STATE OF THE ART

In an ever-shifting, always-fickle art market, an emerging crop of talent has begun to attract the fresh attention of the collector class—many denizens of which can't even get off the waiting list for their work. NATE FREEMAN presents a guide to the artists your adviser needs to know right now

NATE FREEMAN

The Impressionists got blurry. The ab-ex painters blasted apart figuration after the ravages of World War II. The YBAs went full po-mo neo-Duchampian to address late-stage capitalism. What links the artists making vital art now? Well, quite a lot—this generation's group is collectively grappling with a tumultuous decade. These artists came of age when social media rewired our brains following pandemic lockdowns, when excess screen time beckoned to the old pastoral outdoors of the landscapists from centuries ago, when current events warped the idea of the straightforward narrative, when AI caused a reevaluation of the whole idea of artistic creation.

Over the last few years, a specific class of superlative artists has emerged—even during the recent moment of art market contraction, the work coming from this crew commanded astounding prices. Important galleries have closed, but lots of other shops—from the global mega-galleries to the up-and-coming almost-blue-chips—are finding ways to not just survive but thrive. And a lot of that has to do with this new wave of world-conquering artists. Even as secondary market prices dropped, top collectors demand fresh material by distinctive voices—and they're fighting to just get on the waiting list to buy their works.

Coming up with 33 names was not a task taken lightly. The idea? Focus not necessarily on young artists, but artists who have broken into the upper echelon in the last five years. And that's why you won't see here the artists who spent the years before the pandemic at mega-galleries and securing museum shows: Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Jonas Wood, Amy Sherald, Simone Leigh, Nicole Eisenman, Rashid Johnson, Nicolas Party, Avery Singer, just to name a few. All fantastic artists. But a new wave rises.

On to the due diligence. These artists were chosen after a vigorous period of research and reporting that included grilling gallerists and advisers, sneaking a peek at recent acquisitions by major institutions, tracking which artists got poached by galleries with locations on multiple continents, shaking down dealers for primary market prices, watchingwho was popping off 10 times the estimate at auction, and clocking what was hanging on the walls of the homes of major collectors.

Taken together (and in no particular order), this is the set of artists who right now are making work that will hang on the walls of our institutions—and break records at auction—for decades to come.

THE COLOR PHENOM

► JAD^ FADOJUTIMI

AGE 32 BASED IN London GALLERY REPS Gagosian, Taka Ishii in Tokyo ELEVATOR PITCH Queen of young English abstract painters KNOWN ASSOCIATES Gagosian's Millicent Wilner BIG BREAK Tate acquired a work in 2019 when she was 26, making her the youngest artist to enter the collection. STUDIO SETUP A warehouse in South East London STICKER SHOCK Nearly $2 million at Christie's for The Woven Warped Garden of Ponder FANCY-PANTS COLLECTO RS Pamela Joyner, Texas legend Howard Rachofsky, Komai Shah

THE NEW FRAGONARD

► FLORA YUKHNOVICH

AGE 34 BASED IN London GALLERY REPS Hauser & Wirth, Victoria Miro ELEVATOR PITCH Neo-Rococo phenom who has admitted to finding inspiration in Katy Perry KNOWN ASSOCIATES Writer Katy Hessel BIG BREAK Three-person show with Victoria Miro in 2019 STUDIO SETUP A converted Victorian biscuit factory in South London STICKER SHOCK In March 2022 her painting Warm, Wet 'N' Wild (2020) sold for $3.6 million, more than 13 times its high estimate, FANCY-PANTS COLLECTORS The UK's Government Art Collection—during the Rishi Sunak regime, Imagination, Life Is Your Creation hung at 10 Downing Street.

