How Art Dubai became the fair collectors in the spot the next best thing, before everyone else does.

They’re some of the most glamorous events in the world, but the commercial art fair is in a tricky spot. In November last year, Endeavour, the owners of Frieze Art Fair, began looking for a potential buyer for the twenty two year old global event. The Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting found that between 2019 and 2024, Art Basel VIP fair attendance nearly halved. Galleries exhibiting found the percentage of sales they make at Art Basel have dropped from 46% of yearly sales in 2018 to 29% in 2023.

Art Dubai is somewhat of a maverick within this market. Its 2025 edition on the glamorous waterfront of Madinat Jumeirah saw thirty new galleries exhibiting and an increase in sales, with Ramallah and Dubai space Zawyeh Gallery selling two works by Palestinian artist Nabil Anani for $100,000-650,000 on the fair’s preview day.

Now in its eighteenth year, Art Dubai regulars respect the fair’s commitment to young emerging artists who usually don’t get to be front and center of a major art fair. Art Dubai has plans to elevate, with ex-Art Basel incoming Director Dunja Gottweis and Executive Director Curatorial Alexie Glass-Kantor, coming from Artspace, set to double down on regional talent and more frequent city-wide events.

“How can we properly commit to supporting artists in a region dedicated to reinvention?” asked BMW Head of Cultural Engagement Dr Thomas Girst on a panel he led at Art Dubai with Hans Ulrich Obrist, Stephanie Rosenthal and Azu Nwagbogu Driven by Art: Are Commissions and Co-Creations the Future? – a discussion on how patrons can support young global artists today. “We see ourselves as enablers of art, here to support in tangible ways” Girst said.

Obrist spoke about the importance of authentic relationships between brands, artists and institutions, with artists needing to ensure that they make sure corporate sponsorship is perfectly matched to their style of work – “it’s not about the individual, it’s about the collective.” Nwagbogu described Art Dubai as exciting for its relative youth in the market and its offering of “strong global talent” describing the fair as a discovering platform and a place to find the next global talent. From overlooked modern artists to emerging practices, here are five breakout names to keep tabs on from this year’s Art Dubai.

Saj Issa

Palestinian-American artist Saj Issa’s Tabiri Art Space show Never Make a Wish in a Dry Well previewed her ceramic pieces that incorporate shards of 10th-century pottery fragments discovered near a former ceramics factory in Ramallah, Palestine. Issa describes ceramics as “finding her”, influencing her decision to not merely preserve her findings but bring them back to life in her own work. From melting shards into glazes or encasing them in glass, Issa comes closer to her Palestinian heritage, reclaiming these historical fragments into her contemporary work. Issa succeeds in highlighting the importance of preserving cultural heritage through her bold, hand thrown ceramics.

Anwar Saeed

Anwar Saeed’s Flying Rug presents a satire of contemporary male and female relationships. Tapping into the nostalgia of childhood fairytales, Saeed creates a fantastical scene of a mismatched couple. Shown at the booth of London space Grosvenor Gallery, the artists’ aim was to invite audiences to not only observe but engage with the artwork, enhancing its connection to themes of flight, freedom, and cultural identity. ‘The image of flying Dari or a rug suggests an idealistic desire for power, speed and dominance’ Saed says – “unconnected with the ground, the man and woman are gazing in opposite directions.”

M.F. Hussain

The most talked about artists at Art Dubai weren’t only young contemporary talent. M.F. Hussain, who worked in India and later Dubai, was one of the most talked about artists at this year’s fair. A Life in Masterpieces at DAG gallery paid tribute to Hussain’s often overlooked career, with a tightly curated edit of his bold, kinetic canvases showcasing his abstract approach to everyday scenes. While more could have been done to contextualize the artists work and life, such as political exile, his critiques of tradition, or the sometimes fraught reception of his work both in India and abroad, the show links the questions in his art to both the country he was from from, India, to the one he spent his adult years in, Dubai.

Andy Warhol

M.F. Hussain wasn’t the only artist Art Dubai visitors rediscovered, the presentation of Andy Warhol’s 1979 BMW Art Car gave a fresh perspective on the lore of the artist as the brand celebrate the Art Cars 50th anniversary with a worldwide tour throughout 2025. “Warhol turned an object of beautiful design into a rolling sculpture. That’s what makes it art!” says Dr Thomas Girst. Warhol is one of the most collected artists in the Emirates and the car offered collectors a fresh reframe the icon. Warhol’s car is a rare, on-off technique used by the artist. “He wanted to get rid of the hand and become a machine, hence silkscreens and other modes of creation” Girst says. “Yet when confronted with an industrial design object, he starts painting within a twenty eight minute choreography moving around the M1 in a paint shop outside of Munich, turning the brush around, creating lines and signing his name onto the wet paint. It is still the BMW Art Car which performed best at Le Mans.”

Shaikha Al Mazrou

Shaikha Al Mazrou’s presentation at Lawrie Shabibi saw her double down on her exploration of metal and form, transforming old scrap material into her own sculptural language. Her works at Alskeral Avenue stalwart Lawrie Shabibi saw the Emirati artist transform industrial materials into dynamic, organic forms that reimagine the purpose of refuse industrial waste. Al Mazrou draws inspiration from everyday objects, recontextualising them into abstract and geometric forms, asking viewers to consider the mundane and highlighting the potential for beauty in ordinary matter.