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Njideka Akunyili Crosby Photo sourced from

35 Talented Modern Painters Everyone Should Know About 

Art has over the years developed to become one of the best ways people express themselves. The way people view and understand art has changed significantly, particularly in modern painting. Beginning in the late 19th century, the modern age of painting has subsequently given rise to numerous trends and styles, such as cubism, abstract expressionism, and pop art.

This kind of art has been influenced by numerous artists, who created works of art that still inspire and have an impact on artists today. Everyone should be aware of a few contemporary painters in this context. Each artist sets themselves apart from their contemporaries with a certain approach and style. Let’s take a look at some of the most talented modern painters everyone should know about;

1. Adrian Ghenie

Portrait of Adrian Ghenie by Oliver Mark, Berlin 2014, Collection of the Bucovina Museum Photo sourced from

Adrian Ghenie born in 1977 is a Romanian artist whose paintings weave together personal and collective fears, traumas, and memories, addressing the horrors of 20th-century European history. Several of Ghenie’s works investigate how historical occurrences continue to influence our collective memory and perception of the world.

The paintings of Ghenie are distinguished by a strong and dynamic style that frequently combines figuration, abstraction, and surrealism. To produce powerful and emotionally charged works, he typically employs broad, expressive brushstrokes and rich, almost garish color palettes

2. Evan Gruzis 

Evan Gruzis born in 1979 is an American painter who is renowned for his distinctive style of painting that combines parts of classic painting techniques with modern technology and cultural references. The Brooklyn-based artist was featured in Artsy鈥檚 鈥淭op ten artists working in monochrome鈥� for Dazed.

With a variety of subdued and metallic colors, Gruzis’ paintings frequently combine organic and artificial forms, such as flowers and geometric shapes. His use of unusual materials, like vinyl and metal leaf, gives his artwork texture and depth.

3. Akunyili Crosby 

Njideka Akunyili Crosby Photo sourced from

Njideka Akunyili Crosby is a Nigerian-born artist, residing in Los Angeles, who is most known for her enormous mixed-media works that explore ideas of identity, culture, and belonging. Her work frequently combines references from her own life and experiences with historical and personal references, as well as aspects of Nigerian and American culture.

She is renowned for using vivid colors and strong patterns as well as for expertly fusing several artistic mediums. One of the most popular artists today, in 2021, her pieces went from selling for around $100.000 to selling for more than $3 million. The paintings live and breathe an identity from Nigeria, and reference Nigeria鈥檚 history and postcolonial present.

Read more about her here

4. Mark Bradford 

Mark Bradford born in 1961 is an American contemporary artist who is renowned for his enormous abstract paintings that use a variety of mediums and methods. To create intricate and textured surfaces, Bradford frequently uses found materials in his artwork, such as billboard paper, newsprint, and other paper scraps, which he layers and collages.

His paintings seek out uncomfortable and confronting topics in society. Bradford created one of the most talked about displays outside the US pavilion at the Venice Biennale this year referencing the Virginia plantation owned by Thomas Jefferson and inspired by topics such as the rise of Trump, police violence, and Black Lives Matter.

5. Max Brand 

Frederick Schiller Faust, famously known as Max Brand who was born in 1892 and died in 1944, was a prolific writer of Westerns and other popular genres in the early 20th century. He painted in a range of media, including oil, watercolor, and pencil, and he specialized in landscapes and portraits.

He is known to use a wide range of media including collage, marker and spray paint, sidewalk chalk, and incorporating far-reaching references, from German Expressionism to Japanese anime, and other countless genres.

6. G眉nther F枚rg

G眉nther F枚rg born in 1952 and died in 2013 is a German artist who is well known for his paintings and sculptures. He commonly employed spray paint and other methods to add layers and textures to his artwork, and he typically used bright, dramatic colors.

G眉nther F枚rg鈥榮 modern art paintings are often concerned with the political climate of his era in Germany and are known for their brightly saturated solid colors. He was considered to be one of the most interesting contemporary artists of his time.

7. Zeng Fanzhi 

Zeng Fanzhi born in 1964 is a modern Chinese painter who is renowned for painting figuratively in an expressive style with brilliant colors and a strong sense of movement. He incorporates elements of conventional Chinese painting with methods and aesthetics from trends in Western art such as expressionism and fauvism.

Zeng Fanzhi achieved recognition in the 鈥�90s for his Hospital and Meat contemporary painting series. In 2013, Fanzhi鈥檚 The Last Supper sold for a record-breaking $23.3 million at Sotheby鈥檚 Hong Kong, making it the highest price for a piece by Asian modern artists at auction.

8. Chris Succo 

Chris Succo born in 1979 is a German-born contemporary artist who is renowned for his paintings’ vivid hues, strong compositions, and vigorous brushstrokes. Using a combination of expressive mark-making and geometric forms and lines, Succo’s paintings frequently examine the limits between abstraction and representation.

