Art Mumbai returned for its third edition at the iconic Mahalaxmi Racecourse on Thursday, November 14th, with high expectations. Initiated in 2023, the fair has quickly established itself as a linchpin, thanks in part to the robust growth in India’s art market over recent years.
Leading 20th-century names continue to ride high in auctions (leading Indian auction house Saffron Art is one of Art Mumbai’s co-founders), younger artists are gaining increasing worldwide recognition, and a thriving diasporic and national collector base is propelling things further still.
Indicative of this growth, the number of galleries has gone up from 50 in the inaugural edition to 82 this year. Of particular note is the participation of international galleries like Galleria Continua and Lisson Gallery, which is making its fair debut. Some 15 galleries are from New York, London, and Dubai; however, many of them are diaspora-run or focus on South Asian art.
The number of galleries participating in the fair from New Delhi (29) also exceeds the number from Mumbai (21). The latter, India’s financial hub, is seen as an attractive proposition for galleries from the national capital to expand their pool of collectors.
Indeed, Mumbai has spearheaded India’s economic growth and is the vanguard metropolis for wealth creation in India as a whole, especially at the higher end. According to the Forbes 2025 World’s Billionaires list, Mumbai ranks sixth globally for billionaire concentration with 67 based in the city, four fewer than London, and ahead of cities like Shanghai and San Francisco. The exponential growth in private wealth in Mumbai, combined with a steep real estate boom, has added fuel to the Indian art market.
On Art Mumbai’s VIP day on Thursday, it was quickly clear that momentum remains strong. Most leading Indian galleries at the fair had sold the majority of their displays on day one, and international and debut participants were also in positive spirits. “The sheer number of new private buyers we have met and the speed of decision-making from liking to buying has truly amazed us,” said Harssh Shah of Ahmedabad, India–based Iram Art, which is making its debut.
Notable collectors at the fair included Kiran Nadar and Kito De Boer, who took part in a riveting fireside chat on the fair’s second day, where Nadar spoke about her collecting journey and outlined plans to open her new museum space in New Delhi by early 2028.
As well as showcasing works by some of India’s leading and most in-demand artists, the fair also highlights the depth of the regional art scene through some of its leading galleries, from exciting emerging artists to names new to even the most seasoned fairgoer.
Here, we present five artist discoveries from Art Mumbai 2025.
Neha Vedpathak
B. 1982, Pune, India. Lives and works in Detroit
Showing with Sundaram Tagore Gallery.
Loop 1, 2021
Neha Vedpathak
Sundaram Tagore Gallery
Untitled (Yet), 2019
Neha Vedpathak
Sundaram Tagore Gallery
London, New York, and Singapore–based gallery Sundaram Tagore is showing three works by Neha Vedpathak at its booth. The Indian artist uses a self-invented technique she calls “plucking.” The precise, time-consuming process involves separating the fibers of handmade Japanese paper. She then paints, sews, and assembles the lace-like pieces into layered, sometimes delicate, sculptural reliefs.
“Her works are visually arresting and materially sophisticated. The delicate textures, layered surfaces, and subtle shadow play pull the viewer in,” said Sundaram Tagore, the gallery’s owner, noting how the artist’s transnational influences mirror experiences familiar to many in the Indian diaspora. “Her work bridges geographies and cultures, making her an ideal figure for platforms that seek to highlight global perspectives within contemporary Indian art,” he added.
Works by the artist were in high demand, with prices ranging from $5,000–$30,000.
Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran
B. 1988, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Lives and works in Sydney
Shown by Jhaveri Contemporary
Sgraffito Vessel IV, 2025
Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran
Jhaveri Contemporary
The occasion of Art Mumbai marks a major moment for Sri Lankan Tamil artist Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran, who is the subject of a solo exhibition at local tastemaker Jhaveri Contemporary and has additional works on view at the gallery’s booth.
“Our aim is to introduce Ramesh to this market during the fair concurrent to the exhibition at our gallery,” said Amrita Jhaveri, the gallerist.