THE DREAM WEAVER

► XINYI CHENG

AGE 35 BASED IN Paris GALLERY REP Matthew Marks ELEVATOR PITCH Disturbing interactions between strangers painted so fiercely, you'll never forget them KNOWN ASSOCIATES Matthew Marks director Beau Rutland, Paris art dealers Daniele Bailee and Alexander Hertling BIG BREAK The two years she spent in Amsterdam in 2016 and 2017 were huge for her. "I had a beautiful north-light studio facing the canal, and I was surrounded by artists and thinkers." STUDIO LOCALE A hidden space down an alley in the 20th STICKER SHOCK In 2022 a painting estimated to sell for around $60,000 came up for auction at Sotheby's in Hong Kong. It sold for $562,000. FANCY-PANTS COLLECTORS Frangois-Henri Pinault, Pauline Karpidas, Craig Robins, Tony Salam6 THE GOAT El Greco. "So unique in his time, and in any time." MAYBE...OVERRATED? "I've always had a hard time understanding Cézanne, but this year I'm actually starting to get into his work."

THE HISTORIAN

►CHASE HALL

AGE 32 BASED IN Upstate New York/ East Village GALLERY REPS David Kordansky Gallery, Galerie Eva Presenhuber ELEVATOR PITCH A sprawling investigation of the Black experience in America, painted using coffee grounds KNOWN ASSOCIATES A gigantic Great Dane named Paisley; Tyler, the Creator BIG BREAK Attracted the attention of Antwaun Sargent after introducing himself in 2018. By 2020 he had a residency at Mass MoCA. STUDIO SETUP A former Bible-binding factory and whiskey distillery in upstate New York FANCY-PANTS COLLECTORS Bernard Lumpkin, Marty Eisenberg, AC Hudgins AFTER-HOURS VIBE When asked about his favorite restaurants, Hall listed three Manhattan classics: "IlBuco, Sette Mezzo, Sobaya." THE GOAT "Charles White, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, David Hammons, or ClyffordStill."

THE MASTER

► ANNA WEYANT

AGE 30 BASED IN Manhattan GALLERY REP Gagosian ELEVATOR PITCH Magritte meets John Currin, with a gonzo Gen Z spin KNOWN ASSOCIATES Muse Eileen Kelly, collector Marc Jacobs BIG BREAK "My 2021 show at Blum & Poe LA—in large part because the work felt like a breakthrough." STUDIO LOCALE A large room in her classic-six prewar apartment STICKER SHOCK Falling Woman, $1.6 million; Summertime, $1.5 million FANCY-PA NTS COLLECTORS Wendi Murdoch, Glenn Fuhrman, Kris Jenner HANG SPOT "Anything in Times Square, only on weekdays, preferably in the afternoon." AM I ON TIKTOK? "No." THE GOAT "Balthus."

THE GOLDEN STATE STILL-LIFER

► HILARY PECIS

AGE 46 BASED IN Los Angeles GALLERY REP David Kordansky, Timothy Taylor ELEVATOR PITCH Dreamy California interiors for brainy New York types KNOWN ASSOCIATES Her Eagle Rock studio mates: Lia Halloran, Lily Stockman, Mindy Shapero, Jake Longstreth, and Nancy Baker Cahill BIG BREAK "Moving to LA in 2013 may have something to do with it, or having my first New York show shortly after. There were a lot of factors, including luck, that came together for me just at the right time." STUDIO LOCALE The aforementioned Eagle Rock complex, where the tenants host a happy hour with great tacos every year during Frieze LA STICKER SHOCKFW/Z and Bird sold for $ 1.25 million in 2022—and even as the market took a downturn in 2024, Wine at J's sold for $ 1.26 million, three times its low estimate. FANCY-PANTS COLLECTORS Salam6, the young mega-patrons Benjamin Khakshour and Justine Freeman AFTER-HOURS VIBE Blair's, a neighborhood Italian joint with an arty energy: All the plates and bowls are made at the founder's pottery studio, THE GOAT An unexpected choice: Gabriele Munter—"a German Expressionist painter and founding member of Der Blaue Reiter but much lesser known than Kandinsky and Marc." MAYBE... OVERRATED? "Rembrandt. Sooo brown."

