6 Emerging Figurative Painters You Need To Know

Introduction: Figurative Painters on the Rise

During the second half of the 20th century, it seemed as if figurative painting had been pushed off its plinth. In the 1950s and onwards, abstraction was the pinnacle of Modern Art, and with the arrival of postmodern art movements encompassing new media such as Installation Art, Performance Art, Video Art, and Immersive Art, figurative painting was labeled as obsolete and something from the past. Well, that turned out differently.

In the end, figurative painting never left and has been alive and kicking throughout the 21st century, courtesy of iconic artists such as David Hockney, Gerhard Richter, Luc Tuymans, or Neo Rauch. Today, we encounter numerous exciting new figurative painters. As a result, it’s about time to highlight the stand-out emerging figurative painters today.

We have analyzed the field of figurative painters today and shortlisted six artists, based upon objective art scientific facts, and career trends, in search for an upwards trajectory, monitoring their selling history, and inspecting the quality of their representation. A critical analytical tool is, of course, Artfacts, the home of the artist ranking, but also our knowledge and experience as a gallery and platform for contemporary art, analyzing the relevance and potential longevity of the artists in question.

1. Guillaume Bresson

Born in 1982 in Toulouse, France, currently residing and working in New York, the United States of America, Guillaume Bresson is a contemporary painter who combines Old Master painting techniques with hyperrealism visually and art historical references from the Italian Renaissance and French Classicism with Ultra-contemporary imagery.

In particular, with his more monumental pieces, the stunning tableaus of Bresson resemble the magnificent History Paintings of the past. The French artist aims to portray and depict our society, transfiguring our social world instead of rejecting it. The visual continuum using Clair-Obscure is not only a result of his technique but also an attempt to create a visual correlation with our distressing social reality—most often taking on marginalized people burdened by the weight of their lives.

Guillaume Bresson has been represented by the renowned Galerie Nathalie Obadia since 2010, resulting in a steadily rising career trend. The artist received various honors and awards throughout his career and has exhibited at numerous international institutions such as the Kunsthalle in Karlsruhe, Germany; The Curitiba Biennial, Brazil; and la Collection Lambert in Avignon (France, 2015), to name just a few. The only question remains if one could ask is if Bresson has surpassed the label of being an emerging artist and not if, but when, Bresson can be seen as a truly established artist.[1]

2. Remus Grecu

The only artist represented by our CAI Gallery program featured in this list is Remus Grecu. Born in 1976 in Bucharest, Romania, where the artist continues to work and reside, Grecu is one of the most exciting figurative painters today. Ever since his return to Romania, committing himself entirely to painting after a period of traveling—from the buzzing nightlife in London to spend his nights with wildlife in the dark forests in Sweden—his work and career have been on the rise steadily, with a significant shift in his work in 2022 followed by his impending breakthrough.

Bold colors, complex compositions, and magical images fill the often monumental canvases of the Romanian artist. With a whip of magic, he creates a link between reality and poetry in the act of painting. Grecu examines the absurd, sociological issues, magic, isolation, rites, corruption, social disease, and alienation. His paintings hit a nerve regarding our inherently human, irrational urges for spirituality, superstition, and the transcendent experience.

Remus Grecu focuses on quality, not quantity, when it comes to the production of his work and the number of exhibitions he participates in. In 2021, Grecu had a significant solo exhibition at CAI Gallery in Kortrijk, followed by his breakthrough show in 2022 at IOMO Gallery in Bucharest, presenting his long-awaited, new, and groundbreaking work. The Romanian artist exhibited at various institutions, encompassing the Romanian Culture Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, and the Staedel Art Museum in Frankfurt, Germany, and has some fascinating shows in the fore in 2023.[2]

3. Dhewadi Hadjab

Born in 1992 in M’Sila, Algeria, and currently working and residing in Paris, France, Dhewadi Hadjab’s paintings are marked by an intriguing beauty. His intensely vibrant paintings move between gravity and grace, inviting the viewer to transcend the sensitive, the fragile, and the uncertain in the viewing experience.

Photography is a key aspect of Hadjab’s creative process. The artist directs his models into positions of extreme discomfort, constraint, and sometimes even danger before capturing the alienating image with digital photography. These photographs function as sketches, studies, and a guide to meticulously paint every single detail of the image in question—achieving an almost sculptural quality due to the powerful naturalism and intensity of color.

