Obviously, there are many astonishing artists out there in the world, but these contemporary U.S. female artists are who you should check right now.
The young women mentioned below address various social issues in their artwork, as well as make it beautiful, fresh, and fun to look at. They may not be widely known yet, but they're frequently popping up at galleries, festivals, and museums – not to mention Instagram – around the globe.
We’ve restricted this list to only living artists to include those who can be collected and engaged with here and now. Please enjoy!
Olive Allen
Olive Allen is a New York-based visual artist, a pioneer of the crypto art movement, whose work is frequently featured in the NFT space. Her art, sardonic in nature, explores current cultural shifts through deeply personal experience: it touches on climate change, the extinction of species and inevitably coronavirus. With a strong belief that an artist has to be guided by the urgency of modern life, she reflects and comments on the current state of affairs in the world while engaging the audience.
Alexis Franklin
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Alexis Franklin is a self-taught artist from Houston, Texas, who creates vivid and intricate portraits that perfectly capture subtle moods and gestures in her characters. Inspired by classical oil artists, Franklin primarily employs digital software to create her oil-like paintings. She tries to reflect that texture and atmosphere using the computer and Wacom tablet. She also often takes time-lapses of her artwork, showing layer by layer how they come together.
Gretchen Andrew
The artwork of Los Angeles-based artist Gretchen Andrew is largely described as an exploration of search engine art and virtual reality. The girl has a background in information systems and calls her practice the manipulation of power systems through art, glitter, and code. Andrew is best known for her playful hacks on major art world and political institutions, including Frieze, The Whitney Biennial, Artforum, The Turner Prize, and The Next American President. In these digital performances, she reimagines reality with art and desire by creating assemblage “vision boards” that she programs to become top internet search results.
Tracie Ching
Tracie Ching is an illustrator and graphic designer living and working in Washington, D.C. As a self-taught digital artist, she specializes in portraiture including complex lines with a limited palette – a tendency-turned-style after years of working in the medium of silkscreen prints. Ching creates editorial illustrations, commercial sportswear projects, gallery projects, etc. However, her most popular works are unique alternative movie posters. A mix of old and new, her practice translates classic engraving techniques through vector illustration, resulting in the bold cross-hatching style for which she is known. Her portfolio includes key art for Disney, Lionsgate, and Marvel Studios, official portraits for the acting U.S. President and Vice President.
Samantha Mash
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Samantha Mash is based in Portland, Oregon, and currently works as a full-time freelance illustrator while also running her own product store of illustrative merchandise. She stands out from other digital artists by her interest in iconography. Her works are filled with symbolism and human centrism. In them, she seeks to reveal such concepts as freedom, vulnerability, repression, anxiety, and identity. In addition to her main work, Samantha takes an active social position. She fights for social equality, defends ecology, and nature conservation both within and outside of her artistic practice.
