Biography
Jean-David Malat trained at Sotheby's and learned, by his own account, more from auctions and exhibitions than from the course. He opened his eponymous gallery in Mayfair in 2018 with a conviction that has defined everything since: that emerging artists deserve to be shown at the same scale and with the same seriousness as established names. The collector base that followed — which includes Madonna and Kate Moss — was a consequence of the work, not the goal. In January 2025, he opened JD Malat Gallery's first space outside London in Downtown Dubai, on the boulevard opposite the Burj Khalifa. He chose the location deliberately. "I also have a slight obsession with public art," he has said. "Downtown allows us to bring artists outside the gallery and create a relationship with people who hadn't intended on seeing any art that day." His description of the UAE art scene: dynamic, ambitious, evolving.