Exit Art Mumbai 2025: 6 must-see galleries this weekend

If you are coming to Mumbai for Art Mumbai 2025 at Mahalaxmi Racecourse or are in the city now, I urge you to make time for some of the city’s many delightful galleries.

The fair is a great option if you are interested in shopping or just want to wander around. But if you’re not a potential buyer and crowds make you dizzy, the best place to view art during an art fair is the city’s galleries.

Nilaya Anthology Show.

Mumbai has always had a very strong network of art galleries, and art buyers here are experimental, art-literate and committed. Furthermore, when there is a trade fair that draws patrons from all over the world, it creates the perfect scenario for an unforgettable show.

Amol K Patil’s show on Project88.

double Impact

As a spectator, I find fairs difficult because they are noisy to watch. In a gallery, on the other hand, you have the ability to sit and absorb the works. I visited several openings on Tuesday, November 11, two days before the second edition of Art Mumbai opened, and can confirm that several city galleries had their work cut out for them: they opened a show at their space and also showed at the fair.

Amol K Patil’s show on Project88.

Pushpakanthan Pakkiaraja’s show from Experimenter Colaba.

I first go to an opening event for a gallerist, then go to an exhibition again for myself, so that I can pay attention. If you’re going to a fair, do your homework to understand who’s going to be showing and avoid the noise. Read on for my art crawl itinerary (I still missed a few but it’s a start):

1. I started with ceramic curation Mahendra Doshi’s houseHe is the patron of antiquities and Ceramic Salon, Version 1There is a great collaboration of contemporary ceramics and antique pieces. Till 23rd November.

Ramesh Mario Show on Project88.

2. Speaking of ceramics, there’s a really beautiful, thoughtful selection of pieces by a Korean-American artist Jane Yang-d’Haen in the Nilaya AnthologyHis first show in India, The Place That Waits, presents clay as “both collaborator and canvas”,

3. One of my favorite contemporary artists, Amol K. Patil performing at Project 88This is a very small selection of paintings and bronzes, and well worth a visit,

4. In Aquo, Dutch artist Indrajit Sandhu He has ephemeral oyster shell fragments which he has worked on with two fellow shell artisans, Kinkar Ghosh and his nephew, Souvik Roy.

Mahendra Doshi Ceramic Studio.

5. Another one of my favorites is a Sri Lankan born person Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran Who is coming to Mumbai from Australia for his biggest single till date Jhaveri ContemporaryThe Gallery, if you’ve been there before, now has this explosive new personality for Mario’s show and it’s worth a look,

Ramesh Mario Show on Project88.

6. And last but not least, multidisciplinary Sri Lankan artists Pushpakantan Pakkiaraj: appearing on experimenter colabaThis beautiful web-like installation is memorable,

Ramesh Mario Show on Project88.

In the meantime, if you go to the fair, be sure to come Unique Tayyab Mehta Performance by KNMAOf course, lifting weights (with lightness) is not for sale, but his most famous series is worth a closer look, along with some of his early paintings and drawings,

Manju Sara Rajan is the co-founder of Bengaluru design gallery KAASH.