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The Rising Stars of 2026

Where Your Next Great Collection Begins

Every year, our curators name the Rising Stars. From recent art school graduates to entirely self-taught artists, they may be young in career but they’re sure in vision. This year, two thousand artists came to us through an open call, and only thirty made the list.

We’ve grouped the class by what each one does best: illuminate, wander, or romanticize, so you can trust whichever feeling pulls you in first.

Artists who...

ILLUMINATE

From grinning to feverish and back, these artists speak whimsy and euphoria in the same breath. Heightened, humming, and playful by turns, look too long and you’ll start to feel the buzz yourself.

Get swept up →

Artists who...

ILLUMINATE

From grinning to feverish and back, these artists speak whimsy and euphoria in the same breath. Heightened, humming, and playful by turns, look too long and you’ll start to feel the buzz yourself.

Get swept up →

Born in Kyiv, Tania relocated to London on the endorsement of the Arts Council England, where she paints stylized figural scenes of the body in motion in a consistent sun-washed color palette. Her works are equal parts narrative and fanciful. Her practice extends beyond painting into illustration, ceramics, branding, and commercial & editorial design.

Tania Yakunova

b. Ukraine, 1989

Self-Taught

Blurring the line between art and ecosystem, Sandra weaves fiber, rope, and glass into immersive sculptures that channel the textures of coral reefs, coastlines, and forests. The Dutch artist, whose sensibility was shaped by years split between Spain and the Netherlands, builds much of her practice around reclaimed and residual materials, with exhibitions spanning LA Frieze, PAN Amsterdam, and Rhett Baruch Gallery.

Sandra Keja Planken

b. Netherlands, 1978

Self-Taught

Glasgow-based Chinese painter Le Liu reinterprets classical mythology and old master traditions through striking acrylic and oil compositions of headless nudes. By omitting the face, Le subverts traditional portraiture and social hierarchy, confronting cultural body taboos to focus entirely on the tactile, physical presence of the human form. A graduate of the Glasgow School of Art, his works have been exhibited at Glasgow International and the London Art Biennale, earning him shortlists for the British Art Prize and the BADA Art Prize.

Le Liu

b. China, 1996

MFA, The Glasgow School of Art, 2021

Bristol-based artist Ayesha paints everyday moments pushed to the edge of abstraction—barely there, but not entirely gone. Her bold compositions balance simplicity and clarity, using color and irregular form to interrogate the mundane. Her work has been featured in the Art Friend Gallery’s show “Rejects,” Stylist Magazine, and Saatchi Art’s “One to Watch” spotlight.

Ayesha Pearce

b. United Kingdom, 1989

Self-Taught

Working in bright color and high contrast, Hyunsun conjures compelling abstracted landscapes that are all feeling, unveiling a world where humanity and nature sublimate. They’re bright, energizing, and sensorial. Born in Seoul and now working in Vienna, she has exhibited extensively in both Austria and South Korea.

Hyunsun Yoo

b. South Korea, 1981

MFA, University of Applied Arts, Vienna, 2022

Working in bright color and high contrast, Hyunsun conjures compelling abstracted landscapes that are all feeling, unveiling a world where humanity and nature sublimate. They’re bright, energizing, and sensorial. Born in Seoul and now working in Vienna, she has exhibited extensively in both Austria and South Korea.

Hyunsun Yoo

b. South Korea, 1981
MFA, University of Applied Arts, Vienna, 2022

Golriz, an Iranian-Canadian artist, paints soft, light-filled acrylic works in which scenes dissolve and merge, drawing from memory and her experiences with motherhood, immigration, and family history. She has exhibited throughout Canada and Iran, and has also taught at several institutions.

Golriz Rezvani

b. Iran, 1980

MFA, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, 2026

Working under the moniker Bbblob, Jacelyn is a multi-media artist who sees patterns and forms others cannot. Each piece resembles a puzzle assembled in a striking new orientation. Shapes, colors, and textures fit together like lock and key in harmonious compositions that are as beautiful as they are unreadable. Jacelyn has accrued an impressive exhibition history spanning shows in New York, London, and Singapore.

Jacelyn Zhen

b. Singapore, 1993
MFA, Royal College of Arts, London, 2025

Working from his studio in Cleveland, Ohio, Justin makes gestural figural works that deconstruct space, often in an unflinching, primary color palette. He approaches painting through continual experimentation, allowing intuition and trial and error to shape his practice. Justin has shown in group and solo exhibitions in Ohio and beyond, with work published in New American Paintings.