Succo draws inspiration from several different aesthetic movements, such as Abstract Expressionism, Minimalism, and Color Field painting. His works are sometimes regarded as a modern interpretation of historical movements, utilizing the lexicon of abstract art to produce fresh, energetic, and provocative forms of expression.

9. Jean-Michel Basquiat

Portrait of Jean-Michel Basquiat Photo by Miguel Rodez

Jean-Michel Basquiat born in 1960 is an American painter who became well-known in the 1980s as a key player in the New York City art scene. His vivid, expressive style and use of social commentary in his work rapidly won him acclaim.

African and African American cultural themes, as well as language and imagery inspired by his own experiences and views of modern life, were frequently incorporated into Basquiat’s works. He regularly employed found objects like garments and trash, as well as mixed media like oil paint and acrylic.

Read more about him in Top 10 Fascinating Facts about Jean-Michel Basquiat

10. Christopher Wool 

Christopher Wool born in 1955 was an American painter Christopher Wool who is renowned for his minimalist and abstract paintings, which frequently include text and striking patterns. His work has been exhibited at numerous institutions around the world, including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.

Wool frequently employed stencils and spray paint to produce his paintings, which were heavily influenced by graffiti and street art in his early works. He started experimenting with various mediums and methods as his skills as an artist developed, such as screenprinting, rubber stamping, and digital manipulation.

11. Matthew Brandt 

Matthew Brandt born in 1982 is a contemporary American artist renowned for his unorthodox style of painting. Brandt produces large-scale photographs through labor-intensive processes recalling the 19th-century origins of photography, often incorporating the physical matter of the subject itself.

In Brandt’s work, unconventional materials and techniques are frequently used, such as the employment of photographic chemicals to produce abstract patterns on canvas or the printing of digital images onto wood and subsequent sanding of the surface to produce textured, three-dimensional effects.

12. Mark Grotjahn 

Mark Grotjahn born in 1968 is an American artist best known for his abstract paintings of faces and geometric depictions. He explores the vanishing point of perspective and works with bright colors. Demand for Grotjahn鈥檚 work has risen steadily in the past years.

Geometric patterns and strong, vivid colors are frequent features of Grotjahn’s paintings. His “butterfly” paintings, which have radiating patterns that resemble butterfly wings, are particularly well recognized. The “post-minimalist” movement, which focused on the use of straightforward, repeating shapes, is frequently linked to his work.

13. Damien Hirst 

Damien Hirst Photo sourced from

Damien Hirst is a British artist who is well-recognized for his provocative and contentious works that frequently push the limits of modern art. He is also most known for sculpture, installation, and conceptual art. Throughout his career, he has also produced a sizable body of paintings.

Bold colors, graphic imagery, and the use of uncommon materials and methods are characteristics of Hirst’s works. He is the UK鈥檚 richest living artist and the most prominent member of the Young British Artists, which dominated the UK contemporary art scene in the 鈥�90s.

14. Albert Oehlen 

Albert Oehlen born in 1954 is a German painter who is renowned for his use of impulse and eclecticism in his work. Oehlen frequently combines a variety of artistic movements and methods in his work, such as abstract expressionism and computer-generated imagery. Oehlen’s use of layering and juxtaposition is one of his defining characteristics.

He frequently blends many approaches, methods, and supplies in a single painting to produce intricate and eye-catching compositions. Bright colors, strong brushstrokes, and expressive lines that suggest movement and energy are frequently used in his artwork.

15. John Currin 

John Currin born in 1962, is a Contemporary American painter who is renowned for his provocative, meticulous, and frequently contentious portraits of women. John Currin is considered among the most influential painters today and combines the techniques of Northern Renaissance painters.

His works frequently depict idealized, exaggerated people with long limbs and torsos, and they occasionally include surrealistic or whimsical details. He reflects a satirical attitude towards his subject matter. The artist produces works steeped in both history and kitsch.

16. Zhang Xiaogang

Zhang Xiaogang (2018) Photo sourced from

Zhang Xiaogang born in 1958 is a contemporary artist whose paintings engage with the notion of identity within the Chinese culture of collectivism. His work centers on the concept of family, taking inspiration from family photos from the Cultural Revolution period.

Portraits of unidentified people, usually with pale cheeks and sad, melancholy eyes, frequently appear in Zhang’s works. The detached way in which these persons are shown captures the loneliness and emotional distance that many Chinese people felt during the Cultural Revolution.

17. Anselm Kiefer 

Anselm Kiefer born in 1945 is a German painter and sculptor who is regarded as one of the 20th and 21st centuries’ most significant and influential modern painters. The scope, intricacy, and study of topics about identity, memory, and history are hallmarks of Kiefer’s work.

