Top 40 Artists to Watch

Some of this year’s top talent, curated by the ABN editorial team

Here at ABN, we’re always discovering new artists to love. With this list of top 40 artists to watch, we are thrilled to introduce you to our current obsessions. This group includes painters, sculptors, and photographers with already flourishing careers, as well as those just bursting onto the art scene.

Ashley Andrews
ashleychaseandrews.com
“I’m working on minimalist found-object sculpture and painting. The trademark of my work is the idea of mark-making. I incorporate images; marks with references to other artists; personal references; and colors from Mexico, the Caribbean, California, Africa, and Europe—all places dear to me.”

Ted Asnis
tedasnis.com
“For a long time, I have had the desire to paint in an abstract mode, and in the past few years I have been applying all I learned from my landscape painting to this new effort. The work has slowly migrated from total abstraction to an abstraction of my beloved Hamptons settings.”

Andy Baird
bairdstudios.com
“My paintings are unique in that they are finely rendered subjects done by dripping paint instead of the traditional methods of ‘medium and brush.’ That’s the eye-catcher. If you look at my body of work as a whole, you realize that my genre is pop in nature. My subjects are from the commercial world and its infatuation with beauty.”

Joëlle Blouin
joelleblouin.com
“Imperfection and abstraction are present in my work to show that aesthetic beauty can emerge from a simple environment. At times chaotic, serene, or mysterious, each of my works should be viewed differently. The moment my painting catches your eye, a new journey has begun and beauty shall prevail.”

Ken Bonner
kenbonner.com
“I love to combine an abstract with figurative work. The inspiration for this comes from the world around me; for instance, going on a hike will produce many ideas for me. No photos or drawings are used. I allow all of the aspects of nature to be absorbed in the moment into my being and imagination. The composition evolves from these sensory experiences, internalized visions, scenes, and creatures.”

Roy and Amanda Clark
clarkartstudio.com
“The trademark of our work is the process of sculpted fine art. To our knowledge and from what has been confirmed by art professors from around the world, we are the only ones painting on solid sheets of brass and then sculpting the paint off with a grinder to reveal the metal underneath, creating an illusion of texture, depth, and movement.”

Christian Charrière
christiancharriere.com
“In my portraits’ frontal, oversize compositions, I mine the same kind of crackling energy that I find in comic book panels. Texture is an essential component, especially in the different kinds of hair: short stubble, groomed eyebrows, and luxurious long curls. Because there is no background or even body in many of the images, the viewer must wring all the information possible from small details like the sitter’s hair and grooming habits.”

Andres Conde
andrescondeart.com
“My work is a mix of modern pop imagery with a classical expressionist style. My goal is to create an emotion which leaves the viewer feeling as though the passing of time has no relevance. I always want the work to speak for itself, to have its own storyline.”

Patricia Coulter
patriciacoulter.com
“The most challenging part about establishing myself in the art world is finding the right connection for promoting my art. My art belongs in places where people need to be energized and uplifted, and I hope to make connections with the right partners to facilitate that.”

Jeanne Dana
paperandstone.com
“We both grew up studying music in the ’60s and ’70s, but Jeanne also designed greeting cards, and Dana had experience in photography and printmaking. Together we created silk-screened greeting cards and sold them at fairs and festivals. With the development of the Internet in the late ’90s, the demand for greeting cards declined, so we built a small paper mill, making paper, envelopes, and cast-paper sculpture with recycled glass.”

Mamuka Didebashvili
mamukadidebashvili.com
“Much of the emotional charge of my paintings is drawn from their color palettes. When painting a background, I guard against it taking away from the main statement of the canvas. When I paint people, I strive to depict them so that their essence is comprehensible by hinting at their occupation and descent and featuring their personal accessories because they are informative and add to our ability to understand and interpret the characters.”

Nancy Egan
nancyegan.com
“My trademark today is my Museum Scapes [series]. These paintings capture who is looking at what art—everyday scenes recording details of our culture.”

Joe Fenton
joefentonart.com
“All artists now have the opportunity to present their work to a large audience through the Internet. Especially for artists like myself that do not fit into any particular box that may have been defined by the fine art world, the Internet has become a necessity in order to survive and make a living from my artwork due to the fan base I’ve managed to have gained.”