Justin Brennan

b. United States, 1976

Self-Taught

Based in Baku, Azerbaijan, Roza creates highly expressive, multi-media works that capture the fertile tension between abstraction and figuration. Through layered brushstrokes and rich textures in oil, acrylic, ink, and watercolor, she translates nature, memory, and inner psychological landscapes into deeply atmospheric visual narratives. Her practice has earned her international recognition, including recent showcases at the Tbilisi Art Fair and the Baku Museum of Modern Art.

Roza Muradova

b. Azerbaijan, 1997

MFA, Azerbaijan State Academy of Fine Arts, 2022

Myriame, splitting time between Tunis and London, explores our understanding of the spaces we inhabit. Her compositions focus on windows, doorways, mirrors—the transitory barriers that separate such spaces. Vibrant color and surreal style further unsettle our view, creating tension in the unknown. Myriame's recent exhibition history includes shows in Los Angeles, Paris, and Marseilles as well as a solo show in London.

Myriame Dachraoui

b. Tunisia, 1994

BA, National School of Architecture and Urban Design, 2022

Golriz, an Iranian-Canadian artist, paints soft, light-filled acrylic works in which scenes dissolve and merge, drawing from memory and her experiences with motherhood, immigration, and family history. She has exhibited throughout Canada and Iran, and has also taught at several institutions.

Golriz Rezvani

b. Iran, 1980

MFA, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, 2026

Artists who...

WANDER

Wandering is discarding the map. These painters, photographers, and sculptors dive headlong into the mystical, the uncanny, and the almost-recognizable, bringing you along a few steps past where things make sense. That’s where it gets good.

Take a detour →

Artists who...

WANDER

Wandering is discarding the map. These painters, photographers, and sculptors dive headlong into the mystical, the uncanny, and the almost-recognizable, bringing you along a few steps past where things make sense. That’s where it gets good.

Take a detour →

Through her signature concept, Reawakening of Life, Minju explores the fragile threshold of vitality and mortality. Drawing from personal encounters with nature, she translates the structural essence of living forms into atmospheric dreamscapes that invite viewers to awaken their own subconscious. Minju’s compelling visual narratives have earned notable recognition in Japan, including selections for the Shuta Exhibition at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum and the Bijutsu Shinjin-sho Debut.

Minju Gwak

b. South Korea, 2003

MFA, Tokyo University of the Arts, 2026

In the photography of Brazilian artist Andre Souza, figures are reduced to shadows and silhouettes. Each ghostly outline carries the barest trace of identity. Resembling delicate sketches drawn by hand, Andre’s experimental photos are inimitable, representing a new way of seeing and being seen. Andre has exhibited his work throughout Brazil as well as in Spain, Portugal, and Italy.

Andre Souza

b. Brazil, 1988

Self-Taught

Giovana is a painter creating fractured, fluid compositions that defy easy reading. Figures are bisected, fading between foreground and background, and structures melt into abstract brushwork. Blurred and uncanny, each picture demands a second look from any viewer hoping to grasp the depth of their dreamlike unreality. Giovana’s work has been featured in several group exhibitions in Antwerp.

Giovana Tows

b. Brazil, 1995

BFA candidate, Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, expected 2026

Cheng splits his time between the UK and Taiwan, creating highly textural, built-up mixed media works in the tradition of Matterism that convey a primordial, fossilized feeling. He has attended artist residencies in Germany, China, and Greece, which culminated in solo exhibitions.

Cheng Yen Yu

b. Taiwan, 1998

MA, Royal College of Art, London, 2024

Ukrainian artist Karina Danylchuk explores the delicate relationship between humanity and the natural world through watercolor paintings of birds. Utilizing the subtlety and transparency of her medium, she employs meticulous, embroidery-like brushwork to capture the sophisticated elegance and inherent fragility of her subjects. Since her 2021 solo exhibition in Ukraine, Karina’s practice has gained international support, including a prestigious Culture Moves Europe grant in 2023.

Karina Danylchuk

b. Ukraine, 1995

Self-Taught

Ukrainian artist Karina Danylchuk explores the delicate relationship between humanity and the natural world through watercolor paintings of birds. Utilizing the subtlety and transparency of her medium, she employs meticulous, embroidery-like brushwork to capture the sophisticated elegance and inherent fragility of her subjects. Since her 2021 solo exhibition in Ukraine, Karina’s practice has gained international support, including a prestigious Culture Moves Europe grant in 2023.

