5 Young Artists to Watch in 2018

The Next Generation of Influence on the Art World

The Common Denominator: The Collector’s Desire to Support Young Artists and Creatives

Many millennials enjoy the thrill of encountering new work from up-and-coming young artists, and they like to support these artists’ work. Over a third of high net worth American millennials collect art because they “enjoy being part of the art world” (2018 U.S. Trust Insights on Wealth and Worth).

According to a 2018 article posted by insurance company AXA, young collectors make up approximately 15 to 25% of all art collectors. In a 2014 AXA survey, the age breakdown of participants was as follows:

● Majority of respondents were middle-aged (73% were 40-69 years old).

● 9% were 70 or older.

● 13% were 30-39.

● 3% were 29 or younger.

● Overall, 16% of respondents were young/millennial collectors (under age 39).

Though the vast majority remains within the age group of 40-69 years old, Millennials are significantly more likely than previous generations to collect with financial considerations in mind. Beard connects the cultural and social context in which millennials were raised with their collecting habits: “we collect like capitalists.

Also, According AXA’s 2014 survey, under 40 collectors have a strong preference for contemporary art.

This survey reached a worldwide

group of 972 collectors, a majority of whom come from the USA, Germany, France,

UK, and Switzerland. This survey found that: 94% of young collectors acquire contemporary art

● 30% collect modern and impressionist art

● 13% collect 19th-century art

● 11% collect art antiquities

● 8% collect Old Masters.

Here are some of the millennial artists that have caught the eye of collectors both novice and experienced that are already exhibiting and selling in major fairs and events all over the world:

1) Lina Condes

Lina Condes / Via condesart.com

Born in Cherkassy, Ukraine Lina Condes received her BA and her master’s in design from the Kyiv National University of Technologies and Design. Creator of iSculpture.io., Lina became one of the brightest representatives of STEAM movement in her field by combination Art + Technology. Condes focuses on the creation of large scale, contemporary and interactive "ARTificial intelligence 'iSculptures.'” Solo presentations of her work have been held at the M17 Contemporary Art Centre (Kiev), SV Gallery (Beirut), and with Avant Gallery (Miami) for the 2016 edition of the SCOPE Art Fair.

Condes recently exhibited at the Art Hearts Fashion during New York Fashion Week in New York City, and will be exhibiting various works including her stick figure series, and iSculpture during Art Basel 2018, as well as in the Miami Design District.

www.condesart.com

2) Nicolas Party

Swiss artist Nicolas Party from Lausanne, Switzerland lives and works in New York and Brussels. In an interview on Kunsthall Stavanger’s blog, Party said, “I never had a strong interest in reality. I always thought that the films, books, and paintings that I was looking at touched me more than the real things around me.”

At March’s Independent art fair, Scottish gallery, the Modern Institute, brought only Party’s portraits and still lifes, where they hung his work in front of black-and-white painted walls. His artist’s funky and vibrant paintings even caught the eye of prominent collectors Robert and Nicky Wilson.

http://www.xavierhufkens.com/artists/nicolas-party

3) Jesse Stecklow

Los Angeles-based Jesse Stecklow’s art pieces have been snapped up by mega collectors Anita and Poju Zabludowicz. The artist, who is represented by M + B, recently had a solo presentation at the gallery’s LA space, and was brought by the gallery to their booth at the Armory Show.

Stecklow makes aesthetically minimal but conceptually sophisticated work by collecting and aggregating data and reorganizing it to make his work. “A dominant interest for me is pulling material information to have this large chain of works that never feels complete or resolved,” he explained a recent interview with Mousse magazine. In his Untitled (Air Vent) series, the artist creates powder-coated aluminum air vents that collect airborne samples of the room. Over a period of time, he analyzes the data collected, and creates new works from the information.

http://jessestecklow.com

4) Athena Papadopoulos

Canadian born, London-based artist Athena Papadopoulos employs a variety of mediums to make her work. Playing upon the notions of the domestic sphere, the artist creates pillow sculptures and canvases stained with drugstore or grocery store finds such as Pepto-Bismol, Berocca, mustard, wine, or henna as substitutes for paint.

Raw and humorous, her art connects with different levels of art history such as feminism, Abstract Expressionism, and abject art, without being didactic. “I think it is important that the body of work isn’t seen to be moving upward to a point of precision. The images and the substances that they are coated with are of a world that is sprawling, messy, and difficult,” she said of her execution. Papadopoulos recently had a solo exhibition at the Zabludowicz Collection in London, and opened at Supportico Lopez for Gallery Weekend Berlin.

Nicolas Party, Pastel et Nu (2015). Photo: courtesy of the Modern Institute.

http://www.athenapapadopoulos.com

5) Avery Singer

Bronx-based artist Avery Singer graduated in 2010 from The Cooper Union, and has further cemented her role as a painter to watch within the art and arts appreciation community (she is currently the top artist in ArtRank‘s “Buy Now < $100,000” category). She’s had a solo show in Berlin and has been featured in a group exhibition at Greene Naftali, as well the Kunsthalle in Kassel, Germany.

After Beatrix Ruf took notice of the artist’s stick figures, created using Photoshop and SketchUp, Ruf gave her a solo show at the Zurich Kunsthalle. She was included in the New Museum Triennial (see The New Museum Triennial Offers a Dazzling and Dystopian Vision of the Future).

www.averyksinger.com