The Best Young Artists to Collect in 2020

As the world’s leading online gallery, Saatchi Art is dedicated to representing emerging artists from around the globe. While some of these artists have been making art for years, many others are just beginning their careers—and will be shaping the future of contemporary art for years to come.

This year, Saatchi Art’s Rising Stars focuses on 35 of these young talents. For this annual list, Saatchi Art curators Monty Preston and Aurora Garrison introduce 35 of the top artists around the world under 35 years old, offering you the chance to be among the first to discover exceptionally talented emerging artists.


While the selected artists work in a variety of styles and address a range of subjects, they are all experiencing a career-defining moment. As they expand their collector base, land group shows, and get featured in solo exhibitions, their stars will continue to rise.

Discover and collect these 35 young art visionaries today—while you still can.

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Monique Barnett
Hamburg, Germany
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Joshua Benmore
Essex, United Kingdom
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Stephanie Eti Hadad
Miami, Florida, United States
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Aimée M. Everett
Austin, Texas, United States
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Annice Fell
London, United Kingdom
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Paula Flores
Vienna, Austria
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Viktoria Georgieva
Varna, Bulgaria
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Henry Glover
London, United Kingdom
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Zack Goulet
Chicago, Illinois, United States
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Yage Guo
London, United Kingdom & Shanghai, China
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Xinyu Han
New York, New York, United States
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Spencer Harris
Brooklyn, New York, United States
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Soonyong
Hong
Seoul, South Korea
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Tserendulam Jargalsaikhan
Brooklyn, New York, United States & Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
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Rodrigo
Jimenez-Ortega
Brooklyn, New York, United States
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Katrina Jurjans
Montreal, Canada
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Thérèse Mulgrew
Chicago, Illinois, United States
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Kenny Nguyen
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
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Buhle Nkalashe
Johannesburg, South Africa
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Adam Norgaard
Tokyo, Japan
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Rocio Navarro
Toulouse, France
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Francisco Palomares
Los Angeles, California, United States
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Madeleine Parsons
Melbourne, Australia
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Amber Roper
London, United Kingdom
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Yanin Ruibal
Mexico City, Mexico
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Abi Salami
Dallas, Texas, United States
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Tim Sandow
Wuppertal, Germany
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Francisca Sosa López
London, United Kingdom
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Allie Stabile
Brooklyn, New York, United States
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Piotr Szczur
Kraków, Poland
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Chloe Swopshire
Brooklyn, New York, United States
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Desireé Vaniecia
Dallas, Texas, United States
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Yueying Wang
Providence, Rhode Island, United States
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Ziping Wang
New York, New York, United States
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Jennifer Warren
Chicago, Illinois, United States
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Discover Past Classes

RISING STARS ALUMNI

Since the 2013 publication of our very first MFA graduate feature—formerly titled “Invest in Art”—many of the featured artists have gone on to achieve significant acclaim. Discover these talented artists by revisiting past editions of the guide.

RISING STARS
2019
RISING STARS
2018
RISING STARS
2017
RISING STARS
2016
US Edition

EDITION 2019

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EDITION 2018

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EDITION 2017

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EDITION 2016

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This Year’s Selection Committee

MEET OUR CURATORS

Rebecca Wilson

Chief Curator & VP Art Advisory, Saatchi Art

Rebecca Wilson is Chief Curator and VP, Art Advisory at Saatchi Art. She was formerly a Director at the Saatchi Gallery, London, where she was instrumental in the launch of the gallery’s online presence. In 2007 she created New Sensations, a prize for art students which identifies and supports the most exciting emerging artists in the UK. Prior to joining the Saatchi Gallery, Rebecca worked for 14 years in book and art magazine publishing: she was editor of ArtReview, and before that deputy editor of Modern Painters. She has nearly 2 decades of experience working with emerging artists.

Monty Preston

Associate Curator

Monty Preston is an Associate Curator at Saatchi Art. She graduated summa cum laude with a B.A.Sc in Linguistics and Spanish Language Studies from the University of Toronto, Canada. Monty has previously worked at such industry disrupting startups as The RealReal in San Francisco, and BeautyPie in London.

