Top 10 Young Contemporary Painters You Need To Know

Ultra-contemporary is a term used to refer to all contemporary artists who were born after 1975, a generation of artists who have shaped 21st-century art as we know it today. In this article, we focus on the top ten highest-ranked painters born after 1975 to provide a reasoned anthology of the world’s industry-leading painters today. By examining this younger generation of painters, we aim to provide readers with a curated view of the cutting-edge talents that represent the most current and significant developments in painting.

As with all our top lists, we have used the Artfacts algorithm to create a reasoned selection objectively evaluating artists based career data and their overall impact and pertinence in the art world. This ranking serves as a counterpoint and contemporary complement to our previously published piece on the top 20 painters of today, which predominantly featured an older generation of artists—artists who surpass the ultra-contemporary artists due to their career longevity and historical impact during the second half of the 20th century. In contrast, this new and ultra-contemporary selection of artists accurately highlight new perspectives in painting, offering a fresh and relevant examination of artists whose innovative approaches and unique visual languages represent the current pulse of painting in the 21st century.

10. Tschabalala Self

Tschabalala Self was born in 1990 in Harlem, New York, and currently resides and works in the Hudson Valley, New York. Self is a distinctive artist who integrates painting, printmaking, and sculpture to explore themes related to the black body. Her work primarily features depictions of women, crafted through a dynamic blend of sewn, printed, and painted materials that cross various art and craft traditions. The formal and conceptual elements of her art are dedicated to a deeper exploration of identity, selfhood, and human flourishing.

Self has held numerous solo exhibitions and performances at prestigious venues worldwide. Recent highlights include the Espoo Museum of Modern Art in Finland (2024); Kunstmuseum in St. Gallen (2023); Le Consortium in Dijon (2022); the Performa 2021 Biennial in New York City (2021); the Baltimore Museum of Art in Baltimore (2021); the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston (2020); the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles; Art Omi in Ghent (2019); the Frye Art Museum in Seattle (2019); and the Yuz Museum in Shanghai (2018).¹

9. Njideka Akunyili Crosby

Njideka Akunyili Crosby, born in 1983 in Enugu, Nigeria, is a distinguished painter currently residing and working in Los Angeles, the United States of America. Her artwork weaves together painted images of people and places from her personal experiences with photographic transfers from Nigerian magazines and other media. This blend creates complex visual narratives that highlight both personal and collective aspects of contemporary life and eloquently explore the nuances of the African diasporic experience.

Akunyili Crosby’s academic and professional accolades include an honorary doctorate from Swarthmore College awarded in May 2019, and a prestigious 2017 MacArthur Fellowship. Akunyili Crosby’s works are held in major museum collections worldwide, including the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, Tate in the UK, and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.²

8. Simon Fujiwara

Simon Fujiwara, a British-Japanese artist born in 1982 in London, currently lives and works in Berlin. His art probes the complexities of self-identity in the 21st century, addressing how technology and cultural narratives shape our sense of self. He employs a variety of artistic strategies to question and expand notions of race, gender, nationality, and sexual identity. Using humor, inventiveness, and rigor, Fujiwara often uses his own persona to explore and parody cultural phenomena, drawing from diverse fields like advertising and theme park design, as well as art historical movements including Dadaism, Pop Art, and Conceptual Art.

Fujiwara’s accolades include the 2010 Baloise Prize at Art Basel and the 2010 Frieze Cartier Award, and he was a finalist for the Preis der Nationalgalerie in 2019. His solo exhibitions have been hosted at prominent venues worldwide, such as Kiasma in Helsinki, Fondazione Prada in Milan, and the Blaffer Art Museum in Dallas, among others. He has also participated in numerous biennials, including those in Beijing, Dhaka, Istanbul, and Venice. Fujiwara’s works are held in esteemed collections across the globe, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Tate in London, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. His continued engagement with the intersections of identity and culture makes him a critical voice in contemporary art discussions.³

7. Firelei Báez

Firelei Báez, born in 1981 in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic, is a New York-based artist known for her vividly colorful works on paper and canvas, intertwining diasporic histories with imaginative elements. Her works frequently feature powerful female figures and blend representational elements such as hair textures, textile patterns, plant life, and symbols of healing and resistance, drawing from regional mythology, folklore, science fiction, and fantasy. Báez, who is of Dominican and Haitian descent, often explores the politics of place and heritage, themes that are deeply rooted in her upbringing on the border of Hispaniola’s two historically conflicted countries. Her art incorporates elements from a variety of diasporic narratives, including ciguapas from Dominican folklore, tignons from 18th-century New Orleans, and symbols from the Black Panther Movement. Báez uniquely combines these elements with historical materials such as maps and travelogues, creating layered portraits that challenge and transcend cultural and colonial narratives.