THE DIAMOND APPLE

►KATHLEEN RYAN

AGE 41 BASED IN Jersey City GALLERY REPS Karma, Gagosian ELEVATOR PITCH Rotten fruit rendered in gemstones—sculptures with a jaw-dropping, how-did-she-dothat quality KNOWN ASSOCIATES Karma founder Brendan Dugan, Francois Ghebaly BIG BREAK Jasper Sharp, the contemporary curator at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, gave Ryan her first institutional show in 2017. "Or maybe itwas when Britney Spears posted my Bad Peach sculpture on Instagram," she says, STUDIO SETUP A 10,000-squarefoot warehouse in Hoboken STICKER SHOCK In 2024 a generous attendee of ArtCrush in Aspen paid $280,000 for Bad Lemon (Cloud), 2024, a glittering rotting slice of citrus, FANCY-PANTS COLLECTORS Christen Sveaas, Alice Walton's Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, MOCA LA ROCK-STAR STATUS Ryan contributed artwork for the cover of Wilco's 2024 album Hot Sun Cool Shroud, AFTER-HOURS VIBE Casablanca, the Venice, California, restaurant improbably obsessed with the classic Humphrey Bogart film

THE ILLUSTRATED MAN

► FLORIAN KREWER

AGE 38 BASED IN New York City GALLERY REP Michael Werner ELEVATOR PITCH The world's most celebrated painter who also has face tattoos KNOWN ASSOCIATES The artists who studied with him at the Kunstakademie Dusseldorf under the master Peter Doig: Constantin Nitsche, Christoph Matthes, Tim Breuer, Lotte Maiwald, and Raphaela Simon BIG BREAK "Coming to NYC in2019 definitely marked a shift: It opened up a lot for me on several levels—personally as well as professionally." SECRET EXPOSURE The curator Parinaz Mogadassi (Doig's wife) gave Krewer a show at her hush-hush project space, Tramps, that used to take over a few stalls at a Chinatown mall under the Manhattan Bridge, STUDIO SETUP Top floor of a building in Hunts Point, the Bronx FANCY-PANTS COLLECTORS Pinault, Pierre Chen, Bob Rennie UNIFORM The looks from the Loewe spring-summer 2022 collection that he worked on with Jonathan Anderson AFTERHOURS VIBE Shrine, the legendary Harlem jazz-funk venue, is Krewer's "go-to for special events." THE GOAT "When working in the studio there are always some points of reference that subconsciously influence my work—maybe it is Titian or Munch."

THE BADDEST BOY

►JORDAN WOLFSON

AGE 45 BASED IN Los Angeles/upstate New York GALLERY REPS David Zwirner and Larry Gagosian and Sadie Coles— he shows with them all. ELEVATOR PITCH The most ambitious artist of his generation making provocative, awe-inspiring, interactive, unforgettable art experiences, sculptures, unclassifiable objects BIG BREAK "John Armleder seeing my work at Rivington Arms's booth at Art Basel Miami in 2003." STUDIO SETUP Glendale, California, next to a creature-effects lab where he once made his animatronic sculptures STICKER SHOCK The Tate purchased Colored Sculpture (2016) reportedly for $ 3 millionin 2018. FANCY-PANTS COLLECTORS Peter Brant, Laurent Asscher, the National Gallery of Australia AFTER-HOURS VIBE Osteria Mozza, the classic Nancy Silverton joint in Hollywood AM I ON TIKTOK? "A little bit." THE GOAT "Ingmar Bergman." MAYBE...OVERRATED? "I don't like to talk down on other artists."

THE SPARK PLUG

► HAROLD ANCART

AGE 45 BASED IN Brooklyn GALLERY REP Gagosian ELEVATOR PITCH An heir to both the American ab-ex masters and the Fauvists who's a fast-talking bottle of endless energy—and he's Belgian! KNOWN ASSOCIATES David Breslin, Ignacio Mattos, SCAD director Daniel S. Palmer BIG BREAK While Ancart was working for Richard Serra, his pal Olivier Babin quit his studio practice to open the now closed but legendary gallery Clearing—with a show of Ancart'swork. STUDIO SETUP A warehouse in Bushwick STICKER SHOCK Just over $ 1 million for a work sold at Sotheby's in 2021 FANCY-PANTS COLLECTORS Bernard Arnault, Adrian Cheng, John Marquez, Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo

