The Game Changers of Art– A Rundown on the World’s Greatest Contemporary Artists
Contemporary art is art that has been produced within our lifetime. It captures and reflects the world around us and sets a lasting impression for future generations.Over the years, the contemporary art world has seen artists work with dynamic combinations of materials, methods, forms and subject matters. Some of these artists have revolutionized the art world with their unique and influential creative practices. Their work has profoundly shaped the way we perceive art today. These are the artists, whom I regard as the Game Changers of Art. They are global front-runners at leading art fairs, museums, auction rooms and galleries. Below, I draw light on 10 such influential artists or ‘game changers’ who I believe have had an undeniable impact on the contemporary art world at large.
1. Jeff Koons (American): Best known for his oversized, bright and shiny steel sculptures, Koons is regarded as a new kind of genius in art. His artworks are shaped like toys, animals and souvenirs, and transform inflatable, short-term items into permanence. His best-known work, Balloon Dog, a stainless steel sculpture, transposes a fleeting childhood memory into an enduring form. In 2019, the artist broke the auction record for a living artist, when his ‘Rabbit’ sold for $91 Million.
2. Murakami (Japanese): Known for his brightly colored and maniacally cheerful works, Murakami draws inspiration from the Japanese subculture of otaku, which embraces cuteness and innocence, as well as incredible violence. His innovative “Superflat” aesthetic, which combines classical Japanese art with contemporary Japanese pop culture has led many to consider him as one of the most innovative artists working today.
3. Tracey Emin (British): Best known for using neon lights as her creative medium, Emin’s works are deeply personal. Through neon autobiographical sculptures, Emin confesses raw personal details. Her neon sculptures stand out because she choosees to use her own handwriting in combination with powerful statements – each work has her personality stamp and is uniquely individual. By expressing her own emotions, thoughts, and aspirations, she connects to the soul of the observer.
4. Kaws (American) : Brian Donnelly, professionally known as ‘Kaws’ is known for his wide-reaching public installations that range in size from a few inches to 35 feet tall. His characters are generally depicted in a shy and/or powerless pose often times with their hands over their nose. Kaws’ work can be characterized by the repeated use of “x”s on his figures hands, nose and ears, and a re-appropriation of pop culture icons such as Mickey Mouse, The Smurfs and Snoopy. In 2019, his artwork ‘The Simpsons’ fetched $14.7 million at an auction.
5. Yayoi Kusama (Japanese): Yayoi Kusama, also known as the ‘Princess of Polka Dots’ is considered the most successful living female artist. The 91 year old artist is best known for her dotted pumpkin sculptures and infinity room installations. She is known to strongly believe in the healing power of art. Her iconic polka dots are influenced by hallucinations she experienced during her troubled childood. Yayoi is also known for her collaboration with the luxury fashion brand Louis Vuitton.
6. David Hockney (British): David Hockney's paintings, best known for bright swimming pools, split-level homes and suburban Californian landscapes, ironically offer viewers calm as well as hyperactivity. Hockney’s style fuses Pop Art with Cubism. His works are bright, full of bold colours and delight in the deconstruction of proportion, linear perspective, and color theory.In 2018, his painting ‘Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)’ fetched $90.3 million at a Christies Auction and broke the auction record for a work by a living artist at the time.
7. Jean-Micheal Basquiat (American): Known for his raw gestural style of painting, Basquiat had a troubled childhood and died tragically from a drug overdose at the young age of 27. During his lifetime, he created highly abstract expressionistic works that mixed graffiti, scrawled text and signs. His artworks freely mixed motifs from African, Caribbean, Aztec, and Hispanic cultures and mixed “high art” references with images from popular culture, especially cartoons.
8. Andy Warhol (American): Known for his iconic Campbell’s soup can paintings, Andy Warhol was the leader of the Pop Art movement. Pop Art uses commonplace objects such as comic strips, soup cans and all forms of advertising as subject matter. During the 1960’s his canvases of everyday consumer products created a major stir in the art world, bringing both him and pop art into the national spotlight. Warhol is also known for his famous pop paintings of Coca-cola bottles and celebrity portraits of Marilyn Monroe in vivid and garish colours.
9. Banksy (British): Banksy, a street artist whose identity remains unknown, is known for his controversial and often politically themed, stenciled pieces. He began his career as a graffiti artist in the early 1990s. His work usually satirically critiques war, capitalism, hypocrisy and greed. In 2018, the artist caught the art world by surprise, when one of his most iconic images - a girl reaching out toward a bright red, heart shaped balloon- began to pass through a shredder hidden in the frame of the painting, at a Sotheby’s auction. The painting now titled ‘Love is in the Bin’ was finally accepted by the buyer at the same price as was achieved in the room before it shred— nearly $1.4 million.
10. Damien Hirst (British): ‘Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.’ This quote best describes Hirst’s works. The artist uses mediums such as installation, sculpture, painting and drawing to explore the complex relationship between art, life and death. His complex works of animals in formaldehyde and his installations completed with live maggots and butterflies reflect on mortality and the human unwillingness to confront it.
Words by Sonali Batra
Photographs courtesy of Artsy.net
