Top Emerging Artists to Follow on Instagram
If you’ve been around here for a while, you know that we believe contemporary art should be accessible to everyone — from artists to curators and art lovers alike. That’s why we’re particularly fond of the public nature of Instagram, as it helps us discover the latest emerging artists. So whether you’re looking for creative motivation or to support up-and-coming talent, these top emerging artists are sure to add some color and inspiration to your IG feed.
15 Top Emerging Artists to Add on IG Now
While there are many gifted emerging artists on Instagram, here are just some of our favorites of the moment!
1) @amysmithart
Amy Smith is a self-taught contemporary mixed media artist and muralist who focuses on social justice and feminism. Amy snags a spot on our top emerging artists list for her bold mixture of figurative paintings, digital collages, abstract paintings and more. Her work celebrates empowerment and unity through different techniques while also inspiring love and hope.
2) @babyjessart
Jessica Fraser is an artist, painter, and creator whose love of art started very early. Enamored with all things lunar, she typically paints surreal moons in most of her works. She also creates fantastical worlds that capture the whimsical and fun while including majestic creatures such as owls and bees.
3) @brittanynfanning
Brittany Fanning studied fine art in Dahlonega, Georgia, where she was heavily influenced by Appalachian figurative painters. Later, she lived in South Korea, where she painted the neighborhoods of Seoul. Her recent works have been centered around impending doom, typically a natural disaster in the background with a figure painted in the foreground enjoying themselves — blissfully unaware of the danger lurking nearby.
4) @campbellpaints
Rachel Campbell's pieces playfully reveal beauty found in the mundane. Her abstract realism paintings will encourage you to find the remarkable in your day-to-day life, from the intricate pattern on a second-hand chair to a tree growing in the middle of a small town square.
5) @heidi.brueckner
Heidi Brueckner's vibrant portraits span the gamut of people, from close friends to strangers she's met during her world travels. Her use of texture and color impeccably captures the intricate details of her subjects' personalities to bring them to life.
6) @ibijoke.img
Joke Valerie Amusan is a gifted German-born Nigerian embroidery artist and writer living in England. Through her inspiring embroidery art, she works to alter the negative perception of Black women in the media.
7) @ingridvwells
Ingrid V. Wells earned her MFA from San Francisco Art Institute and her BFA from Arizona State University. Her paintings investigate gendered consumerism and ethics of fascination while exploring fantastic and humorous themes and charming and kitschy subjects.
8) @iwaspedro
Pedro Troncoso is a painter hailing from La Romana, Dominican Republic, who obtained his BFA in Illustration at Parsons School of Design. His work is greatly influenced by his transition from childhood to adulthood and challenges social norms through surreal perspectives.
9) @karen_turner_artist
Karen Turner is an award-winning figure and portrait artist based in Suffolk. Her oil paintings mostly feature women and comment on the weight of expectations placed on the female sex. She focuses on the scrutiny our physical bodies face while highlighting skin pigments that typically go unnoticed, exaggerating them to accentuate how extraordinary they actually are.
10) @leslieespinoart
Leslie Espino creates sustainable art using hand-stitched and layered paper pieces with a storybook feel. Often repurposed, her sustainable pieces are built from hand-painted paper. Her art helps free her from external societal expectations and an internal fear of failure working in a male-dominated STEM field.
11) @markeith_theartist
Markeith Woods made our top emerging artists list not just because of his undeniable talent but his commitment to inspiring and educating people through the arts. He works with charcoal, graphite, acrylic, pastels and oil pastels to create works that depict his exploration of the psychological state of living as a Black male in the United States.
12) @melaniegooi.art
Melanie Gooi is a Malaysian-born, Singapore-based self-taught artist whose art practice unexpectedly put her on a healing journey of self-discovery. She is known for her minimalist, abstract approach to painting, in which she manipulates layers of translucent acrylic inks on raw canvas.
13) @mixedmedia_marcia
Marcia Conlon is one of our favorite up-and-coming artists for her phenomenal retro-inspired mixed media pieces. Marcia uses vintage magazines, books and recycled materials to transport viewers to decades past.
14) @nimishabhanot
Nimisha Bhanot is an Indo-Canadian artist who paints empowering portraits of "Bad-Ass Indian Pin-Ups." Bursting with symbolism and traditional South Asian motifs, the pieces she creates are provocative and playful, depicting her subjects as vital, sexually liberated women with agency and intellect.
15) @xoxfeiyounnie
Feiyang Zhang is a textile and embroidery designer who lends her talents to costuming, film and editorial work. Her art shows the dilemma between control and lack of control through costumes, body movement and performance to define the characters for an imaginary future.
Discover More Top Emerging Artists
These up-and-coming artists are just a handful of talented creatives currently on our radar. Discover more top emerging artists by following us on Instagram @createmagazine or subscribe to Create! Magazine today.
