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How 21st century artists dress. Paintings by famous and emerging contemporary artists
Art is constantly evolving, like the whole world around us. Modern artists of the 21st century and their paintings are not at all similar to those that existed in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. New names, materials, genres, and ways of expressing talents appear. In this rating we will meet ten innovative artists of our time.
Pedro Campos
10. Pedro Campos. In tenth place is a Spaniard, whose brush can easily compete with a camera, he paints such realistic canvases. For the most part, he creates still lifes, but it is not so much the themes of his paintings that inspire amazing admiration, but the masterful execution. Textures, highlights, depth, perspective, volume - Pedro Campos subordinated all this to his brush, so that reality, and not fiction, looked at the viewer from the canvas. Without embellishment, without romanticism, only reality, this is precisely the meaning of the photorealism genre. By the way, the artist acquired his attention to detail and scrupulousness while working as a restorer.
Richard Estes 9. Richard Estes. Another fan of the photorealism genre, Richard Estes, started with ordinary painting, but later went into painting city landscapes. Today's artists and their creations do not need to adapt to anyone, and this is wonderful, everyone can express themselves the way they want in what they want. As in the case of Pedro Campos, the work of this master can easily be confused with photographs, the city from them is so similar to the real one. You rarely see people in Estes’s paintings, but there are almost always reflections, highlights, parallel lines and perfect, ideal composition. Thus, he does not just sketch the city landscape, but finds perfection in it and tries to show it.
Kevin Sloan 8. Kevin Sloan. There are an incredible number of contemporary artists of the 21st century and their paintings, but not every one of them is worth attention. American Kevin Sloan stands, because his works seem to transport the viewer to another dimension, a world full of allegories, hidden meanings, and metaphorical riddles. The artist likes to paint animals, because, in his opinion, this way he gets more freedom than with people to convey the story. Sloan has been creating her “reality with a catch” in oils for almost 40 years. Very often a clock appears on canvases: either an elephant or an octopus is looking at it; this image can be interpreted as time passing or as the limitations of life. Each of Sloan’s paintings amazes the imagination; you want to figure out what the author wanted to convey to her. 
Laurent Parselier
7. Laurent Parselier. This painter is one of those contemporary artists of the 21st century whose paintings received recognition early, even during their studies. Laurent's talent manifested itself in published albums under the general title “ Strange world" He paints in oils, his style is light and tends toward realism. Characteristic feature The artist's works are characterized by an abundance of light, which seems to be pouring from the canvases. As a rule, he depicts landscapes and some recognizable places. All works are unusually light and airy, filled with sun, freshness, and breath.
Jeremy Mann 6. Jeremy Mann. The San Francisco native loved his city and most often depicted it in his paintings. Modern artists of the 21st century can find inspiration for their paintings anywhere: in the rain, wet sidewalks, neon signs, city lamps. Jeremy Mann imbues simple landscapes with mood, history, and experiments with techniques and color choices. The main material of Manna is oil.
Hans Rudolf Giger 5. Hans Rudolf Giger. In fifth place is the inimitable, unique Hans Giger, the creator of Alien from the film of the same name. Today's artists and their works are diverse, but each is brilliant in its own way. This gloomy Swiss does not paint nature and animals; he prefers “biomechanical” painting, in which he excels. Some compare the artist to Bosch in the gloom and fantasy of his paintings. Although Giger’s paintings emanate something otherworldly and dangerous, you can’t deny his technique and skill: he is attentive to details, competently selects shades, thinks through everything to the smallest detail.
Will Barnett 4. Will Barnett. This artist has his own unique author’s style, which is why his works are readily accepted by the great museums of the world: the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, the British Museum, the Ashmolean Museum, and the Vatican Museum. Contemporary artists of the 21st century and their works, in order to be recognized, must somehow stand out from the rest of the masses. And Will Barnett can do it. His works are graphic and contrasting; he often depicts cats, birds, and women. At first glance, Barnett's paintings are simple, but upon further examination you realize that their genius lies in this simplicity.
Neil Simon 3. Neil Simon. This is one of contemporary artists 21st century, whose works are not as simple as they seem at first glance. It’s as if the boundaries between Neil Simon’s subjects and works are blurred; they flow from one to another, dragging the viewer along with them, drawing them into the illusory world of the artist. Simon's creations are characterized by bright, rich colors, which gives them energy and strength and evokes an emotional response. The master loves to play with perspective, the size of objects, with unusual combinations and unexpected shapes. There is a lot of geometry in the artist’s works, which is combined with natural landscapes, as if bursting inside, but not destroying, but harmoniously complementing. 
2. Igor Morski. Today's 21st century artist and his paintings are often compared to the great genius Salvador Dali. The works of the Polish master are unpredictable, mysterious, exciting, evoke a strong emotional response, and are sometimes crazy. Like any other surrealist, he does not strive to show reality as it is, but shows facets that we will never see in life. More often, main character Morski's work is a man with all his fears, passions, and shortcomings. Also, metaphors in the works of this surrealist often concern power. Of course, this is not an artist whose work you would hang above your bed, but one whose exhibition is definitely worth going to.