Aurora Garrison

Assistant Curator

Aurora Garrison is an Assistant Curator at Saatchi Art. She has a B.A. in Art History and International Affairs from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon and an M.A. in Cultural Heritage Studies from the University of Turin, Italy. Aurora has previously worked at Christie’s in San Francisco and Paddle8 in Los Angeles.

Monique Barnett

Hamburg, Germany
Monique Barnett’s surreal paintings are defined by morphed and distorted figures within fictive spaces. Monique begins her creative process by collating found images and arranging them in a diorama-like space and distorting them through a camera lens. She obtained a BFA in Painting from the University of Canterbury, School of Fine Arts in Christchurch, New Zealand. She has exhibited her work in Australia, Tasmania, and Germany where she currently resides at an artist residency in Hamburg. Monique was a finalist for the Adam Portraiture Award from the National Portrait Gallery in Wellington, New Zealand in 2016 and 2020.
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Stella, $320

Joshua Benmore

Essex, United Kingdom
Photographer and painter Joshua Benmore uses pop elements to create surreal narratives informed by politics, climate change, and nostalgia, ultimately creating seductive and vibrant works with headier messages lurking beneath the surface. Joshua holds a BA with honors in fashion photography from Falmouth University in Falmouth, England, and now lives and works in Essex. His work has been widely published, including in Noctis Magazine, Kühl Magazine, Desire Homme, and Lewis Magazine; in February 2018 he was named Radisson Red’s Artist of the Month.
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A Postcard to the Sky I Was Under + the Flowers I Picked, $3,000

Stephanie Eti Hadad

Miami, Florida, United States
American-Israeli artist Stephanie Eti Hadad explores her individuality in Jewish culture and the role of a traditional domestic housewife. Taking a political yet poetic approach to her art practice, Stephanie creates work in a range of mediums, including installation, sculpture, video, photography, and paper. She received her BFA from the University of Florida, New World School of the Arts in Miami. Stephanie has exhibited her work at Art Basel Miami, Cisneros-Fontanals Art Foundation in Miami, and The Other Art Fair in Brooklyn and London.
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Iron Portrait, $430

Aimée M. Everett

Austin, Texas, United States
Aimée Everett examines unspoken social mores, beliefs, and experiences she encounters as a woman of color through highly emotive color fields and minimalist paintings. Ultimately, Aimée’s abstract works suggest that what goes unspoken carries a weight that words do not. Born in New Orleans, and a graduate of Southeastern Louisiana University, Aimée now lives and works in Austin, Texas, where she was honored with the BossBabes ATX 2020 artist residency. This year, she was also named one of Austin Monthly’s Eleven Austin Makers You Need to Know.
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There Will Be Calm, $2,810

Annice Fell

London, United Kingdom
Annice Fell explores movement versus stillness with expressive brushstrokes and subdued tones, challenging herself to visually capture the impression of silence through sombre and non-naturalistic use of color. Annice graduated from the Slade School of Fine Art in London with a BA in Fine Art in 2020. She has exhibited her work across Europe, the United States, and China, and in 2018 she was honored with the prestigious Richard Ford Award issued by the Royal Academy of Arts in London.
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This Way, $1,091

Paula Flores

Vienna, Austria
Mexican artist Paula Flores utilizes a variety of materials from organic powders made from pulverized plants to non-organic materials such as found building construction materials, metal, textiles, and paint to create landscapes that represent everyday interactions found in nature. Paula received her BFA from the University of Applied Arts Vienna, Austria and has shown her paintings across Mexico and Austria. Paula has also given talks at art institutions in San Diego, Vienna, and Porto, Portugal.
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Habitat, $5,450