The complexity of thought, the intensity of passion, and technical mastery in Kiefer’s work are its defining qualities. He is one of the most significant and influential artists of our time because his paintings and other creations give a nuanced and multi-layered analysis of history, identity, and the human experience.

18. Cui Ruzhuo

Cui Ruzhuo born in 1944 is a Chinese painter who is renowned for his traditional Chinese ink painting style, which blends contemporary techniques and topics. The landscapes, flowers, and animals in Cui Ruzhuo’s paintings frequently reflect traditional Chinese subjects.

To create dynamic compositions that are both beautiful and forceful, he employs aggressive brushstrokes and vibrant colors. His works are particularly renowned for their meticulous composition and minute details, which are characteristics of traditional Chinese ink painting.

19. Mark Bradford 

Mark Bradford portrait Photo sourced from

Mark Bradford is a contemporary American painter who is well-recognized for his expansive abstract works that address issues of identity, memory, and social justice. Bradford frequently layers and collages common objects like billboard paper, posters, and magazines onto canvas to make his works.

The materials are then sliced and torn, exposing the layers of color and texture underneath. The resulting compositions are intricate and visually arresting, enticing the viewer with a sense of depth and motion. The artist also depicts the excavation of emotional and political terrain.

20. Peter Doig 

Peter Doig born in1959 is a contemporary painter who is renowned for his lush, evocative landscapes that frequently exude a feeling of mystery and unease. Doig has won multiple prestigious awards throughout his career and is one of the most famous artists.

Doig typically mixes elements of popular culture and art history into his paintings, which frequently feature images from his travels or his imagination. His use of brilliant colors, loose brushstrokes, and thick layers of paint, which give his works a tactile, nearly three-dimensional appearance, define his unique style.

21. Tauba Auerbach

Tauba Auerbach born in 1981 is a contemporary American artist who is renowned for her work in photography, sculpture, painting, and book design. Drawing inspiration from mathematics and physics, she explores the breakdown of logic through the visual art form.

Bold colors and geometric shapes are two characteristics that frequently define Auerbach’s painting aesthetic. Her paintings frequently use a technique known as “fold paintings,” in which a canvas is folded and painted on both sides, producing a trompe-l’oeil impression that tricks the observer into thinking the painting is three-dimensional and deep.

22. MARS-1

Mario Martinez born in 1971 and famously known as MARS-1 is a contemporary American artist who is renowned for his surreal, hallucinogenic works. The elaborate, minute patterns and textures that makeup MARS-1’s aesthetic provide the impression of depth and complexity.

He frequently uses vivid, colorful colors, with a focus on blues and greens in particular. Paintings by MARS-1 usually feature bizarre, surreal settings, occasionally with extraterrestrial technology or animals. With a fascination for 3D, he produces sculptures and 3D-effect paintings on canvas and linen.

23. Deana Lawson 

Deana Lawson is a contemporary American photographer Deana Lawson is renowned for her startling and close-up images of humans, particularly black bodies, in private and public settings. Rich hues and textures, as well as the way Lawson manipulates light and shadow to give her images a sense of depth and drama, all reveal the artist’s passion for painting.

She challenges stereotypes of blackness in art by frequently presenting black bodies in opulent, sensual surroundings. Lawson’s artwork also incorporates the history of portraiture, particularly the customs of African studio photography and the work of early American photographers like James Van Der Zee, in addition to her use of color and light.

24. Haegue Yang 

Haegue Yang is a contemporary artist who is renowned for her multifaceted oeuvre, which combines installation, sculpture, film, and performance. Although she does occasionally include painting in her works, she is not primarily a painter.

Haegue Yang鈥檚 paintings resulted in immersive installations like 鈥淚n the Cone of Uncertainty,鈥� her late 2019 exhibition at The Bass that combined climate gentrification data and historical texts with new and old kinetic sculptural works, plant-laden chandeliers, and wall graphics to tell a story specific to the museum鈥檚 home in Miami.

25. Martin Wittfooth 

Martin Wittfooth born in 1981 is a Canadian contemporary painter who is known for his hyperrealistic, allegorical paintings which explore themes of ecology, mortality, and spirituality. He typically uses images of animals in decaying environments to make statements about the state of the environment and the effects of human activities on the natural world.

Animals are frequently depicted in Wittfooth’s paintings as allegories for human conduct, drawing on mythological and folkloric motifs. Hauntingly beautiful, his paintings place animals in places where humans usually reside, weaving a narrative that鈥檚 more about us.

26. Adam Neates 

Adam Neate born in 1977 is a British contemporary artist who is known for his distinctive painting and street art techniques. He started in the 1990s as a graffiti artist before switching to painting on canvas. Bold colors, elaborate patterns, and a dynamic, emotional approach to painting are characteristics of Neate’s work.