Educated at the Cooper Union’s School of Art, Hunter College, and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Báez has received several prestigious awards, including the Cooper Union President’s Citation (2022), the Artes Mundi Prize (2021), and the Philip Guston Rome Prize (2021). Her work has been featured in significant exhibitions worldwide, including a solo presentation at the ICA Boston in 2024, curated by Eva Respini, and at notable venues such as the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. Báez’s art is represented in numerous private and public collections globally, including the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum in Abu Dhabi, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, the Pérez Art Museum Miami, and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.⁴

6. Tala Madani

Tala Madani, born in 1981 in Tehran, Iran, is an influential artist currently based in Los Angeles. Her work, comprising painted canvases and animations, features enigmatic scenes dominated by anonymous figures who are often depicted in theatrical settings, engaging in actions that range from humorous to tormenting each other, seemingly indifferent to being observed. Madani’s art critically examines masculinity, challenging traditional roles and stereotypes to scrutinize power dynamics and the constructs of male identity. The characters in her works, through their interactions with their own flabby, aging bodies, reveal pitiable and compulsive behaviors. While humor is a consistent element in these scenarios, it serves not merely as relief but as a means to highlight the discomfort and humiliation intertwined within these social critiques.

Her notable recent solo exhibitions include shows at Kunstmuseum Den Haag (KM21) in The Hague (2022), Longlati Foundation in Shanghai (2021), and Pilar Corrias in London with exhibitions “Chalk Mark” and “Skid Mark” (both 2021). Other significant solo shows include the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, the Vienna Secession, and the Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo in Seville. Madani’s contributions to contemporary painting have been recognized with several awards, including the Catherine Doctorow Prize for Contemporary Painting (2013) and the De Volkskrant Art Award (2012). She has also been an artist in residence at prestigious institutions such as the British School of Rome and The Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam.⁵

5. Oscar Murillo

Oscar Murillo, born in 1986 in Colombia and currently based in various locations, is celebrated for his dynamic and diverse artistic practice, encompassing a wide array of artistic disciplines but predominantly focusing on abstract painting. His work explores themes of globalization, labor, migration, and the interconnected nature of contemporary life, making him a significant figure in contemporary art. Energetic, gestural, and often monumental canvases are filled with Murillo’s signature mark-making. His work is noted for its deep engagement with themes of cultural exchange, and the ways in which ideas, languages, and everyday items are displaced and intermingled across the globe.

Murillo’s recent solo exhibitions include displays at KM21 in The Hague, the Saint Louis Art Museum in Missouri, and his first solo exhibition in Italy at Fondazione Memmo in Rome, all in 2022. He also presented at the Aspen Art Museum and Kunstverein in Hamburg in 2019, the year he was one of the four artists awarded the Turner Prize. Murillo’s works are included in prominent museum collections worldwide, including The Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Tate, United Kingdom, and the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris.⁶

4. Lynette Yiadom-Boakye

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, born in 1977 in London, where she continues to reside and work, is a distinguished painter known for her evocative portrayals of black, fictional characters. These figures are unbound by specific times or places, emerging from a blend of observed people, objects, thoughts, and recollections, without firm narrative anchors, leaving interpretations open to the viewer. Her work maintains a classical adherence to line, color, and scale, yet injects a distinctly contemporary handling of subjects and paint. Yiadom-Boakye also integrates the poetic into her practice, with titles that complement her imagery by suggesting rather than defining, mirroring the open-endedness of her figures.

Yiadom-Boakye has been recognized for her contributions to art, notably with the 2018 Carnegie Prize for her participation in the Carnegie International, 57th Edition, and she was shortlisted for the 2013 Turner Prize. Significant solo exhibitions include Tate Britain in London, the New Museum and Studio Museum in New York, Haus Der Kunst in Munich, Kunsthalle Basel, Serpentine Gallery in London, the Guggenheim in Bilbao, and the Utah Museum of Fine Arts. Her works were featured in the inaugural Ghanaian pavilion at the 2019 Venice Biennale. Her paintings are held in numerous esteemed collections worldwide, including the Tate Collection in London and The Museum of Modern Art in New York, and have recently been acquired by institutions such as the Art Gallery Museum of Southern Australia, Adelaide, and the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, among others.⁷

3. Kehinde Wiley

Kehinde Wiley, born in 1977 in Los Angeles, the United States of America, currently residing and working in New York, as well as Dakar, Senegal, and Lagos, Nigeria, is a prominent artist renowned for his vivid and naturalistic portrayals of African-American and African-Diasporic individuals. His work upends the traditional hierarchies and conventions of classical portraiture by placing contemporary Black men and women in heroic poses that echo those found in European and American art history. Wiley’s representations engage themes of power, majesty, and the sublime.