Viktoria Georgieva

Varna, Bulgaria
Visual artist Viktoria Georgieva mixes elements of surrealism, symbolism, pop art, and cartoon illustration into her paintings to render vibrantly colored depictions of the interactions between urban life and nature. Viktoria graduated with a BFA in Painting from University of Veliko Turnovo in Bulgaria. She has exhibited her work at Mutuo Gallery in Barcelona, Gaia Gallery in Sofia, Bulgaria, and Gallery Robevtci in Ohrid, Macedonia.
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СЕНКИ 89′ | SHADOWS 89′, $2,410

Henry Glover

London, United Kingdom
Henry Glover explores the subtleties of relationships in a painting practice informed by the emotive and lyrical nature of the Symbolist movement, building up light washes of color to describe the ephemerality and delicacy of human connection. In 2020, Henry earned a BFA in Painting with honors from Wimbledon College of Arts at the University of the Arts in London, where he lives and works. Henry has exhibited his work at the Crypt Gallery in London and has curated multiple exhibitions, including Traces at Central Saint Martins and Stock Up on Air at the Nunnery Gallery in London.
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Everything Goes So Slow, $1,710

Zack Goulet

Chicago, Illinois, United States
Experimenting with color, line, and bold graphic shapes in highly textural works, Zack Goulet’s paintings emphasize the relevance of handcrafted works in a digitally-saturated world. Based in Chicago, Zack received his BFA in Painting from the College of Visual Arts in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He has participated in a number of gallery exhibitions in Chicago at the Hairpin Arts Center, ARC Gallery, and the Three Seeds Gallery.
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EM’s Music Room, $2,100

Yage Guo

London, United Kingdom & Shanghai, China
Based in Shanghai and London, artist Yage Guo captures intimate moments from the backseat of cars to meetings at coffee shops. Her dreamlike compositions and expressive brushstrokes entrance the viewer in a moment in time. Yage received her BFA from Slade School of Fine Art at University College London in 2020 and has exhibited at Crypt Gallery in London, IZO Gallery in Moscow, and PMQ Gallery in Hong Kong.
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A Pair of Soul, $5,000

Xinyu Han

New York, New York, United States
Based in New York City, Chinese artist Xinyu Han’s work revolves around the alienation and loneliness of people living in densely populated cities like New York and Shanghai. Xinyu received her BA in Fine Art (Honors) from the School of Visual Arts in New York City in 2020. She has exhibited her work at Chelsea Gallery in New York City and was nominated for the Will Barnet Student Show at The Annual National Arts Club in New York City in 2020.
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Blind Leading the Blind, $3,470

Spencer Harris

Brooklyn, New York, United States
Finding a balance between amusement and discomfort, Spencer Harris’ paintings utilize pop culture and dark humor to represent his childhood growing up in the American South. Spencer received his BFA in Studio Art from Texas State University in San Marcos and his MFA in Painting from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York in 2020. Spencer has shown his work internationally at Blue Star Contemporary in San Antonio, Baby Blue Gallery in Chicago, Flushing in Brooklyn, and the Carlsberg Byens Gallery in Copenhagen.
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Stone Walls, $4,350

Soonyong Hong

Seoul, South Korea
Soonyong Hong’s quietly contemplative sculptures immediately create a space of serenity using minimalist forms and saturated hues. The sculptor graduated from the College of Sculpture at Kyungwon University in Seongnam-si, South Korea. He has widely exhibited his sculptures across Seoul at Sejong Art Center, Artsebin Gallery, and Sijac Gallery.
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The Inside Space, $1,860

Tserendulam Jargalsaikhan

Brooklyn, New York, United States & Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Inspired by her upbringing in Mongolia, Tserendulam Jargalsaikhan is interested in revealing how different aspects of language, symbols, and communication from different cultures can both bring people together and divide them. She received her BFA in Painting (Honors) from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. Tserendulam has shown her paintings at Steuben Gallery in Brooklyn, Cottage Gallery in Utica, New York and Bogd Khaan Palace Museum in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
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Үг 4 Word (Üg for Word): R, $340

