In an era dominated by digital media and conceptual art, painting continues to evolve and thrive as a vital medium of expression. A new generation of artists is bringing fresh perspectives, innovative techniques, and diverse voices to contemporary painting. These emerging talents are expanding our understanding of what painting can be while honoring the rich traditions of the medium.
In this article, we spotlight ten remarkable painters who are making waves in galleries, museums, and art fairs around the world. Each of these artists brings something unique to the canvas, whether through their technical approach, conceptual framework, or cultural commentary.
1. Maya Rivera
Maya Rivera, "Fragments of Memory," 2023, Oil on canvas, 180 x 200 cm
Based in Mexico City, Maya Rivera (b. 1989) creates large-scale canvases that blend magical realism with social commentary. Her work draws on Mexican folklore and personal history to explore themes of identity, migration, and belonging. Rivera's distinctive palette—vibrant teals, magentas, and golds—gives her paintings a dreamlike quality while her technical precision grounds them in reality.
What sets Rivera apart is her ability to weave contemporary concerns into timeless narratives. In her recent series "Borderlands," she uses traditional oil painting techniques to document the experiences of migrants, creating poignant scenes that feel both current and mythological. Her work has been exhibited at the Museo Tamayo and she was recently awarded the prestigious Fundación Jumex Arte Contemporáneo grant.
"I'm interested in the spaces between—between countries, between realities, between the seen and unseen. Painting allows me to create bridges across these divides."
— Maya Rivera
2. Kwame Osei
Ghanaian-British painter Kwame Osei (b. 1991) has quickly gained international recognition for his distinctive portraits that combine West African textile patterns with hyperrealistic figurative painting. Working primarily in acrylics, Osei creates multi-layered works that invite viewers to reconsider notions of Black identity, cultural heritage, and contemporary urban life.
Osei's technique involves building up intricate backgrounds inspired by kente cloth and adinkra symbols, then overlaying them with meticulously rendered portraits of friends, family members, and public figures. The resulting works create a visual tension between flat, geometric pattern and three-dimensional human form that mirrors the cultural negotiations his subjects navigate.
Since graduating from the Royal College of Art in 2018, Osei has exhibited at the Tate Modern, the Lagos Photo Festival, and Art Basel. His painting "Mother's Cloth" was recently acquired by the British Museum for its permanent collection.
3. Jin-Ah Park
Jin-Ah Park, "Digital Erosion #7," 2023, Mixed media on canvas, 120 x 150 cm
Seoul-based Jin-Ah Park (b. 1987) creates hybrid works that challenge the boundaries between digital and analog processes. Her paintings begin as digital compositions that she then meticulously translates onto canvas using traditional oil painting techniques combined with unconventional materials like silicon, resin, and metallic pigments.
Park's work explores how digital technology is reshaping our perception and experience of reality. Her series "Digital Erosion" examines the way screen-based imagery deteriorates and transforms when translated into physical objects. The resulting paintings appear to glitch and pixelate before your eyes, creating an uncanny sensation of technological breakdown.
Park studied at the Seoul National University and later at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her work has been featured in exhibitions at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Korea, the Today Art Museum in Beijing, and the Venice Biennale.
4. Alejandro Mendez
Venezuelan painter Alejandro Mendez (b. 1993) creates powerful abstract works that respond to the socio-political crises of his homeland. Working with a limited palette of earth tones punctuated by vivid reds and blues, Mendez builds densely layered compositions that suggest landscapes in states of collapse and renewal.
What distinguishes Mendez's approach is his innovative use of materials. He incorporates soil, ash, newspaper clippings, and found objects from the streets of Caracas into his paintings, creating textural works that physically embody the realities they address. Despite their political underpinnings, his paintings resist didacticism, instead offering poetic reflections on resilience and transformation.
After studying at the Instituto Universitario de Estudios Superiores de Artes Plásticas Armando Reverón, Mendez relocated to Berlin where he continues to work. He has exhibited at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas, Kunsthalle Wien, and was included in the 2022 São Paulo Biennial.
5. Sasha Lin
Sasha Lin, "Quantum Entanglement," 2024, Oil and enamel on canvas, 160 x 180 cm
Toronto-based Sasha Lin (b. 1990) creates mesmerizing abstract paintings inspired by quantum physics and cosmology. Her large-scale works feature swirling nebulae of color that seem to expand and contract as viewers move around them, creating a sense of infinite depth and cosmic scale.
Lin's process involves pouring, scraping, and manipulating oil paint mixed with resins and metallic powders to create dynamic surfaces that shimmer and shift in different lighting conditions. Her technique allows for a balance of control and chance that mimics the fundamental uncertainty at the heart of quantum mechanics.
"I'm trying to visualize the invisible forces that structure our universe. Painting allows me to make tangible what exists only in mathematical equations and theoretical models."
