This Dubai-based painter may have cracked the unpredictable art market

Known for his magical realist works, Dubai-based Sacha Jafri paints from a mediative state. “I’m in a complete trance,” Jafri told CNBC. “I have no clue what I'm doing. After it, I will look at it, and I will go, ‘Wow, oh my god!’ Because I'm not aware of creating it.” He has worked as an artist since the late 1990s, but it was his ‘Humanity Inspired’ collection that captured global attention. The 17,000-square-foot work achieved the record as the world's largest art canvas in 2020. The following year, he became one of the world’s most expensive living artists after selling his work “Journey of Humanity” for $62 million at a charity auction – though he said he is incredibly selective about what he takes to auction. “I've made this quite conscious effort to keep my work out of auction,” Jafri said. “Because you don't want your work in auction too early, you don't want a boom-bust. I also want to control who owns my work. I want to avoid people buying it, storing it in a cupboard selling it three years later, and making money. I want it to be shared.” Since then, among his other artistic endeavours, Sacha has had his art sent to the moon. He collaborated with Rolls Royce to customize six luxury cars, complete with charitable NFTs embedded inside the glove box. He also invested in a state-of-the-art studio, located in the Al Quoz industrial area in Dubai. Watch our video above for a tour. #CNBC #Art #Dubai ----- Subscribe: http://cnb.cx/2wuoARM CNBC International TV: https://cnb.cx/2NGytpz LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/cnbc-international/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cnbci Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cnbcinternational Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cnbcinternational/ Threads: https://www.threads.net/@cnbcinternational X: https://twitter.com/CNBCi Telegram: https://t.me/cnbci WhatsApp: https://bit.ly/CNBCiWhatsApp