Yayoi Kusama 1. Yayoi Kusama. So, in first place in our ranking is a Japanese artist who has achieved incredible success all over the world, despite the fact that she has some mental illness. The artist’s main feature is polka dots. She covers in circles various forms and the sizes of everything that he sees, calling it all networks of infinity. Kusama’s interactive exhibitions and installations are a success, because everyone sometimes wants (even if he doesn’t admit it) to be inside the psychedelic world of hallucinations, childish spontaneity, fantasies and colorful circles. Among contemporary artists of the 21st century and their paintings, Yayoi Kusama is the best-selling.
Painting is one of the most developing arts today. The world around us is in constant development, it is constantly changing, and, therefore, artists of different times see it differently. This contributes to the fact that new directions in painting are constantly emerging and new schools are emerging.
The main popular trends in painting of the 21st century
Perhaps the most popular areas of painting of the 21st century can be considered:
- Street art;
- Fantasy;
- Photorealism.
Street art can be conditionally classified as one of the areas of graffiti. This type modern painting allows the artist to fully realize himself. The paintings are created on various street objects and dilute the grayness of the world around us. The main task of an artist working in the street art style is to create a picture that will attract people's views and lift their spirits. Recently, the popularity of street installations has been growing, with the help of which artists create original illusions on city streets.
Fantasy is a new direction in fine arts. It developed in parallel with the creation literary works in the style of fantasy and based on the image of mythical and fairy-tale creatures. This direction was finally formed only at the beginning of the 21st century. Fantasy differs from fantastic realism in that in the paintings the fairy-tale creatures look quite real, and the imaginary world is as close as possible to the surrounding world. The most famous artists, working in this direction are considered:
- Boris Vallejo;
- Frank Frazetta;
- Julia Bell;
Photorealism is a style of painting that emerged in the second half of the last century. Today it is extremely popular and many people prefer to work in this area. modern masters. This artistic movement is based on photographic images of the world around us. The goal of artists working in this direction is to show reality and reflect modern realities. Very often photographs are used as a basis for creating paintings. As a rule, works are created on large canvases, so this direction of painting is also called hyperrealism or superrealism.
Being an artist in the 21st century is quite difficult. On the one hand, you can rely on a foundation made up of the knowledge and experience of the masters of the past, combine seemingly contradictory styles and, as a result, get something new and completely unusual - something that can attract the attention of the public. On the other hand, there is the modern public, spoiled by an abundance of choice, fed up and capricious. And then there is a third side: the digital world - neural networks that recognize images and paint new pictures of the 21st century; graphic editors, with the help of which you can change any image beyond recognition or create your own without being a certified artist; 3D printers and much more, which today creates both reality itself and its artistic reflection.
Making a name for yourself in such a stormy sea of modern painting is, in general, quite simple; it’s more difficult to stay afloat and not get lost among hundreds of other names. To do this, a modern artist needs not only to be a talented painter who knows how to beautifully display the surrounding reality with paints on canvas, but also to be someone who is able to create his own reality - interesting to others. This section of the art portal "Arthive", which unites people of art, contains paintings by both famous and emerging contemporary artists. Some of them have already managed to find those colors and forms from which the reality living inside them appears on the canvases, others are still just looking for their path, and not without success.
Famous artists of the 21st century
The theory of perspective, which appeared in the 14th century, brought fundamental changes to the art of painting. Just imagine: parishioners of an ordinary rural church, who had been looking at flat frescoes for years, suddenly saw on an ordinary wall another world - three-dimensional and very real. Approximately the same feeling of delight, and in some places even superstitious awe, was evoked in their time by the works of Hans Rudolf Giger, who today is called the founder of biomechanical painting. Among the paintings of contemporary artists, Giger's dark and alien paintings occupy a special niche of works of art: not knowing about them is considered a sign of bad taste and narrow-mindedness. Giger is not only the monsters from the Alien film saga, it is also the bizarre landscapes of strange planets, strange but not devoid of grace sculptures, costumes, models and much more.What distinguishes Howard Behrens from Giger is not only the palette of colors, but also the themes of his works. His world is bright shades, a lot of sunlight, air, greenery and flowers. The paintings of a contemporary artist from the USA have a calming effect and improve your mood. It is noteworthy that Howard creates his canvases using a knife - this particular one cutlery replaces the artist's brush. For some similarity of style with the manner of one famous French impressionist, Behrens is called the “Monet of the 21st century.”
Faktrum publishes for you a selection of the best watercolors created by contemporary artists.
1. Steve Hanks' Emotional Realism
The artist's favorite themes are women, which reflect intensity and innocence.Children playing on a pond with water.
2. Rainy watercolor by Lin Ching CheThe amazing beauty of a rainy summer night.
Street scene of city life in rainy weather.3. Watercolors by Arush Votsmush
The plot of the film is filled with subtle irony and play.The picture is woven from childhood dreams.
4. The charm of Paris in the works of Thierry DuvalThe city is immersed in the rays of the rising sun.
Autumn bliss.5. Evening Calm by Joseph Zbukvic
Preparations for the sailing festival.Morning gondola ride in Venice.
6. Modern secrets of the east through the eyes of Myo Vin Ong
A lonely traveler walking on a sunny day in autumn Burma. Free time for young Buddhist monks. 