THE EYE

►TYLER MITCHELL

AGE 30 BASED IN Manhattan GALLERY REP Gagosian ELEVATOR PITCH An astonishingly young talent, perhaps the most lauded photographer of his generation, with a keen eye for Black intimacy and dynamic framing KNOWN ASSOCIATES Gagosian's Antwaun Sargent, Jeremy O. Harris, Grace Wales Bonner BIG BREAK "I've been lucky to have several paradigm-shifting moments so far. Of course, my Beyonc6 cover for Vogue in September 2018 was pivotal." FANCY-PANTS COLLECTORS Sir Elton John. You don't need anyone else! UNIFORM Bode, Wales Bonner AM I ON TIKTOK? "Nope. Had to get off. Brain cells were deteriorating." THE GOAT "Two artists who mean a lot to me personally right now are ^douard Manet and Alice Neel. And then, of course, there's James Van Der Zee, Wolfgang Tillmans, Carrie Mae Weems, Steve McQueen, David Hammons.... See! It's impossible to pick just one!" MAYBE... OVERRATED? "Helmut Newton. I respect the contribution, but it's never been for me." GO-TO RESTO "ThaiDiner. Easy,flavorful, great location, and the staff treat me like family. "

THE SOOTHSAYER

► MICHAEL ARMITAGE

AGE 41 BASED IN London/Nairobi GALLERY REPS David Zwirner, White Cube ELEVATOR PITCH Pushing painting forward while putting down roots in East African traditions BIG BREAK A monster year in 2019—he showed at the Venice Biennale, had eight works installed at MoMA, and in November, a work estimated to sell at a high of $70,000 instead went to $1.52 million, STUDIO SETUP A Nairobi space near the Karura Forest north of the city; a primary studio in East London STICKER SHOCK Forget about the $1.52 million sale—in May his painting Mpeketoni sold for $2.37 million, FANCY-PANTS COLLECTORS Pinault, George Economou, Harry David

THE BELLEkPOQUE VIA BROOKLYN

► SALMAN TOOR

AGE 42 BASED IN New York GALLERY REP Luhring Augustine ELEVATOR PITCH A neo-Toulouse Lautrec who makes absinthe-green paintings depicting queer couples in the Edenic bars of deep Bushwick KNOWN ASSOCIATES pop star Ali Sethi, painter Doron Langberg, designer Somnath Bhatt BIG BREAK In 2018, Whitney curators Ambika Trasi and Christopher Lew offered Toor what he thought was a show in the lobby. Wrong. It was 15 works in a dedicated space, STUDIO SETUP A loft in Brooklyn STICKER SHOCK $1.5 million for Four Friends at Sotheby's in November 2022 FANCY-PANTS COLLECTORS Pinault, former Phaidon CEO Keith Fox, Beth Rudin De Woody

THE DISCOVERY

► YU NISHIMURA

AGE 43 BASED IN Japan GALLERY REPS David Zwirner, Sadie Coles ELEVATOR PITCH A painter of figures in the middle of surreal dreams, updating the traditional Japanese method of nihonga KNOWN ASSOCIATES Dealer Coles, dealer Marlene Zwirner, wife Ulala Imai (see below) BIG BREAK Last year Coles decided to give over space at Berkeley Square to Nishimura's first show at the gallery. It quickly became one of the most talked-about shows in London during Frieze, STUDIO SETUP A complex in Yamato, where Imai also works STICKER SHOCK Across the Place (2023) sold for $406,400 at Sotheby's in May. FANCY-PANTS COLLECTORS Rachofsky, manufacturing titan Hiroshi Taguchi, Don and Mera Rubell

THE TOY WONDER

►ULALA IMAI

AGE 43 BASED IN Japan GALLERY REPS Karma, Xavier Hufkens ELEVATOR PITCH Elevated depictions of the toys her kids play with—Chewbacca, Charlie Brown— and other quotidian objects around the house KNOWN ASSOCIATES Rodney Nonaka-Hill, Hufkens, husband Yu Nishimura (see above) BIG BREAK "Since the COVID-19 pandemic, I've started to focus more on the small, precious moments of everyday life. That shift led me to actively draw familiar, everyday subjects." STUDIO SETUP Same place as Nishimura, separate space STICKER SHOCK $164,413 for Weary Traveler, a painting that sold at Christie's Shanghai in 2023 FANCY-PANTS COLLECTORS Chinese collector He Jianfeng, Chicago collectors Nancy Lerner and David Frej THE GOAT 'Tdouard Manet. The Beatles." ICE VIBES "In summer, I like going to Enoshima for natural shaved ice. The ice is from Nikko and melts beautifully in your mouth." AM I ON TIKTOK? "No."

