contemporary, but the modern tent had some important work on display.
Visiting the site on the Tuesday it was anyone’s guess as to whether things would be ready for the opening on Thursday. Everywhere you looked there were shippers, painters, contractors, cleaners. You name it, it still needed doing. And done it was (eventually) and the tents looked very impressive.
There was a program of satellite events that took place, as well as a gallery night in the city on the Wednesday evening. The Mumbai Gallery Association does a great job of collating information, and their site/social accounts look great. Remind you of anyone?? Mumbai Gallery Weekend takes place from the 9 - 12 January 2025.
The opening night saw a fashion show (parade probably a better word) by Tarun Tahiliani, which was remarkable. The Bollywood wives took to the stage on Saturday night, interviewed by the fair’s ‘Cultural Ambassador’ Karan Johar.
The fair was split into modern and contemporary sections. Highlights in the modern tent being the display of work by SH Raza on the Crayon Art Gallery, the sheer range of work on the DAG stand, two good Ravi Varma paintings on the stand of Gallery G (NFS), a large self-portrait by Francesco Clemente at Grosvenor Gallery, and a presentation of Madras artists at Ashvitas.
There was also a display of work by VS Gaitonde and Francis Newton Souza’s Kalam series - Souza//Gaitonde: Parralel Lives, presented by the Saffronart Foundation. We can’t illustrate the Souza’s sadly, but I’m sure there will be a few images knocking around instagram.
KNMA staged a wonderful exhibition titled ‘City and the Sea - In Search of the Horizon’ featuring the work of 9 female contemporary Sout Asian Artists.
There were plenty of highlights in the Contemporary tent. Galleries throughout the fair reported strong sales, some complaining that they could have sold more had they brought more… Kabir Jhala from the Art Newspaper has written a comprehensive account of the fair and what sold.
There was also a remarkable immersive exhibition titled ‘Spot the Difference’, with twins performing in incredibly detailed sets, as well as musical performances and a series of talks and panel discussions.
Events like these really help to make Art Mumbai stand out from the identikit fairs we see around the world. It also helps that it has a fantastic location at the Mahalaxmi Racecourse.
Visitors to the next edition won’t see this kind of programming anywhere else, and that’s what makes it so exciting. The first two editons have been very regional, but it sounds like expansion is on the mind of the organisers, so let’s see what 2025 brings.
A few more photos of the city:
Finally… On the plane home it was a nice surprise to see Francesco Clemente in Good Will Hunting. Small world!