Sandra Fuka
sandrafuka.com
“My trademark in art is the women. I try to paint them in their different moods and characters: sensible, sensual, delicate, joyful, seductive, or powerful. Sometimes I paint them alone; sometimes [I paint them] with a partner who supports them, like in a dance, or protects them in the form of an animal. With my paintings, I like to bring positive energy into places and to awake something new in the observer.”

Brian Goodman
briangoodmanphotography.com
“I’m often asked if the images in my ‘Solace of Space’ series are watercolors, or even oil paintings. While many of the photographs start out as landscapes, I use a variety of techniques to create an otherworldly experience for the viewer. I don’t want people to analyze my art, I want them to feel it.”

Christine Hähner Murdock
christine.exto.org
“I have done a lot of black and white recently. I am going for bigger sizes, more color, and easier-to-read paintings. So the obvious is more obvious without letting go of the hidden layers. That’s for my entertainment and for [that of] the buyer to be.”

Gina Piccirilli Hayden
ginapiccirillihayden.com
“My vision is to achieve common ground with emotional connections through my art. History repeats, and our interpretation of the circumstances are what’s unique. I am a clay sculptor who tells stories. My empathy dictates the story. I use the symbolism of nature because it is the oldest form of communication.”

Inam
inamgallery.com
“I usually don’t plan things; I just let my feelings loose and my soul wanders around until that specific moment emerges from nowhere. When this moment embraces me, I feel the energy. Then I immediately start. It is a beautiful world, though temporary, that this energy establishes for me.”

Jean Leclercqz
flyingmachines.be
“The basis of my work is a hand drawing on a large sheet of white paper with a continuous line that I compare to writing. When I start drawing, or ‘writing,’ flying machines, it is a constant discovery. At the beginning of the drawing, I never know what the final shape of the flying object will be.”

Brett Lethbridge
lethbridgegallery.com
“My secret, if there is one, is to always base my search for subject matter on my own emotional experiences and the things that have significance to me. The drape was in fact the sheet I shared with my future wife while she was studying in Europe for 5 years, and the perfume bottles were the gifts I bought her when I would go and visit. These deeply personal emotions I have toward these objects … breathe life into them as the subjects of my paintings.”

Iryna Lialko
larkgalleryonline.com
“Art requires an exacerbation of feelings, the heightening of all senses leading to the shedding of my own skin, which is very difficult to do when exposed to the cold, piercing winds of life. My main inner struggle in the world of art is my struggle to find time I can devote to pure art without hustle.”

Cathy Locke
cathylocke.com
“I like to capture behavior that is unique to a child, whether it is the joy of twirling in circles, hiding in a secret place, or creating a puppet show out of an old box. My figures are painted in the method of the old masters, where I build up thin layers of paint over an extended period of time. I also like to combine oil and cold wax to create a rich surface for the backgrounds.”

Arrington Magny
arringtonart.com
“One of the most challenging aspects of establishing oneself in the art world is simultaneously one of the most liberating: There are no rules—at least none etched in stone. There are no straight, direct paths. Seeking to further one’s career as an artist is certainly not as easy as 1, 2, 3. There is quite a bit of trial and error, experimenting, failing. But it is an adventure!”

Peter Maier
impossiblyreal.net
“My passion for creating art and for making a mark within the fine art world has been one wild ride. The journey to me is everything. Let it continue.”

Jason Matias
jasonmatias.com
“There is something quiet and pensive, something solemn and secretly stirring about my photographs. My work has veiled energy and subjective drama. I try to create images that give the audience room to travel and find themselves in their own unique space. I see life as a patchy blanket of individual happenings. Regardless of the world’s connectivity, our experiences seem more and more singular.”

Darian Rodriguez Mederos
condecontemporary.com
“First and foremost, I’m looking to please myself with the visual results of my work. I want to get to my perfection. Every centimeter of the canvas has a secret, a richness. I want to feel like a god in front of the canvas, creating a completely habitable world.”