Karina Danylchuk

b. Ukraine, 1995

Self-Taught

Confronting contemporary themes of identity and body image, Sofia creates figurative paintings that capture both the vulnerability and raw resilience of the female form. Her visceral, emotionally charged compositions earned her the UK New Artist 2023 title at Saatchi Gallery. Now working out of London, she continues to establish a powerful voice with exhibitions at the London Biennale and the Woman in Art Fair.

Sofia Laskari

b. Russia, 2002

BA, University of the Arts London, 2023

A former graphic designer for the surf, fashion, and music industries, Mat's abstract paintings channel a lifetime around the ocean, weaving surf and beach culture with surreal, landscape-like forms into a visual language of movement and place. The Australian artist builds many of his frames from salvaged timber, grounding each work in its own material history. He will present his solo show Shapes from the Land and Sea in 2026.

Mat Macready

b. Australia, 1982

Diploma of Graphic Design, Hornsby TAFE, 2006

Sculptural and mixed media artist Nini Sum splits time between Shanghai and Berlin. Her artwork melds traditional and natural forms with retro-styled sci-fi imagery. Using neon colors and bold compositions, Nini transforms wood into extraterrestrial objects, recalling iconic scenes of a future yet unrealized. Nini has participated in a number of exhibitions worldwide, including solo shows in Germany and Hong Kong.

Nini Sum

b. Germany, 1986

BA, School of Design, Jiangnan University, 2008

Rooted in oral histories and her Garhwali heritage, Aditi’s intuitive paintings treat the land as a living, sentient presence where memory and terrain intertwine. Bypassing preliminary sketches, she allows fluid, shifting forms of land spirits and feminine archetypes to surface naturally through layered washes of earthy, whimsical tones. Working from New Delhi, the self-taught artist creates immersive spaces that invite deep reflection on intergenerational identity and our relationship to the earth.

Aditi Badola

b. India, 2003

Self-Taught

Zoë, a British-Caribbean artist, creates monochromatic drawings and paintings grounded in the grisaille tradition, often depicting scenes that she describes as "an imagined homeland between Guyana and Britain." Her honors include the Sir Frank Bowling Scholarship to fulfill her masters, an Arts Council England-funded residency at the University of Guyana, and a shortlisting for the Jaguar x RCA prize.

Zoë Wilkinson

b. United Kingdom, 1999

MA, Royal College of Art, London, 2025

Confronting contemporary themes of identity and body image, Sofia creates figurative paintings that capture both the vulnerability and raw resilience of the female form. Her visceral, emotionally charged compositions earned her the UK New Artist 2023 title at Saatchi Gallery. Now working out of London, she continues to establish a powerful voice with exhibitions at the London Biennale and the Woman in Art Fair.

Sofia Laskari

b. Russia, 2002

BA, University of the Arts London, 2023

Artists who...

ROMANTICIZE

Memory, moment, or material, whatever holds their gaze is treated with reverence. Careful observers who slow down for what moves them, these artists linger at a pace you’ll want to match.

Sit with them →

Artists who...

ROMANTICIZE

Memory, moment, or material, whatever holds their gaze is treated with reverence. Careful observers who slow down for what moves them, these artists linger at a pace you’ll want to match.

Sit with them →

Ana completed her BA in 2021 from the same university where she is now pursuing her MFA. Her work explores patterning and color within simplified, empty, architectural settings harkening back to Medieval and Renaissance paintings. Her work has been included in solo and group exhibitions across several South American countries and Portugal.

Ana Flávia Garcia

b. Brazil, 1997

MFA candidate, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, expected 2027

Drawing inspiration from great abstract painters such as Helen Frankenthaler, Venezuelan artist Gisela Lazarte achieves total visual calm on canvas. Thin pools of color saturate each piece, and each delicate bloom suggests the harmonious creation of nature rather than any human touch. Gisela has found success exhibiting her work locally in her home of New York City.

Gisela A. Lazarte

b. Venezuela, 1989

BA, Andrés Bello Catholic University, 2012

Ejae paints close-up views of details that digital cameras typically discard or blur into the background, isolating and enlarging them until they command the full canvas. This deliberate, physically demanding practice becomes a way of slowing down against a world of automated, pre-programmed images, and of returning attention to the senses. She has held two solo exhibitions, and her work resides in the Gyeonggi Cultural Foundation’s collection.

