5 Contemporary Painters You Should Know About

let's have a look at five contemporary painters you should know about Carrie James Marshall Carrie James Marshall is an American artist known for his powerful paintings that explore the African-American experience he was born and raised in Birmingham Alabama and moved in childhood to South Central Los Angeles he has spent much of his career in Chicago Illinois his work often features bold colors and strong figures drawing inspiration from both art history and contemporary culture Marshall's paintings challenged the lack of representation of black people in art and society and he has been recognized for his contributions to contemporary art with numerous Awards and exhibitions through his work Marshall has created a space for black voices and narratives in the art World inspiring others to do the same one of Marshall's most well-known paintings is a portrait of the Artist as a shadow of his former self which he made in 1980. this small painting represented a big shift in Marshall's trajectory he had been making more abstract and mixed media works and was beginning to lose interest in this type of work around that time he read Ralph Ellison's 1952 novel about the black experience in America Invisible Man Marshall Drew inspiration from Ellison's insight about how black people were invisible because white people refused to see them and helped them to understand how depicting the figure could help him communicate his own feelings and experiences as a black person in a 2021 interview in the New Yorker he's quoted as saying there's a joke about people being so black that you can't see them at night unless they're smiling being black was a negative and for me this was the starting point from which I could build an image of Blackness without those negative associations this painting LED Marshall deeper into his desire to be a painter of political and social history his work is based on a broad range of art historical references from Renaissance painting to black folk art from comic books to Picasso's Guernica his work reads as an updated form of History painting his subjects and formats often epic in scale through his work and by privileging the black subject Marshall confronts the absence of black artists and art in institutional art historical dialogue and expands black representation Nicole eisenmann Nicole eisenmann is a french-born American artist known for their figurative paintings drawings and sculptures they often draw inspiration from art history popular culture and their own personal experiences to create works that are both humorous and thought-provoking I synonyms work frequently explores themes related to gender sexuality and identity and they are known for their portrayal of non-traditional gender roles and non-heteronormative relationships they have been exhibited in museums and galleries around the world and have received numerous Awards and accolades for their work eisenmann has been hugely influential to a new generation of figurative artists their work exemplifies the expressive potential of depicting the human figure combining banal scenes from everyday life with an array of deeply engaging social and economic issues much of their work uses allegory and humor to foreground the desires and anxieties of our culture at Large about this they say humor is an inlet you can seduce people with it and make them happy and then you can sort of slap them across the face and say look again humor brings people into a piece and then they'll scratch their head and think wow what am I laughing at maybe this is really not so funny eisenmann's work spans a wide range of styles and themes often directly borrowing from the history of Art they employ old Master painting techniques such as glazing Riff on Baroque inspired history paintings expand on the social realism genre and employ the graphic sensibilities of pop artists their expansive approach to a visual language both compresses and shatters visual hierarchies giving their body of work a kind of freewheeling sensibility while also mirroring the confusion and complexities of The Human Condition in 2014 eisenmann was awarded the MacArthur genius grant for as they wrote expanding the expressive potential of the figurative tradition in works that engage contemporary social issues and restore cultural significance to the representation of the human form Chris Martin Chris Martin is an American artist who creates vibrant abstract paintings that are full of energy and movement he often employs a variety of materials such as glitter and found objects to add texture and depth to his works Martin draws inspiration from a wide range of sources including music nature and spiritual practices his paintings are characterized by bold organic shapes and Vivid colors which invite the viewer to engage with the work on a visceral level Martin's art has been exhibited in Galleries and museums around the world and has earned him critical Acclaim for his unique and dynamic style Martin's body of work is stylistically diverse it creates Works dictated by periods of thematic Cycles rather than following a strict linear development of ideas his paintings fuse autobiographical elements with references to pop culture and 20th century art historical references his interest in abstract forms and deep layered color Fields taught him to the legacy of abstract expressionism and color field painting but his insistence on the use of playful and non-traditional materials such as glitter and collage put his work in its own category he touches on themes that reflect his wide range of interests in subjects such as rock music astrology religion philosophy and post-war European painting his large-scale canvases reflect an experimental approach to abstraction conveying an interest in the haptic nature of painting