THE MOVIEGOER

►JOSEPH YAEGER

AGE 39 BASED IN London, but born in Montana GALLERY REPS Gladstone, Stuart Shave ELEVATOR PITCH A startling talent who paints gut-wrenching cinematic "events" in built-up layers of watercolors on gessoed canvas KNOWN ASSOCIATES Shave BIG BREAK After working at the London cheese shop La Fromagerie for six years, he graduated from the Royal College of Art in London in 2019, and by 2020 he was working with Project Native Informant, STICKER SHOCK His painting Sphinx Without a Secret sold at Phillips in London in 2024 for $265,000. FANCY-PANTS COLLECTORS Alexander V. Petalas, the founder of The Perimeter, an art space in London's Bloomsbury AFTER-HOURS VIBE St. John

THE INTIMACY COORDINATOR

► LOUIS FRATINO

AGE 32 BASED IN New York GALLERY REP Sikkema Malloy Jenkins ELEVATOR PITCH Knockout depictions of queer intimacy, fleshy bodies saturated with lush color KNOWN ASSOCIATES Galerie Neu founders Alexander Schroder and Thilo Wermke, painter Alessandro Teoldi BIG BREAK After showing at smaller galleries in New York, Sikkema Malloy Jenkins gave Fratino his first solo show in Chelsea in 2019, and it opened to raves, STICKER SHOCKAn Argument sold in 2022 for $730,800—and then earlier this year another painting, You and Your Things, sold for $756,000. FANCY-PANTS COLLECTORS Columbus, Ohio, collector Pete Scantland; dentist to the art stars Avo Samuelian

THE SELF-PORTRAITIST

►SASHA GORDON

AGE 27 BASED IN Brooklyn GALLERY REPS David Zwirner, Matthew Brown ELEVATOR PITCH Luminous enormous self-portraits that push the limits of surreality BIG BREAK Galleries typically find talent after they graduate from hotshot art schools. A phenom, Gordon landed in a group show at Brown's Los Angeles gallery a full year before graduating from RISD. STUDIO SETUP A big loft in Bushwick STICKER SHOCK Somebody bid $214,200 at Christie's in 2024 for a painting called Gone Fishing—the painting that was in Brown's group show five years earlier, FANCY-PANTS COLLECTORS Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, philanthropists Pamela and David Hornik

THE RINGLEADER

► LUCY BULL

AGE 35 BASED IN The bicoastal ideal: east side of Los Angeles, East Village of Manhattan GALLERY REP David Kordansky ELEVATOR PITCH Giant wonders of paintings that swell up with spore-like plumes, a heady psychedelic mix of surrealism and HelenFrankenthaler KNOWN ASSOCIATES The Ion Pack, rockers Chanel Beads, artist Eliz ah eth Englander BIG B RE A K In 2 019 she had shows at hot tastemakers on two continents—High Art in Paris, Smart Objects in Los Angeles—while also managing to curate a number of shows at the pintsize venue called From the Desk of Lucy Bull. The venue was literally the surface in her studio she used as her desk, STICKER SHOCK The painting 18:50 sold for $2.38 million—by the end of last year, she had surpassed $ 10 million in sales at auction. FANCY-PANTS COLLECTORS Andre Sakhai, Liu Yiqian and Wang Wei A FT E RH o u RS VIBE ElPrado, where one of her early works is permanently installed in the backyard smoking lounge

THE PACE-KEEPER

► REGGIE BURROWS HODGES

AGE 60 GALLERY REP Karma BASED IN Bay Area ELEVATOR PITCH Haunting portraits onraw canvas or linen orwoodwashed first in black paint, infused with a musician's sense of rhythm KNOWN ASSOCIATES Writer Hilton Ais, Dugan BIG BREAK "Painting has always been a very good friend to me— the break was becoming fully devoted to it." FANCY-PANTS COLLECTORS Arnault, Eisenberg AFTER-HOURS VIBE "The one that's open."