Ejae Park

b. South Korea, 1990

MFA, Hongik University, Seoul, 2026

Faith's photographs feel like scenes suspended in time—part memory, part performance, part invention—drawing on archival imagery, film, and fashion photography to fabricate places where Black history and imagination meet. The Durham, North Carolina–born artist has exhibited at institutions including the International Center of Photography, Aperture Foundation, Fotografiska, and Les Rencontres d'Arles, and was named on Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2024.

Faith Couch

b. United States, 1997

MFA, Yale University, 2026

In her most recent series, Liv crafts dreamlike scenes where human figures become tangled, tenderly and precariously. Each figure finds themselves caught within the spaces that they inhabit, sometimes in hazards of their own making. Working in a distinctly illustrative style, she uses the signature motif of red thread to explore the push and pull of connection across distance, rendering longing, memory, and intimacy as almost physical.

Liv Ye

b. China, 1992

MA, Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London, 2025

In her most recent series, Liv crafts dreamlike scenes where human figures become tangled, tenderly and precariously. Each figure finds themselves caught within the spaces that they inhabit, sometimes in hazards of their own making. Working in a distinctly illustrative style, she uses the signature motif of red thread to explore the push and pull of connection across distance, rendering longing, memory, and intimacy as almost physical.

Liv Ye

b. China, 1992

MA, Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London, 2025

Swirling and atmospheric, the paintings of South Korean artist Yeonsoo walk the line between abstraction and figuration. Storms and stars swim forward out of loose brushwork. Strange shapes stand as apparitions amid snowy winds of space, completely unfamiliar and totally mesmerizing. Yeonsoo has completed several solo exhibitions in Seoul as her career continues to build.

Yeonsoo Choi

b. South Korea, 1997

BFA, Duksung University, 2020

Lydia creates Matisse-like, simplified figural works in oil painting and tufting. Having already participated in several group exhibitions across London, they are developing a body of work that examines presence and intimacy and highlights the body's interaction with space. Largely self-taught, Lydia has refined their practice through independent study and a foundational course at the King’s Foundation.

Lydia Lott

b. United Kingdom, 2002

Self-Taught

Using the evocative nature of domestic landscapes, oil painter Ngai Ning explores the concept of home as a shifting emotional space shaped by memory, nostalgia, and loss. Her paintings employ fleeting light, fragmented spaces, and obscured silhouettes to create a tangible tension between the inner mind and the external world. Currently working in London, Ngai Ning’s practice has led to a major solo show with Delphian Gallery and selection in the Society of Women Artists 165th Annual Exhibition.

Ngai Ning Yu

b. Hong Kong, 2003

BA, University of the Arts London, 2025

Hye Yeon turns found materials and industrial scrap into sculptures and installations, using discarded construction debris to ask larger questions about cities, displacement, and change. Living abroad as an expat, her work focuses on gentrification and redevelopment, and the effects of cities in flux. She has participated in over thirty group exhibitions internationally, as well as four solo exhibitions in South Korea.

Hye Yeon Shin

b. South Korea, 1981

MFA, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, 2021

Marko brings an engineer's precision to sculpture, trading his training in electrical and computer engineering for a practice built on structure, material, and form. Based in Belgrade, he has held seven solo shows and serves as an associate professor of modern sculpture at the Belgrade University of Arts.

Marko Vuckovic

b. Serbia, 1992

MFA, University of Arts, Belgrade, 2020

Swirling and atmospheric, the paintings of South Korean artist Yeonsoo walk the line between abstraction and figuration. Storms and stars swim forward out of loose brushwork. Strange shapes stand as apparitions amid snowy winds of space, completely unfamiliar and totally mesmerizing. Yeonsoo has completed several solo exhibitions in Seoul as her career continues to build.

Yeonsoo Choi

b. South Korea, 1997

BFA, Duksung University, 2020

Meet The Selection Committee

Led by Rebecca Wilson, Chief Curator and VP of Art Advisory, our curators draw on decades of art world experience to find the early-career artists worth knowing. The same eyes that chose this year’s class can help you find your next artwork.

Tell an advisor what you love, or just describe the room and the feeling you’re after, and they’ll point you toward original work by today’s most promising artists, free of charge.

Rebecca Wilson

Chief Curator and VP, Art Advisory

India Balyejusa

Art Advisory and Curation Supervisor

Siting Wang

Associate Curator

Audrey Wolfe

Assistant Curator

Will Hardy

Assistant Curator