A few days before Art Mumbai 2026 opens, Chennai-based collector and art patron Jaiveer Johal reckons he has seen 80 per cent of the fair already. “I think fairs become redundant if you’re going to send me all the catalogues in advance. What’s the point of taking a flight and checking into a hotel if I’ve seen everything beforehand?” Just as quickly, he laughs and admits that while many galleries have sent him PDFs, in some cases he’s asked for them himself because he “doesn’t want to be left out of the loop”.
When I open Chemould CoLab’s catalogue and the corresponding ArtLogic page, I see that almost 20 per cent of the works are already reserved. Johal estimates that some of the fair’s most valuable works may already be spoken for by the time it opens to the public. He’s already committed to an Ai Weiwei work from Nature Morte, a portrait of photographer Sunil Gupta from Vadehra Art Gallery, and works by Sheetal Gattani and Aditi Singh from Chemould. He’s also reserved a few more works by the Moderns. “They’re more expensive, so it’s important to see them once before buying,” he says. For more on how young collectors are buying art now, head to The Nod.