He frequently uses a variety of methods, such as collage, stenciling, and spray paint, to produce layered, textured pieces that incorporate figurative and abstract aspects. His bold street art is found on the streets and canvas. Adam uses recycled cardboard as his canvas.

27. Sean Scully

Artist Sean Scully, painter, in his studio in Barcelona Photo sourced from

Sean Scully born in 1945 is an Irish-born artist who is renowned for his abstract works that investigate color, form, and texture. Scully’s use of a grid in his paintings is one of his most recognizable traits. This grid is frequently made up of strong, expressive brushstrokes that give the painting a sense of movement and vitality.

Scully’s use of color is especially notable because he frequently sticks to a small range of subdued, earthy tones. Sean Scully is also known for his paintings which are composed of brushy layers and alternating colored squares or stripes. He draws his reference from specific memories of places and objects.

28. Andreas Gurksky 

Andreas Gurksky is a German artist who is renowned for landscape color photos and large-format architecture. He often uses what鈥檚 referred to as a 鈥榟igh point of view鈥� which means he looks down on a lot of his subjects from an elevated perspective.

Gursky was heavily influenced by the conceptual aesthetic philosophy of the Bechers, as well as his fellow students Sigmar Polke and Gerhard Richter. Similar in scope to early 19th-century landscape paintings, Gursky’s photographs capture built and natural environments on a grand scale.

29. Hetain Patel

Hetain Patel born in 1980 is a British artist who is well-known for his work in a variety of media, such as painting, sculpture, video, and performance art. Drawing on his own experiences as an Indian born in Britain, Patel frequently explores problems of identity and cultural hybridity in his paintings.

In his paintings, he employs a variety of mediums and methods, such as acrylic and spray paint, stenciling, and collage. His paintings frequently combine text and imagery, referencing popular culture and combining aspects of both Indian and Western visual cultures.

30. Nupur Kundu 

Nupur Kundu is an Indian abstract painter who is renowned for her distinctive style, which combines traditional and modern elements. Bold, vivid colors and dramatic compositions that frequently feature lines and geometric shapes define Kundu’s paintings.

She draws inspiration from her own experiences and observations of the world around her for her artwork, which covers themes of nature, spirituality, and human emotions. Kundu’s contributions to the abstract art genre have been recognized and honored through her participation in various solo and group exhibits around India.

31. Liu Xiaodong 

Liu Xiaodong Photo sourced from

Liu Xiaodong born in 1963 is a contemporary Chinese painter who is renowned for his passionate and realistic representations of people and their daily lives. Liu Xiaodong frequently depicts common people in commonplace settings, including street scenes, farmers, and workers.

His paintings have a sense of movement and immediacy because he uses a loose, expressive painting technique. His writings frequently address social and political subjects like globalization, migration, and the effects of economic development on rural areas.

Read more about him here

32. Anish Kapoor 

Anish Kapoor born in 1954 is a British-Indian artist and sculptor who is most known for his monumental sculptures and installations, but he has also produced several paintings throughout his career. Kapoor, who was born in 1954 in Mumbai, India, relocated to London in the early 1970s to pursue a career in the arts.

Similar to his sculptures, Kapoor frequently explores color, texture, and shape in his paintings. He often used colors and binders that he invented himself to create the minimalist, monochromatic surfaces that were a hallmark of his early works from the 1980s.

33. Luo Zhongli 

Luo Zhongli born in 1948 is a famous Chinese painter who is best recognized for his accurate and in-depth representations of rural life in China. In Luo’s paintings, common people are frequently shown going about their daily lives doing things like farming, cooking, and playing games.

His attention to detail is especially noticeable in his renderings of clothing and textiles, where he employs a realist manner to express the distinct personalities and feelings of his subjects. His paintings are held in the collections of the National Art Museum of China in Beijing, the Shanghai Museum, and the Singapore Museum.

34. Albert Oehlen 

Albert Oehlen born in 1954 is a contemporary German artist renowned for his original style of painting. The aggressive, experimental style of painting that Oehlen employs in his work subverts conventional ideas of composition and technique.

His paintings frequently incorporate unusual materials like computer-generated imagery, digital prints, and collaged pieces. As a result, the pieces produced are both conceptually challenging and artistically stunning. His interest is the exploration of the medium as a genre his work went from abstraction to realism.

35. Kara Walker

Kara Walker’s interview at the Camden Arts Centre Photo sourced from

Kara Walker born in 1969 is a contemporary American artist who is most recognized for her large-scale silhouettes and other works that examine racial, gendered, sexual, and political themes. Walker frequently uses large-scale paintings with stark, black shapes placed against vivid, multicolored backdrops.

Her subjects are taken from American history, notably the antebellum South, and frequently include black people and the white people who oppressed them. Her art examines issues of racism, slavery, and violence and forces the audience to face up to unsettling facts about American society and history.

Read more about her in 15 Most Famous Black Painters