THE WAR PAINTER

► MOHAMMED SAMI

AGE 41 BASED IN London GALLERY REPS Luhring Augustine, Modern Art ELEVATOR PITCH Large-scale depictions of war by an Iraqi-born landscape master who watched Americans invade Baghdad in 2003 before fleeing to Sweden-and could win the Turner Prize in December. KNOWN ASSOCIATES Shave BIG BREAK Ralph Rugoff included Sami in "Painting Today," his star-making curatorial banger at the Hayward Gallery in 2021— the following year, Lonti Ebers donated a work to MoMA. STUDIO SETUP East London STICKER SHOCK $952,500 for The Praying Room at Sotheby's in November 2023 FANCY-PANTS COLLECTORS Cheng, Pinault, the British government

THE PORTRAIT PAINTER

►AMOAKO BOAFO

AGE 41 BASED IN Accra, Ghana GALLERY REPS Mariane Ibrahim, Gagosian ELEVATOR PITCH A neo-Schiele who's also painting friends in Vienna—but most of his friends are Ghanaian hipsters from Accra's art and music scene, KNOWN ASSOCIATES Kim Jones, writer Belinda Kazeem-Kaminski, dealer Ibrahim BIG BREAK In 2019 Don and Mera Rub ell gave him a residency at their Miami museum, which is often a springboard to success for young artists. That happened quickly—a work that was purchased in June 2019 for $22,500 sold at Phillips months later for $880,971. STUDIO SETUP A complex in south Accra that encompasses an artist residency and workshops STICKER SHOCK A year after the astounding flip at Phillips, a result at Christie's in Hong Kong made that sum seem paltry: Hands Up from 2018 sold for $3.42 million. FANCY-PANTS COLLECTORS Salam6, Seattle art benefactors Josef Vascovitz and Lisa Goodman, legendary Belgian collector Walter Vanhaerents

THE SYSTEMS ARTIST

► LI HEI DI

AGE 28 BASED IN London GALLERY REP Pace ELEVATOR PITCH Abstractions Tiled with limbs and tree trunks made by the youngest person on Pace's roster BIG BREAK "I feel like my big break is still to come. My work has been spreading in places like mainland China and Hong Kong, Los Angeles, and London, but I haven't shown in New York or across the rest of Europe yet." STICKER SHOCK In March D rifted Petals on Her Lifted Mound sold for $179,500 at Sotheby's Hong Kong, FANCY-PANTS COLLECTORS Shah, Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Rachofsky AFTER-HOURS VIBE "Honestly, I'm really bad at exploring London. I usually just end up going to Bistrotheque in Hackney if I want something a bit fancy." AM I ON TIKTOK? "I'm not on the Western TikTok—I used to be addicted to Douyin, the OG Chinese version of TikTok." THE GOAT "If we're talking about painting, then Pierre Bonnard is one of my favorites in history. And the artists who probably mean the most to me personally would be Francis Picabia and drawings by Hans Bellmer."

THE HUMANIST

►SANYA KANTAROVSKY

AGE 43 BASED IN New York GALLERY REP Michael Werner ELEVATOR PITCH A prophet of human emotion who works across medium and scale, with works designed to break your heart KNOWN ASSOCIATES His wife, Liz Magic Laser; Nicolas Party BIG BREAK In 2018 the curator Elena Filip ovic gave Kantarovsky a show at the Kunsthalle Basel—complete freedom to do whatever he wanted, STUDIO SETUP Brooklyn STICKER SHOCK His painting No Eyes sold at Phillips in 2021 for more than $500,000. FANCY-PANTS COLLECTORS Rachofsky, Salam6, the IYKYK batshit-awesome collection at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business, arguably the hottest collection of art ever assembled by a B-school.

