Remember the days when artists were rock stars? Yeah, neither do we. Although those days are clearly far behind us, history hasn’t forgotten the way crowds would gather at the news that Salvador Dali was near, or how Picasso would make a regular appearance in the Vogue and Harpers Bazaar magazines of days gone by, or the way Andy Warhol could make front page news across the US. As a culture we’ve stopped paying attention to art, at least, not in the way we pay attention to other forms of art like fashion photography and music. So it’s time to shine a light on the incredibly talented emerging artists we’ve had our eye for a while. Christian Rosa, Meghan Howland, Fede Saenz and Lola Donoghue among them. The artists that deserve all the fame and recognition they’re not getting. These are the names you should be keeping an eye on, and maybe even start investing in. You may just be looking at the next wave of art world rock stars.
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fede Saenz
Ugh, Fede Saenz is the best thing ever (not least because his personal story will inspire you as much as his giant black, white and blush masterpieces). As gorgeous as his work appears on your screen right now, just imagine what his paintings look like in real life standing at 48″ x 68″ tall. So much color all over your walls! If you have a few thousand dollars lying around, you can go ahead and pick up an original Fede here.
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Rebecca Chaperon
Rebecca Chaperon is a British artist based in Toronto, Canada for most of her life. We like to think that her work is what you could expect to see if nature decided to throw a party, and toss confetti everywhere. It’s fantastical, strangely dark in it’s whimsy and completely inspiring. Anyone interested in getting their hands on one of these should visit Gallery Nucleus.
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Hsiao-Ron Cheng
Hsiao-Ron Cheng is a 28 year old illustrator from Taiwan and her work is just breath-taking. She paints surreal digital portraits in soft pastel colors, but the overall effect is always simple, minimalistic and strangely haunting. They’re not all this pretty however, and can look like something from Alice in Wonderland (if Alice were on acid). Just look for yourself.
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Christian Rosa
Christian Rosa may be our favorite artist on this list (and like Fede Saenz above, his paintings are large-scale which makes them striking to see in person). His work is getting serious traction among art collectors who are buying his paintings at $26,500 to $58,600 each. L’Officiel Hommes recently even did a feature on the artist shot by Andrew Hail.
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Betsy Walton
Betsy Walton is a Portland based painter/illustrator. In 2006 she bravely left her full time job to focus completely on her art, and the effort has clearly paid off. Her paintings are steeped with narrative and feature an eclectic mix of folk art, geometric shapes with hints of anciet iconography. You can pick up prints and original works of her art here.
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Lola Donoghue
Lola Donoghue is an Irish artist whose art work reminds us of spring-time, childhood and happy dreams. “My paintings are captured moments and experiences,” says Donoghue. “They are always an emerging process, I never know quite what the finished piece will look like. I like when I discover things by accident and I usually let this dictate the direction of the painting.”
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Meghan Howland
We love Meghan Howland’s oil paintings that feature subjects who look like they’re literally drowning in flowers, feathers and silk. There’s a clear menace implied there, but it’s so beautifully done that they leave you more awe-struck than creeped out. Meghan is based in Portland.
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Kris Knight
Kris Knight’s work is not only beautiful, but extremely important. His solemn portraits of men “lost between youth and adulthood” captures a subject we seldom see in art: The lives, feelings and sexual identity of men, and in particular gay men (think about it, in art if you’re not looking at a landscape, you’re probably looking at a woman). Last year, Gucci creative director Frida Giannini was so taken with Kris’s work she invited him to Rome to work with the label on their men’s collection.
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Alexandra Levasseur
Montreal based artist Alexandra Levasseur (who we love so much we featured her in our latest issue!) is a creative powerhouse. Not only is she incredibly talented, she is unbelievably prolific. Just have a look at her website and marvel at the sheer amount of gorgeous work. Her drawings are evocative, emotionally charged and poetic.
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Heather Day
Though originally from Hawaii Heather Day is now based in San Francisco, where she produces these incredible abstract paintings. There’s something really soothing about them, maybe it’s her color palette, or the way the paint is layered in a strangely harmonious way. Somehow out of all that chaos, every line looks like it belongs exactly where it is. Either way, we absolutely love her. You can purchase her drawings here.
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