Contemporary Paintings

Contemporary painters draw on the full range of historic art movements, including pop art, conceptual art, minimalism, impressionism, color field painting, and abstraction. Art collectors and art advisors scour the globe for new talent. Artists painting in conceptual- and abstract-influenced methods are in high demand.

Contemporary artists often work across an assortment of media, from video, installation, and sculpture, to painting, printmaking, and collage. These multimedia artists create paintings derived from or in conversation with their larger body of work.

Philips, a London-based auction house with a major location on Madison Avenue in New York, is known for its sales including young, living artists. The Christie’s “First Open” sales in London and New York are also very lively venues.

Gerard Richter, Christopher Wool, Spencer Finch, and Luc Tuymans are four innovative contemporary painters. Artists such as Kehinde Wiley, Zhang Xiaogang, and John Currin have breathed fresh life into figuration and portraiture. Amy Sillman, Josh Smith, and Katy Moran are three driving forces in abstraction.

Quick Facts

• Many collectors, especially Americans who work in finance, make a game of prospecting on forthcoming “hot” artists
• Joe Bradley's "Double runner (in 7 parts)," 2006, sold for £79,250 at Christie's London on October 14, 2011
• A similar work by Bradley, Police Painting 2, 2008, sold for $1,200,000 at Phillips New York on May 4, 2015