THE ELDER STATESWOMAN

► AMY SILLMAN

AGE 70 BASED IN New York GALLERY REP Gladstone ELEVATOR PITCH Process-based abstraction awash with a floral palette KNOWN ASSOCIATES Rebecca Morris, R.H. Quaytman, Phong Bui STUDIO SETUP Her longtime studio in Brooklyn and a newer house on the North Fork of Long Island, near where her immersive show is on view at Dia Bridgehampton STICKER SHOCK A painting called Junker 1 sold at Sotheby's New York in 2023 for just under $1 million, FANCY-PANTS COLLECTORS Marieluise Hessel, Charles Saatchi, Andy and Christine Hall SECRET GIFT One of the great artists who can also write her pants off. Faux Pas, her 2020 book of essays, is a staple in the studios of the city's young artists.

THETUNNELER

► LAUREN QUIN

AGE 33 BASED IN Los Angeles GALLERY REP Pace ELEVATOR PITCH A taxonomy of funnels and swooshes across enormous canvases, a Tilt-A-Whirl through an ab-ex meets sci-fi landscape KNOWN ASSOCIATES Dealer Micki Meng, Arne Glimcher BIG BREAK "The pandemic shutdown, inadvertently, was a huge break for me. I made so much progress in my work in that short time. I had nothing to lose." STICKER SHOCK $587,484 for a work on the block at Phillips in London in 2022 FANCY-PANTS COLLECTORS Jill and Peter Kraus, Shah, the Green family in Dallas, the prolific Japanese collector Kankuro Ueshima AM I ON TIKTOK? "I can't use it, it ruins my sleep. I make an exception, I only allow myself to use it in airports, hospitals, and the DMV."

THE STORYTELLER

► MARIA BERRIO

AGE 43 BASED IN New York GALLERY REPS Hauser & Wirth, Victoria Miro ELEVATOR PITCH Pastoral elegies with folkloric luminosity, surrealistic tales of displacement painted by a Colombian based in New York BIG BREAK She won the first Joan Mitchell Fellowship prize in 2021. The following year a solo booth at Frieze LA nearly sold out ahead of the public opening, and in 2024 she joined mega-gallery Hauser & Wirth, STICKER SHOCK $ 1.603 million for her painting He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not at Phillips in New York FANCY-PANTS COLLECTORS Olivia and Tom Walton, the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University

THE SHAPE-SHIFTER

► EMMA MclNTYRE

AGE 35 BASED IN Los Angeles GALLERY REPS David Zwirner, Chateau Shatto ELEVATOR PITCH A cosmic-chance-based abstractionist with a palette of oxidized rust, watery paints, and other magical solutions KNOWN ASSOCIATES Chateau Shatto cofounder Olivia Barrett, collector J. Patrick Collins BIG BREAK Earned a Fulbright to leave her native New Zealand and study at the famed ArtCenter in Pasadena, California, and the year she graduated was featured in a group show at Chateau Shatto, STICKER SHOCK Just over $200,000 for a painting that sold at Christie's in May SECRET LUNCH SPOT Holbox, inside Mercado La Paloma THE GOAT "There is no single answer to this question, but a special mention for Pierre Bonnard." AM I ON TIKTOK? "lam not!"

THE NATURAL

► CY GAVIN

AGE 40 BASED IN Upstate NewYork/Philadelphia GALLERY REP Gagosian ELEVATOR PITCH If you thought landscapes ofwaterfalls and beaver lodges couldn't be sexy in 2025...think again, KNOWN ASSOCIATES Curator David Breslin, Sargent, Ais BIG BREAK "When the librarians at the Donora Public Library asked me to draw the facade of their new library when Iwas 11 years old." STUDIO SETUP A dilapidated barn in northern Dutchess County as well as a makeshift studio space in Philadelphia STICKER SHOCK $91,980 for an artwork at auction in 2021 FANCY-PANTS COLLECTORS Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz, the Rubells, Lumpkin

THE REAUTIFUL MACHINE

► ALVARO BARRINGTON

AGE 42 BASED IN London ELEVATOR PITCH A painter with a protean source of energy, often making different bodies of work—paintings on wood, charcoal and acrylics on Japanese paper, mixed media on burlap paper—with several galleries on different coasts, often at the same time KNOWN ASSOCIATES Thaddaeus Ropac, Coles, Emalin founders Leopold Thun and Angelina Volk, along with several other major dealers BIG BREAK "Auntie Julie seeing me draw and buying me one of those how-to-draw-anything books in '93. STUDIO SETUP A sprawling complex in the Whitechapel neighborhood of East London FANCY-PANTS COLLECTORS Loewe Art Collection, Bob Rennie, Poju and Anita Zabludowicz AFTERHOU RS VIBE "Yuki Bar." AM I ON TIKTOK? "NO." THE GOAT "Tupac."