Wiley has had notable solo exhibitions at the most renowned institutions encompassing the National Gallery in London, Centre d’Art La Malmaison in Cannes, the Brooklyn Museum in New York, Petit Palais in Paris, Bozar Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels, the Studio Museum Harlem in New York, the Portland Art Museum in Oregon, among many others. His work is featured in the permanent collections of prominent institutions including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, Texas; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California; to name just a few.⁸

2. Rashid Johnson

Born in 1977 in Chicago, Rashid Johnson is a prominent contemporary artist, now based in New York, known for his profound explorations of race and class through a unique blend of sculptural and painterly traditions. Initially starting his career in photography and conceptual art, Johnson has evolved to use materials that resonate with African American intellectual life while simultaneously testing the communicative potential of abstract visual languages across cultural divides. His work, which spans a diverse range of mediums including two-dimensional and three-dimensional objects, installations, videos, and performances, examines the inseparable link between the formal aspects of art and the social contexts from which they emerge.

Johnson’s solo exhibitions have been hosted by numerous significant institutions, including Museo Tamayo in Mexico City (2019), Aspen Art Museum in Colorado (2019), and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Missouri (2017). His work has also been featured in critical group exhibitions like “Grief and Grievance: Art and Mourning in America” at the New Museum in New York (2021) and the 54th Venice Biennale (2011). His works are included in the permanent collections of major museums such as the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.⁹

1. Camille Henrot

Born in 1978 in Paris, France, Camille Henrot is a contemporary artist working and residing between Berlin and New York City. Her versatile practice spans film, painting, drawing, sculpture in bronze, and installation, engaging with a wide array of subjects including literature, psychoanalysis, social media, cultural anthropology, self-help, and everyday life. Her work critically examines the tensions between personal identity and global citizenship in a world marked by high connectivity and sensory overload, as her painterly practice is marked by abstract elements, intimate scenes, and a certain sensuality in line and color, opting for a loose drawing and warm tones.

Henrot’s career includes significant recognition, such as a 2013 fellowship at the Smithsonian Institute and a prestigious Silver Lion at the 55th Venice Biennale. She has received various other awards, including the 2014 Nam June Paik Award and the 2015 Edvard Munch Award. Henrot has also participated in various biennials including those in Lyon, Berlin, Sydney, and Liverpool. Henrot’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the New Museum in New York, Schinkel Pavilion in Berlin, New Orleans Museum of Art, Fondazione Memmo in Rome, and Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, among others. Her recent and upcoming exhibitions include those at Middelheim Museum in Antwerp, Belgium (2022), Kunstverein Salzburg in Austria (2022), and the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway (2022).¹⁰

Notes:

1. Tschabalala Self, Information at https://tschabalalaself.com/#information consulted May 16, 2024. ↩︎
2. David Zwirner, Njideka Akunyili Crosby at https://www.davidzwirner.com/artists/njideka-akunyili-crosby consulted May 16, 2024. ↩︎
3. Ester Schipper, Simon Fujiwara at https://www.estherschipper.com/artists/101-simon-fujiwara/ consulted May 16, 2024. ↩︎
4. Hauser & Wirth, Firelei Báez at https://www.hauserwirth.com/artists/firelei-baez/ consulted May 16, 2024. ↩︎
5. Pilar Corrias, Tala Madani at https://www.pilarcorrias.com/artists/47-tala-madani/ consulted May 16, 2024. ↩︎
6. David Zwirner, Oscar Murillo at https://www.davidzwirner.com/artists/oscar-murillo consulted May 16, 2024. ↩︎
7. Jack Shainman Gallery, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye at https://jackshainman.com/artists/lynette_yiadom_boakye consulted May 16, 2024. ↩︎
8. Stephen Friedman Gallery, Kehinde Wiley at https://www.stephenfriedman.com/artists/56-kehinde-wiley/ consulted May 16, 2024. ↩︎
9. David Kordansky Gallery, Rashid Johnson at https://www.davidkordanskygallery.com/artist/rashid-johnson/ consulted May 16, 2024. ↩︎
10. Mennour, Camille Henrot at https://mennour.com/artists/camille-henrot consulted May 16, 2024. ↩︎

Last Updated on July 23, 2024