33 Contemporary

Omalix is a representational oil painter who works with portraiture and the figure. Most of her work focuses on self-portraiture, which she employs as a vehicle to express her deepest emotions while exploring different aspects of womanhood. The depiction of meticulous details reveals her love for realism; however, with her brushwork, she strives to leave traces that show the presence and sensibility of the human hand. Her introspective and narrative paintings are often filled with symbolism, a touch of mystery and a feeling of nostalgia. BUY NOW from Artsy $4600

Viktoria Savenkova's painting "Blue 2" invite an interaction with the viewer, revealing both the physical and psychological milieu of the model. Read more about this artwork and our feature in the November 2019 edition of American Art Collector written by John O'Hern. BUY NOW from Artsy $4200

Steven DaLuz is known for figurative works and imagined landscapes, using both encaustic, and a process he devised with metal leaf, oil, and mixed media. More recently, he has begun experimenting with acrylic inks. Identified as a "contemporary Luminist" in Wikipedia, his work is in private and corporate collections in 36 States and overseas. He has exhibited internationally, and has been widely published. BUY NOW from Artsy $1500

Patrick Earl Hammie developed "Significant Other", a collection of 28 paintings and drawings, to explore gendered and racial stories passed down through art and media. He depicts nude male and female models locked in an exchange, figuratively lifting and moving the ideas of damaged and objectified bodies that carry on traditions of suffering and struggle. Thinking through art’s role in shaping how we form meaning and value around others through who and how we represent, Hammie works to picture fresh examples, modernizing the woman as an active authority and relieving the man from his performance of masculinity. BUY NOW from Artsy $7500

Brianna Lee is a figurative oil painter working in the realist tradition. Her work focuses on the emotional interior world of her portrait subjects, often portraying them against dramatic landscapes that act as a metaphorical narrative of their life. Her work aims to highlight the quiet inward strength and resilience of her female subjects. The use of contrasted lighting and rich and emotive colors convey the sentiment of each individual. While many of her narratives are fictional, she gleans inspiration from her own life experiences and of her models, friends and family. The wide open landscapes she portrays are often inspired by the rural environment she grew up in, in the Central Valley of California. BUY NOW from Artsy $6500

Shana Levenson is a representational oil painter whose work focuses on portraiture and the figure. Her intimate portraits capture each person’s story in an honest and meaningful way. Her self-portraits are the main subject in many of her artwork focusing on family life including her own children in the portrayal of motherhood. Her series of hyperrealistic portraits of HIV survivors adds to the depth of her reach in contemporary realism. Her current work incorporates lace dresses along with surrealistic elements to highlight the strength and beauty of the female form. BUY NOW from Artsy $4800

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In Megan Read’s highly refined work, figurative and still life subjects are placed in dark, vast environments giving the viewer a glimpse into calm, contemplative worlds. Her paintings of sometimes solitary but often overlapping or multiplied forms are both overwhelmingly intimate and allude to the universal, creating mental and visual space for the stories and experiences of others. Working in oil, sometimes at quite a large scale, her paintings are not intended to be portraits of specific people but rather reflections of all of us, exploring the concepts of expansion, contraction, vulnerability, protection and other contradictory themes such as the perpetual or constant vs the transitory and contemporary. She considers many of her paintings aspirational portraits of multiple selves: who you are, who you want to be, and all of the “you”s that must coexist. BUY NOW from Artsy $6500

For artist Alane Levinsohn there is unabashed celebration of the human form. She paints from life and her subjects are mostly females. The subject is unaware of the viewer, either lost in thought, preoccupied or drifting off to sleep which allows confidence and comfort to come through. Her paintings explore finished and not finished, complete and incomplete allowing the viewer to complete the painting on their own. As a draftsman she is not averse to white paper or canvas which serves as a blank background space hinting at the surroundings. The background allows the viewer to perceive the context however they imagine it. BUY NOW from Artsy $1700

Junyi Liu is a Chinese representational painter based in New York City. As a Chinese living in the States, she is able to see people from a different perspective, and capture certain interesting qualities of them on canvas. She likes to paint Asian women, and appreciate their beauty. By depicting models in different locations and lightings, she explores both the surreal, theatrical feelings and the true, ordinary life people are living. Her paintings cover subjects such as the male gaze, loneliness of modern citizens, self-inspection, and more. She often uses metaphors and bold colors in the works. Available from ARTSY $2000

In “New Pattern,” one sees in the background a rendition of “Diana the Huntress” from a Greek Vase painting. Diana is an ancient archetype for the empowered and autonomous woman. Between that image, and the image of the model, is a layer of a grid, containing different colored lines and red and white dots. The figure in the foreground represents a new archetype for the empowered and autonomous woman. One that has created her own pattern for how to achieve that, powerful, self-contained, and unashamed. All layers of new patterns. BUY NOW from Artsy $3000