Rodrigo Jimenez-Ortega

Brooklyn, New York, United States
In his drawings and paintings, Rodrigo Jimenez-Ortega combines Mesoamerican iconography with tropes of pop culture and video games. Fusing elements of Mexican and American culture, Rodrigo attempts to provide a new perspective from which viewers can compare different environments and narratives outside of their context. He received his BFA in Painting and Printmaking from San Diego State University and his MFA in Painting from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. He has shown his work across the US and Mexico, including Weird Hues​ Gallery in San Diego, AC Gallery in Brooklyn, and Casa LU in Mexico City
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Piñata/Sacrifice #2, $1,080

Katrina Jurjans

Montreal, Canada
Fascinated with spatial theory, Katrina Jurjans treats boundaries in space as metaphors for ephemerality, memory, and representation in her paintings. Her dreamlike compositions and symbolism evoke universal experiences beyond the confines of time and place. Katrina holds a BFA in Studio Art and Art History from Concordia University in Montreal. She has participated in artist residencies with Artscape Gibraltar Point in Toronto; Obracadobra in Oaxaca, Mexico; and Concrète: Spatial Residency in Montreal. In 2017, she was awarded Best of Painting at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition.
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Growing Our Collection (Elsewhere), $1,330

Thérèse Mulgrew

Chicago, Illinois, United States
With a background in the fashion industry, Thérèse Mulgrew’s portraiture involves carefully styled and positioned models often left undressed and exposed to explore vulnerability and nostalgia. Thérèse attended the University of Iowa, graduating with a degree in English Literature, and then moved to New York City to study art at the New York Studio School. Her first solo exhibition took place at Freight and Volume Gallery in New York City in 2020.
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Dominique and Amanda, $8,500

Kenny Nguyen

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Kenny Nguyen explores cultural identity and displacement, using silk as a metaphor for his Vietnamese heritage. Kenny paints, sculpts, and builds up this tradition-rich material into complex tapestries that contemplate existence between two cultures. Born in Vietnam, Kenny studied fashion design at Ho Chi Minh City University of Art and Architecture, and later painting at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. In 2017, Kenny received the Asia Contemporary Young Artist Excellence Award at the Sejong Museum of Art in Seoul. This year, he completed the Gilfalag artist residency at the Gil Society and Akureyri Art Museum in Akureyri, Iceland.
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The Flamekeeper 3, $5,900

Buhle Nkalashe

Johannesburg, South Africa
Buhle Nkalashe explores African visual culture and identity through mixed media works that blend rich patterns and pop culture with optimistic personal conviction. Buhle earned a BA in Communication Design from Cape Town Creative Academy in Cape Town, South Africa, and now lives and works in Johannesburg. Buhle was honored as one of the top 100 in the 2017 Sanlam Portrait Awards in Cape Town, and in 2019 he was selected for exhibition at the Turbine Art Fair in Johannesburg.
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Glory, $3,231

Adam Norgaard

Tokyo, Japan
Adam Norgaard lives and works in Tokyo, where he explores cross-cultural encounters and the experience of living abroad in his otherworldly paintings. In 2014, Adam earned a BA in Japanese Language from Portland State University before making the move to Japan. He has since held numerous solo exhibitions, including at Shishibone in Ichikawa, Japan, in 2020. Adam’s work was highlighted in the June 2016 issue of VISION Magazine China, and in 2015 his work was shown at the Nagaya Project in Tokushima, Japan.
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Encounter 2, $1,380

Rocio Navarro

Toulouse, France
With minimal color palettes and figures set against solid backgrounds, Rocio Navarro’s paintings capture the strength and solidity of her female subjects with understated exactitude. She received her BFA in Graphic Design and Animation from TecMilenio University in Monterrey, Mexico. Rocio has exhibited her paintings in galleries across Mexico and France, where she currently resides in Toulouse.
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Alejandra, $756