THE HYPERREAL REAL

► JILL MULLEADY

AGE 45 BASED IN Paris GALLERY REP Gladstone ELEVATOR PITCH Hyperreal paintings of the modern world with a flair of surrealistic touches: a wolf by the river or a dog in the playground, purple-washed cityscapes KNOWN ASSOCIATES Curator Laura McLean-Ferris, dealer Robbie Fitzpatrick, Gavin Brown BIG BREAK "The first time I was able to dedicate myself full-time to painting, without the need to take on other jobs. That's when painting became the lens through which I would see life, shaping not just the work, but the way I perceive the world itself." STUDIO SETUP A Paris abode with very specific provenance: Itwasthe childhood home of the writer and art critic Joris-Karl Huysmans, author of the classic symbolist novel A Rebours, which is believed to have inspired Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, FANCY -PANTS COLLECTORS The Rubells, Salam6, La Consortium in Dijon AFTER-HOURS VIBE "I love a classic Parisian bistro called Chez George on Rue du Mail." AM I ON TIKTOK? "I am not on TikTok." THE GOAT "Currently, the artists who mean the most to me are Goya, Munch, and Lautreamont. Their work gets to the heart of what it means to be human—the cruelty and the beauty all together, the absurdity that exists in that contradiction."

THE INVISIBLE MAN

► JUSTIN CAGUIAT

AGE 36 BASED IN All we have to go on is

"USA." GALLERY REPS Greene Naftali, Modern Art ELEVATOR PITCH A grand swirl of Les Nabis and manga and psychedelia by a mysterious artist who is said to carry the unstretched canvases rolled up in taxicabs BIG BREAK In 2017 he published a book of poems with the outfit Codette and had a performance at the Kunsthalle Zurich. But he was mostly a cipher: Said the writer Thomas Killian Roach, "Even as a close friend, I know little about the particulars...where he was at what time, for how long, with whom, doing what." In 2018 he got a show at the tastemaking space 15 Orient, STUDIO SETUP He once had a studio apartment in New York's Chinatown. It's not really clear where the guy is. STICKER SHOCK $1.09 million for The Saint Is Never Busy, a painting from 2019 that sold at Sotheby's in New York in 2024. FANCY-PANTS COLLECTORS The Blenheim Art Foundation, Cindy and Howard Rachofsky THE ARTIST IS NOT PRESENT There appear to be no pictures of Caguiat on the internet. A feat!

THE DEADPAN SOLDIER

► CALVIN MARCUS

AGE 37 BASED IN Los Angeles GALLERY REP Karma ELEVATOR PITCH An oeuvre of distinct, unforgettable series: garish paintings of dead soldiers, linen shirts with screen-printed drawings of martini glasses, enormous paintings of sturgeon, lush fields of grass, absurdist fighter jets KNOWN ASSOCIATES Fellow Angeleno artists such as Jonas Wood, Tristan Unrau, Adam Alessi, Laura Owens, Thomas McDonell, Phil Davis, BIG BREAK At age 26 he got his first New York solo show at Clearing, the taste -making gallery in Bushwick, and turned up with a show called "Green Calvin": 10 monochrome lime-colored canvases, each with a ceramic chicken carcass installed as a relief in the middle. It sold out. STUDIO SETUP A former synagogue turned Baptist church in West Adams, Los Angeles, that he rebuilt and renovated over the course of years AFTER-HOURS VIBE "My favorite restaurant in Los Angeles is Sushi Gen in Little Tokyo. Having a martini at Musso and Frank is always fun. Also my friend Nick Fisher's bar El Prado is a good hang. " AM I ON TIKTOK? "I am not on TikTok.... Should I be?" THE GOAT "It changes for me. Maybe Warhol. I loved him when I was 16, I love him now. When you stand in front of a good Warhol painting, and most of them are good, you understand he's the best."