Heidi Elbers is an oil painter living in Brooklyn, NY creating representational figurative art. Connecting with her cultural heritage as a Louisiana native, her paintings are a celebration of artful dress influenced by the elaborate costumes of Mardi Gras and elements from the bayou. Pieced together from lingerie and fur pieces, laced and beaded, stitched and glued, the outfits she creates transform her models into celestial beings of a tribe. Fur, feathers and foliage bring a natural element of something more elemental while being elevated by beauty and a sense of innate self-possession. She translates these mirages of divine beauty in oil on canvas. BUY NOW from Artsy $3200

Aixa Oliveras is a contemporary symbolist painter working within the realm of classical realism. Her work focuses on the female figure, paired with pattern and symbolic use of color. Through her oil paintings, she creates metaphorical narratives of rebirth and identity based on events of her own life. Her work explores what it means to let go of one previous identity in order to create a new one. Originally from Puerto Rico, Aixa is currently developing her studio practice in Laguna Beach, California. BUY NOW from Artsy $3000

Kimberly Dow is a narrative figurative oil painter. Her obsession with storytelling and relationships are what drives her. Often employing the nude figure and direct stares, Ms. Dow enjoys the delightful idea of her paintings gazing back at the viewer. Her figures at times seem to dare unabashedly and yet are not objects to be admired. Instead, they are figures jumping off the canvas yearning to have their stories told. BUY NOW from Artsy $6000

Talbert's primary focus is painting the human figure and the emotions it expresses. He is more interested in conveying an emotional state, rather than illustrating an outward appearance. He painting technique is between abstract and realism blurring the the line between the physical reality and the thoughts of the subject. He searches for facial expressions which tell a universal truth about humanity. Using thick textures and bold colors, Matt Talbert combines both traditional and experimental techniques to enhance emotions at play. Trusting his intuition, embracing spontaneity and doing so with confidence, are the keys to his latest body of work. BUY NOW from Artsy $8000

In Michele Ann Murtaugh’s figurative narrative paintings, her subjects address the current condition of human intimacy, the desire of it and the lack of it. She combines realist human form with surrealistic atmospheric nuances to give the viewer the feeling of being in the subconscious. Her large scale oil paintings combine delicate, refined and crude brush work to intensify the psychological contradiction of surrender with immediacy and impatience. Her subjects are often nude or costumed in inorganic fantastic materials. They can be found masked or uncomfortably gazing back at the viewer. The paintings mirror our beautiful and imperfect attempt to connect and be accepted. BUY NOW from Artsy $3500

Vicki Sullivan’s paintings draw from a deep appreciation of beauty. Sullivan is a contemporary classical realist combining the aesthetics of the old masters with a modern edge. Finding her inspiration in people and nature Sullivan chooses oil paint as her medium. Her love of vibrant and opulent colour often requires employing many layers of paint to make her colour lavish and glowing as if from the inside. Using tonality to create form, chiaroscuro brings drama to her work, which often uses symbolism while exploring the universality of myth and emotional memories. Her work aims to stir the imagination and create an emotional connection with her viewer. BUY NOW from Artsy $12,000

Grant Gilsdorf’s work often features figures in direct communication with the viewer. Their meticulously rendered faces gaze out in arresting intensity. When combined with the symbolism, or “clues” (as the artist calls them) found within each piece, viewers discover greater narratives hidden in the paintings. For viewers willing to investigate the work, they will engage with complex themes that linger on long after the initial viewing. The compositions and subjects depicted within his work may call upon references to the old masters, but drift into a lane of a that refutes any singular genre. His paintings combine elements of realism, symbolism, and portraiture in a uniquely spellbinding fashion. Grant’s art represents a contemporary amalgam rooted in tradition. BUY NOW from Artsy $2600

In his bold paintings of contemporary men, figurative painter Alessandro Tomassetti combines his naturalistic rendering style with a tenebrous palette and dramatic lighting to create works which are at once seductive and subversive. Rather than presenting his male subjects as mythological heroes or captains of industry, Tomassetti paints to reveal their vulnerability and sensitivity. From the pose and styling to the glints of light and reflection captured in his brushwork, Tomassetti’s work manifests an intimacy most often seen in paintings of female subjects. By eschewing historic expectations—where men were typically viewers of such portraits rather than the subjects, Tomassetti’s oil paintings invite the viewer to explore and appreciate shades of contemporary masculinity outside of the norm. BUY NOW from Artsy $2000