placing an emphasis on the handmade aspect of making a painting his work pushes the boundaries between analytic formalism and the messy logic of the material of paint itself he often incorporates collaged objects in his canvases as in the 2006 painting mother popcorn in which he has embedded a vinyl record the title is taken from a James Brown hit song and the vibrant abstract pattern of the painting seems to mimic the energy and dynamism of a live performance in a 2014 interview with Hyper allergic Martin comments painting is a physical activity if you make a painting and you are bored or constricted then it's going to be a boring and constricted looking painting other people aren't going to enjoy looking at it either consequently when you look at a seven-year-old's painting of a sun you get it that energy is communicated Laura Owens Laura Owens is a contemporary American artist known for her colorful and eclectic paintings her work combines different styles and techniques ranging from abstract and gestural brush Strokes to representational images and patterns Owens explorers themes of identity memory and everyday life often incorporating elements of popular culture and art history into her pieces her use of vibrant colors and playful compositions create a sense of Whimsy and joy in her art Owens has received critical Acclaim for her work and has been exhibited in Galleries and museums around the world Owens is a painter interested in pushing the boundaries of what painting is or can be her irreverent approach to subject matter and materials make her one of the most celebrated painters of her generation she includes embroidery textiles text decorative patterns children's illustrations and references to digital technology in her Works blurring the lines between abstraction figuration and decoration her paintings touch on a variety of subject matter Doodles collages newspapers digital Mark making but ultimately her work seems to be about painting itself she's interested in the context of communicating through the medium of painting playing with the desire to find meaning and legibility in works of art Owen's work represents an era of self-awareness in painting in which artists approach the medium of painting with the spirit of interrogation she parses paintings history playfully toying with its conventions and limitations with a combination of sincerity and irony she reworks some of painting's primary concerns pictorial tension the imaginary divide between abstraction and representation and the illusion of space or depth all with a Sly sense of humor evident throughout her entire uvra Toma apps Toma apps is a german-born artist known for her abstract paintings her works are characterized by geometric shapes intricate patterns and a subdued color palette ABS creates her paintings through a process of trial and error gradually building up layers of paint until she arrives at a composition that feels balanced and harmonious while her Works may appear simple at first glance they reveal a complex interplay of forms and colors upon closer inspection apps has received numerous accolades for her work including the prestigious Turner prize in 2006. apps works with the same format in all her work each canvas is 48 by 38 centimeters and she derives her titles from a dictionary of German names while this materially restrictive method requires a level of certainty this is the only element in her work that is preconceived her work is Guided by intuition she begins each composition without any preconceived ideas about the outcome it sometimes takes for years to complete a single painting as she methodically paints and overpaints her canvases the slow accumulation of paint and changes in direction is visible in the final work we see the traces of edges and uneven surfaces Ken Johnson of the New York Times observed the layered textured paint shows that she doesn't just translate an image that she sees complete in her Mind's Eye rather she arrives at her compositions circuitously through trial and error the transcendental image emerges from a human terrestrial process of searching and discovering the cerebral is balanced by the sensual her paintings contain elements of optical illusion creating an engaging sense of push and pull between pictorial illusion and the materiality of paint she uses Shadows to suggest shallowed spaces of depth and flowing lines to suggest movement this perceptual shift between illusory space and a flat two-dimensional graphic appearance is a key feature of her work creating an intriguingly contradictory pictorial space her color palette is generally subdued but inventive and idiosyncratic and is a central element of the success of her paintings apps takes a long time to finish her Works meaning that she is not exactly prolific in terms of production usually producing around 10 canvases per year she privileges the considered and thoughtful in her work over quantity she's quoted as saying it is a completely open process starting from a point of nothing with no guaranteed outcome every single time I am not making process painting the process is always directed at the final image and the precise definition of it

Channel: In the Eye

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Keywords: art, artists, modern art, art movements, portraits, painting, painters, cezanne, famous artists, paint, biography, art school, art teacher, how to look at art, understanding art, art museum, art gallery, cubism, contemporary art, contemporary painting, tomma abts, kerry james marshall, laura owens, nicole eisenman, chris martin, contemporary painters, contemporary painters to watch, contemporary artists, painting 2023, art 2023, new art, contemporary galleries

Id: KsSHx1KfLIw

Length: 13min 57sec (837 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 01 2023