The artist’s irreverent sculptures draw on influences from South Asian temple sculpture, folk idols, and comic and gaming aesthetics, and they are hyper-saturated in color and exaggerated in their features.
“What makes Ramesh distinct in our roster of artists is that while his expression is raw, polychromatic, and almost seductive in contrast to some of our other artists, he thinks in a very sophisticated and layered way about the medium of ceramics, including the way in which he addresses time in his works,” said Jhaveri.
The gallery declined to share prices.
Abir Karmakar
B. 1977, Siliguri, India. Lives and works in Baroda, India
Showing with Aicon Contemporary
Dead Hours - House No. 211, 2025
Abir Karmakar
Aicon Contemporary
Abir Karmakar’s painting Untitled (2025) is a large, eerie standout at a fair where vibrant color palettes were abundant.
Taken from the artists’ “Dead Hours” series, this ethereal representation of an unoccupied house in the small hours of the night feels like an apparition haunted by absence and tormented by memories.
The work, on display with New York’s Aicon Contemporary, depicts an actual empty house in Karmakar’s neighborhood in Sardar Nagar, Baroda, in western India. The artist examines the dichotomy of India’s urban environments, in which significant homeless populations survive cheek-by-jowl with empty surplus houses usually belonging to the rich.
Karmakar is a graduate of the Maharaja Sayajirao University in Baroda, which is famed for its association with the Baroda School of experimental artists that emerged in the late 1950s. The artist, who graduated in the early 2000s, is continuing that tradition, noted his gallerist, Projial Dutta.
“We take great pride in supporting Abir, because I find him one of the finest, if not the finest, of narrative painters from the Baroda School today,” Dutta shared. “He also paints in oil, which is a dying breed, and he deploys alla prima—layering paint wet on wet.”
The work is priced at $57,000.
Deena Pindoria
B. 1991, Madhapur, India. Lives and works in Baroda, India
Showing with Exhibit 320
Rising artist Deena Pindoria’s practice primarily involves traditional Ajrakh block printing on raw Kota Doria fabric made from both cotton and silk. The techniques and materials used are from her community and region in Kutch, western India, and she learned these practices by collaborating with local artisans.
In the exhibited set of 18 monochromatic digital prints and acrylics on Kota Doria and Kala Cotton at the booth of New Delhi’s Exhibit 320, she uses the purdah or veil as a metaphor, using it to build semitransparent layers and also drawing from her personal experiences with claustrophobia. The series, which depicts everyday scenes from her region, transforms these traditional fabrics into a landscape that the viewer must peer through.
“The [viewer’s] gaze is thus profoundly subverted, challenging the viewer to question their own role in the processes of visibility and erasure,” said the gallery’s founder, Rasika Kejriwal.
The gallery declined to share prices for the works.
Dinar Sultana
B. 1989, Joypurhat, Bangladesh. Lives and works in Dhaka, Bangladesh
Showing with Iram Gallery
Ahmedabad-based Iram Gallery is showing a large body of work by Bangladeshi artist Dinar Sultana at the fair, including 33 works on paper.
Sultana, who was born in a small rural district of Bangladesh, experienced a key inflection point when she moved to Shantiniketan in West Bengal, India, to study art. There, she developed a practice that involves making her own paper from recycled newspaper and flower-based pulps. “Dinar is a beacon for women from the rural community who have fought rigid patriarchal norms through her creative practice, and she has immensely grown as an artist in recent years,” said Iram Gallery founder Harssh Shah.
In the works here from her “Womb of Shells” series, the artist prominently uses Kolka, the traditional Bengali paisley motif. She deconstructs this written language, reconstructing paper and infusing it with materials like coal, graphite, and clay to create textured compositions that nod to themes of ecological rebalancing.
A name to watch, Sultana has recently been selected to participate in the upcoming edition of the Colomboscope contemporary arts festival in Sri Lanka’s capital.
Prices for the works here range from $1,200–$3,000.
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