— Sasha Lin
A graduate of Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Lin has gained recognition through exhibitions at the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto, and the Seattle Art Museum. She was recently awarded the Hnatyshyn Foundation Visual Arts Award.
6. Ibrahim Hassan
Palestinian-American artist Ibrahim Hassan (b. 1985) has developed a distinctive approach to figurative painting that fuses classical techniques with surrealist elements. His haunting portraits and group scenes explore displacement, memory, and cultural identity through a personal lens that resonates with universal themes.
Hassan's paintings often feature figures that appear to be dissolving or fragmenting, their forms bleeding into atmospheric backgrounds of muted blues and sepias. This visual dissolution serves as a metaphor for the experience of diaspora and the fluid nature of identity for those caught between cultures.
After studying at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Hassan completed an MFA at Yale University. His work has been exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, and the Sharjah Biennial. In 2023, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.
7. Clara Nascimento
Clara Nascimento, "Amazonian Palimpsest," 2023, Natural pigments and acrylic on canvas, 200 x 250 cm
Brazilian painter Clara Nascimento (b. 1988) creates immersive abstract canvases using natural pigments derived from plants, minerals, and soils from the Amazon rainforest. Her work explores the intersection of environmental concerns, indigenous knowledge systems, and abstract expressionism.
What makes Nascimento's practice unique is her commitment to sustainable art-making. She harvests her materials using traditional methods learned from indigenous communities, creating her own pigments through processes that honor both the material's origin and its cultural significance. The resulting paintings feature rich, earthy hues that cannot be replicated with commercial paints.
Nascimento studied at the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro and later at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam. Her work has been exhibited at the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain in Paris, and documenta fifteen in Kassel.
8. Theo Williams
London-based Theo Williams (b. 1992) brings a fresh perspective to landscape painting through works that examine the British countryside as a contested political space. His panoramic canvases depict seemingly idyllic rural scenes that, upon closer inspection, reveal traces of environmental degradation, surveillance infrastructure, and the legacies of colonialism.
Williams' technical approach combines photorealistic rendering with areas of looser, more expressive brushwork. This shifting technique creates a visual metaphor for the way landscapes are simultaneously natural environments and cultural constructs shaped by human intervention and perception.
After graduating from the Slade School of Fine Art, Williams completed a residency at Gasworks London. His work has been shown at the Whitechapel Gallery, the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, and the Liverpool Biennial. In 2022, he was shortlisted for the John Moores Painting Prize.
9. Mei Zhang
Mei Zhang, "Virtual Intimacy #3," 2024, Oil on linen, 120 x 140 cm
New York-based Chinese artist Mei Zhang (b. 1991) creates uncanny figurative paintings that explore human relationships in the digital age. Her portraits and group scenes depict people illuminated by the blue light of screens, their features rendered with unsettling precision while their surroundings dissolve into abstraction.
Zhang's work is distinctive for its psychological intensity and technical virtuosity. She manipulates oil paint to achieve an almost photographic quality in her figures while maintaining a painterly expressiveness in her compositions. This duality reflects her thematic focus on the tension between digital representation and embodied experience.
"I'm fascinated by how technology mediates our most intimate connections. My paintings explore that strange space where physical and virtual realities overlap and blur."
— Mei Zhang
Zhang received her MFA from Columbia University and has exhibited at the Queens Museum, the Asia Society, and the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing. She was recently awarded the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant.
10. David Oladimeji
Nigerian painter David Oladimeji (b. 1994) creates vibrant, narrative-driven canvases that blend African futurism with traditional Yoruba aesthetics. His large-scale works envision alternative futures for African societies that draw on both ancestral wisdom and speculative technology.
Oladimeji's compositions feature dynamic figures engaged in everyday activities within fantastical settings: markets floating among the clouds, underwater cities, and villages integrated with advanced biotechnology. His distinctive style combines flat, pattern-based areas with volumetric rendering and dramatic perspective shifts that create a sense of magical hyperreality.
After studying at the Yaba College of Technology in Lagos, Oladimeji completed a residency at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam. His work has been featured in exhibitions at the Centre Pompidou, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town.
Looking Ahead
These ten artists represent just a small selection of the exciting voices reshaping contemporary painting. What unites them, despite their diverse approaches and backgrounds, is a commitment to expanding the possibilities of paint while engaging meaningfully with the complexities of our time.
As the art world continues to evolve, these painters remind us that traditional mediums remain potent vehicles for innovation and expression. Their work demonstrates that painting is not merely surviving in the digital age—it is thriving, adapting, and continuing to offer unique perspectives on what it means to be human in a rapidly changing world.
We look forward to following these artists' careers and discovering more emerging talents who will continue to push the boundaries of contemporary painting in the years to come.