Francisco Palomares

Los Angeles, California, United States
Los Angeles–native Francisco Palomares documents the evolving landscape of his hometown. Drawing attention to both the heritage and socioeconomic realities of its residents, Francisco juxtaposes piñatas with pastoral landscapes, and cleaning supplies with floral still lifes. Francisco earned a BFA in Drawing and Painting from California State University at Long Beach, studying abroad at Guangzhou Academy of Fine Art in China and Academia de Belle Arte in Florence, Italy. Francisco has exhibited his work at the Mexican and Brazilian Consulates in Los Angeles, Brooklyn Gallery in New York, and Jankossen Contemporary in New York.
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Homage to My Mothers, $3,410

Madeleine Parsons

Melbourne, Australia
Fascinated with the nuances of the human form, Madeleine Parsons works on both small and large scales to depict her human subjects. In addition to her work in embroidery and oil paint, Madeleine has been commissioned for several public and private mural projects across Australia. Madeleine earned her BFA with distinction from Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 2019. She was the winner of the 2019 Tolamo Hotel Award and has exhibited her work at Ellis House Art Centre in Perth, Brunswick Street Gallery in Melbourne, and SACI College of Art and Design in Florence, Italy.
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Scraps, $590

Amber Roper

London, United Kingdom
Amber Roper specializes in hand-woven textiles, creating two-dimensional pieces inspired by both her surrounding environment and Western modernism. Working intuitively, Amber builds up depth and density organically in her textiles, resulting in unexpected compositions. Amber holds a BA in textile design from Central Saint Martin University of the Arts in London, where she is based. She was featured in the June 2017 issue of The World of Interiors and honored with Best Material Creative Award at the 2014 International Creative Pattern Design Competition in Hangzhou, China.
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Neon Maze, $3,140

Yanin Ruibal

Mexico City, Mexico
Yanin Ruibal’s work focuses primarily on themes surrounding personal conflict and the ineluctable relationship between man and nature. Based in Mexico City, Yanin studied at the Universidad de las Américas Puebla in Cholula, Mexico before leaving school to create public murals for brands such as Timberland, AT&T, and Camel. Yanin has exhibited her work at The Other Art Fair, Brooklyn, De Kooning Studio in New York City, and was a finalist in the Bienal de Ilustración by Pictoline at the Centro de Cultura Digital in Mexico City in 2018.
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Passive Endurance, $1,910

Abi Salami

Dallas, Texas, United States
Abi Salami explores the uncanny in the everyday, allowing her subconscious to inform her paintings while using a personal lexicon of symbols to explore memory, mental health, and race, specifically with the aim of destigmatizing mental illness in African communities. Born in Lagos, Nigeria, and based in Dallas, Texas, Abi earned an MA in Accounting from the University of Texas at Austin before committing to painting full-time. She has since exhibited in Dallas and across the United States, including at The Women’s Museum in Dallas, the African American Museum of Art in Dallas, and Viridian Artists Inc. in New York City.
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Lady Africa Defiantly Shackled, $6,900

Tim Sandow

Wuppertal, Germany
German artist Tim Sandow paints “the tragedy of everyday”, capturing human gestures and personal relationships through acute and sensitive observations of his surroundings. Tim earned his BA from the University of Wuppertal, Germany before moving on to study art at Art Academy Düsseldorf in Germany and Academy of Fine Arts Vienna in Austria. He has exhibited his work widely across Germany and Austria, including the Museum Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf, Evelyn Drewes Gallery in Hamburg, Artspace in Munich and Galerie Nathalie Halgand in Vienna.
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Ich habe das Ende des Tunnels nie gesehen, $3,376

Francisca Sosa López

London, United Kingdom
Francisca Sosa López contemplates her complicated relationship with her home country, Venezuela, through large-scale mixed media works. Using found materials and fabrics from her own home, Francisca’s practice of reimagining discarded materials evokes the potential for societal rebuilding after hardship. Francisca earned a BA in Art History and Fine Art from the University of Colorado, Boulder, before going on to earn her MFA with distinction from the Slade School of Fine Art in London. Francisca was selected for the Liquitex White Wall Project in June 2019, and in February 2019, she was a visiting artist at Camberwell University of the Arts in London.
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silva a la agricultura de la zona tórrida (con Andrés Bello), $4,300