Todd Monk
toddmonk.com
“I have a background in graphic design and have worked as a digital retoucher for many years. I use these skills in my pre-visualization process and my roughs. When you see my art, you get the impression that it’s somehow digital, but it’s not. My work is a marriage of vector, pixel, and digital art—all rendered traditionally.”

Kat Moser
katmoser.com
“These amalgamations are an extension of my evolution from image taker to image maker. There are no longer any bad photos, merely unfinished images waiting to be manipulated or layered with another that together make a more compelling statement than either image would on their own.”

John Napoli
johnnapolifineart.com
“What distinguishes my work is the way in which it depicts the positive energy in the world around us, particularly the life energy of nature. My paintings and pastels are colorful, exuberant, and rhythmic. Capturing nature’s beauty, the changing light of day, and the passing of time, the art depicts flow and movement.”

James Paterson
jdpaterson.com
“A trademark of my work is the use of kinetic, hand-driven motion as a compositional element in the art pieces themselves. I like that the viewer must engage in a tactile way to get the full effect of the art. I want the work I create to be beautiful to look at, invite reflection, stimulate ideas, and then further spark the imagination when you touch it and it moves.”

Rigo Peralta
rigoperalta.com
“I’m working on a series of black-and-white paintings entitled ‘Nothing is black and white; there is some gray in between.’ The basis of this is differences in human race. I’ll be showing that, if there is no
pigmentation on our skin (in the paintings), then we are all the same.”

Richard Riverin
labelleimage.org
“I had to develop a personal style. I had to paint in a way nobody else ever had. I knew that my paintings had to look great in a living room or a dining room. It was not enough to do a very artistic work; it had to be cherished and loved by the buyer. It had to have a great and comforting presence in a home.”

Christopher Rimmer
christopherrimmer.com
“A Zen-like calm is revealed in my work as I seek out a visual representation of the polar opposite to what I experienced growing up in South Africa during the Apartheid era. My childhood was dark, chaotic, and tragic. I have never been able to completely release myself from my experiences as a child in South Africa; thus, as an artist, I have felt compelled to constantly return in an attempt to articulate what I feel.”

Susan Schmidt
susanschmidtart.com
“My continuing ‘Seaburbia’ series explores the cultural memory and heritage of the beachfront homes of Australia. Painted in acrylic and oil, patterned, layered, rubbed back, and glazed, the works achieve a weather-worn texture recalling the erosion of matter overtime and the exquisite residues of nostalgia and decay.”

Ok Seo
okseo.see.me
“I have tried to apply a scientific approach for art. This approach applied in my art seems to be significantly different from [that of] other artists. Whenever I start to work on a new work, I always consider two aspects: Is this a new and important question for me and others at the same time, and is this a new methodology? This scientific approach seems to be related to the geometric property of my work.”

Waqian Sun
waqiansunart.com
“We are living in the 21st century, really overwhelmed by a multitude of different art forms: modern, contemporary, pop, classic, abstract. If I were just to crawl behind some masters who are my idols, imitating their styles, I could never become a real artist on my own. I must be completely free in my spirit, following my heart and mind and inspiration to offer to the world what I really feel and see.”

Rajvi Dedhia Unadkat
rajvidu.com
“I take deep inspiration from ongoing transitions in life, and I strive to portray these inspirations on canvas, which gives me immense joy. Constant change brings challenges. I strive hard to convert challenges into new opportunities.”

Anna Voloshko
artvoloshko.com
“A human life, and especially the life of an artist, is full of events, impressions, and achievements. Since my first steps in art, I was doing something I really enjoyed. The sculpture is the most important thing in my life. When I create, I am happy and I live.”

Kenneth Ray Wilson
kennethraywilson.com
“Big, bold, simplistic images of pristine nature have been a passion of mine throughout my career as a professional fine artist. My most recent series of birch and aspen trees has brought a surprising reaction from the public. My ‘portraits’ of birch and aspen trees are like faces; they are all interestingly different.”

Martin Wittfooth
martinwittfooth.com
“My work is most recognized for exploring the confused relationship between our species and the rest of the natural world, depicted in animal allegories. This is an issue that weighs heavily on our times and is one that I feel compelled to process through my work.”