As we settle into 2026 and have had a chance to catch our breath after what, at least for me, felt like a protracted holiday season that began in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving and lasted well into the first week of January, it’s time to look around and ahead at what’s shaping up to be an exciting year in the world of contemporary realism.
The February issue is testament to it. As always, it shines a spotlight on the vast spectrum of what representational art can be. Having such a wide range of artwork that falls under the umbrella of contemporary realism is both the joy of the genre and sometimes the challenge. After all, we can’t be all things to all people, but we can make room for as many forms of that nebulous term “realism” as our page count allows.
We want to share new artwork that will resonate with you and reflects the variety of taste and budget of our readers and collectors. We want to cover exhibitions and events that are happening somewhere near you. We want to be your tour guide in the top art destinations in the country. We want to champion emerging artists and give due respect to those artists whose artwork and fascinating lives demand it.
These are lofty goals but if we even want to get close to achieving them we have to set the bar high. Looking through the February issue, I think we’re ticking most of the boxes. Inside we cover exhibitions in New York City, Santa Fe, Scottsdale, Alexandria, Austin and Milwaukee; events in Charleston, Palm Springs, Palm Beach and Miami. We take you all over California to the state’s coolest cultural sites and more.
In terms of artwork, you will find everything from traditional tonalist works to the otherworldly, color-saturated landscapes of Dale Terbush. The best of wildlife art is highlighted in our coverage of the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition. We have florals, cityscapes and portraiture that range from impressionistic to photo-real. One feature is dedicated to the powerful nudes of figurative artist Stephen Early; and another on naturalist painter John Alexander, who rubbed elbows with Willem de Kooning in his coming-up years.
As Wendie Martin explained in her publisher's letter, we've reorganized our content a bit to better serve our readers, and our foundational mission to connect collectors with the best, freshest artwork on the market.
We hope you enjoy the breadth of this and every issue of American Art Collector, and that herein you come across a piece of art, a piece of writing, a story, that moves you. We would love to hear about it.
Sarah Gianelli
Managing Editor
sgianelli@americanartcollector.com
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