Allie Stabile

Brooklyn, New York, United States
Allie Stabile deconstructs print newspapers and magazines, collaging the torn detritus into multilayered canvases that obscure the original content. The finished products take on a depth and spatial quality reminiscent of crowded urban spaces and our evolving social and political environments. Allie holds an MFA in Painting and Drawing from the Pratt Institute in New York City, where she graduated in 2020. Allie was selected for the COPE NYC artist residency in 2019 and has exhibited her work at Greenpoint Gallery, Treat Gallery, and Lincoln Road in New York City.
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Making Sense of Space, $1,300

Piotr Szczur

Kraków, Poland
Piotr Szczur is a Polish artist, based in Kraków, whose “Made in America” painting series captures the unique roadside culture of the American West, where the passage of time is marked in miles traveled and the changing of billboards. His expert handling of paint renders his subjects—chrome semi-trucks, natural rock formations, and weird roadside attractions—nothing less than sublime. Piotr attended Marie Curie Sklodowska University in Lublin, Poland and has exhibited his paintings across the world in the United States, Scotland, Poland, and Japan.
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Big Red Arrows, $5,200

Chloe Swopshire

Brooklyn, New York, United States
Chloe Swopshire allows her subconscious interpretation of the Black Diaspora to reign free in her paintings, which are characterized by expressionist forms and tension between chaos and harmony. Chloe earned a BA in Philosophy from Truman State University before moving to New York to pursue painting. She has studied at the New York Artists League and the NYC Crit Club, where she received a full scholarship. In 2019, Chloe participated in the Teatro Espace artist residency in Turin, Italy. Her work is held in the collections of Galeria Weber in Turin and Frederick Douglass Blvd Alliance in New York City.
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Regression Tea, $2,210

Desireé Vaniecia

Dallas, Texas, United States
Desireé Vaniecia seeks to challenge stereotypes of black women by conveying, strength, vulnerability, and intimacy through bold, silhouetted figures. Desireé holds a BA in Graphic Design from McMurry University, which informs the complexity and depth she captures through minimal compositions. Desireé participated in the Cedars Union Studio Artist Residency from 2018 to 2020. She was a recipient of the prestigious 2020 Dallas Museum of Art Arch and Anne Giles Kimbrough Fund, and she has exhibited her work at the MAC and The Other Art Fair in Dallas, Texas, where she is based.
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Follow, $905

Yueying Wang

Providence, Rhode Island, United States
In a recent project titled On the Edge of Elapsing, Yueying Wang documents her time alone on a train across the United States, relating the fleeting landscapes outside her window to the inextricably woven past and present. The Chinese artist is currently based in Providence, Rhode Island where she received her BFA in Photography from Rhode Island School of Design in 2020. Yueying has shown her photography across Providence at Red Eye Gallery and Gelman Gallery.
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Untitled – Limited Edition of 1, $2,170

Ziping Wang

New York, New York, United States

Through revealing and concealing different planes of images, pop culture symbols, and text, Ziping Yang’s paintings question the legitimacy of digitally manufactured identities and the corresponding anxiety surrounding public personas on social media. Born in Shenyang, China, Ziping now resides in New York City and received her BFA from Rhode Island School of Design in Providence and recently obtained her MFA from the Pratt Institute in New York City in 2020. Ziping has exhibited her work at Archway Gallery in Houston, Antraniq Gallery and Collective 131 in New York City, and has been featured in publications such as Hyperallergic and Artnet.

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Unfinished Summer Fantasy, $1,080

Jennifer Warren

Chicago, Illinois, United States
Jennifer Warren studied painting at the Marchutz School of Fine Art in Aix-en-Provence, France, where she was drawn in by the medium’s ability to depict fantastical environments on canvas. As a Black artist working today, Jennifer is heavily influenced by the Black Lives Matter movement and uses her practice to empower people of color by painting grand figures that convey strength, beauty, and significance. Jennifer is based in Chicago, where she was selected to be featured in The Other Art Fair in 2020.
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Zanzibar, $1,843