Dhewadi Hadjab graduated not only from the prestigious Beaux-Arts de Paris but also the École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts d’Alger, and the École Nationale Supérieure d’Art de Bourges, followed by recognitions and honors with several international art prizes. He has exhibited at institutions such as the FRAC French-Comté in Besançon, France, and the POUSH Manifesto in Clichy, France. As a result, his career trend is pointing up convincingly, supported by excellent gallery representation with Kamel Mennour. In short, all ingredients and critical indicators for success seem to be present, making Dhewadi Hadjab one of the most exciting figurative painters today.[3]

4. Kudzanai-Violet Hwami

Born in 1993 in Gutu, Zimbabwe, and currently working and residing in London, the United Kingdom, Kudzanai-Violet Hwami is a contemporary painter who draws on her personal experiences of geographical dislocation and displacement. She grew up in South Africa before moving to the United Kingdom at seventeen; Hwami communicates her personal vision of Southern African life, encompassing self-portraiture and images of her family.

Another point of departure is images found online, including powerful nudes, raising questions about the representation of black bodies, sexuality, gender, and even spirituality. By manner of found imagery and digital collages, Kudzanai-Violet Hwami uniquely depicts her subjects, combining intensely pigmented oil paint with various media, think of silkscreen printing or charcoal.

Represented by the industry-leading mega-gallery Victoria Miro, it is safe to say the young African-British artist’s career is off to an incredible start. She participated in the 58th Venice Biennale, had her first institutional solo exhibition at Gasworks in London, has featured in numerous institutional group exhibitions, and is being collected by public collections such as the Jorge Perez Museum in Miami, the United States of America; the Kadist Foundation in Paris, France; or the Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town, South Africa.[4]

5. Sanam Khatibi

Born in 1979 in Tehran, Iran, residing and working in Brussels, Belgium, Sanam Khatibi’s enigmatic works on canvas explore notions of animality and our primal impulses reminiscent of Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights. She examines the primitive nature of humanity, questioning power structures, failure, and the duality of triumph, personified by chaos, destruction, excess, domination, loss of control, and submission.

Her pictures consist of exotic and dangerous landscapes in which her subjects wander naked, accompanied by wildlife and animals. We encounter a juxtaposition of the animal and the human—but even more importantly, it often seems as if the distinction fades away. We encounter scenes of violence, sensuality, sexuality, and power. Beyond painting, Khatibi is also occupied with embroideries, tapestries, sculptures, and installations.

Sanam Khatibi is represented by renowned art galleries such as Mendes Wood DM and Rodolphe Janssen. Recent institutional solo exhibitions took place at the Groeninge Museum in Bruges, Belgium; the Kunsthal Ghent, Belgium; and the Musée d’Art de la Province de Hainaut in Charleroi, Belgium—accompanied by numerous international group exhibitions at renowned institutions—resulting in a very impressive career trend so far showing absolutely no signs of slowing down. On the contrary.[5]

6. Xie Lei

Born in 1983 in Huainan, China, residing and working in Paris, France, Xie Lei expresses his sensory universe through painting. He examines the medium of painting, in particular in a contemporary context, exploring the power of the brushstroke, the intensity of the color of oil paint, the delicate structure of the canvas, and the magical synergetic phenomenon when the ingredients mentioned above came together, forming an almost living entity, in which the whole is more than the sum of its parts.

Derived from reality, Xie Lei takes flight to uncertain and ambiguous realms transformed by his imagination, entering a world in an in-between state of sleep versus death, torment versus happiness, eroticism, and perversion. The color is both somber and luminous. The paint is both thin or transparent, yet textured and virtuoso—resulting in an extraordinary and recognizable visual language making the most of painting’s so-called weapons of mass seduction.

Xie Lei is represented by various top-notch galleries, encompassing Semiose, Marguo, and HdM Gallery. He exhibited internationally at numerous institutions, encompassing the Yishu 8 Foundation in Beijing, China; the Ricard Foundation in Paris, France; or PS120 in Berlin, Germany. With recent artist residencies at the Casa de Velázquez in Madrid and the Boghossian Foundation in Brussels, Xie Lei’s career has been consistently accelerating for the past five years. It is set for another successful year without any doubt.[6]

Notes:

[1] Galerie Natalie Obadia, Guillaume Bresson at https://www.nathalieobadia.com/artists/36-guillaume-bresson/biography/ consulted January 6, 2023.
[2] CAI Gallery, Remus Grecu at https://caigallery.com/artists/remus-grecu/ consulted January 6, 2023.
[3] Kamel Mennour, Dhewadi Hadjab at https://kamelmennour.com/artists/dhewadi-hadjab consulted January 6, 2023.
[4] Victoria Miro, Kudzanai-Violet Hwami at https://www.victoria-miro.com/artists/240-kudzanai-violet-hwami/ consulted January 6, 2023.
[5] Mendes Wood DM, Sanam Khatibi at https://mendeswooddm.com/en/artist/sanam-khatibi consulted January 6, 2023.
[6] Semiose, Xie Lei at https://semiose.com/home/artist/18078/xie-lei/ consulted January 6, 2023.

Last Updated on August 25, 2023