20 Most Important Female Artists of 2020
Article by Liz Adams
Today’s art world is full of dynamic women making unique and challenging art. Here are 20 exceptional artists who will inspire you, astonish you, and make you think. These artists are making amazing sculptures, paintings, drawings, murals, street art, cut outs and more. The future is female and the future is now!
Aleah Chapin’s epic paintings are a celebration of the human spirit. She boldly depicts mystical settings, often cast with a cool-tinted light, that manifest the interior world of her subjects. Her attention to detail endows the nuances of the human form with a sense of strength and dignity.
The work of Alonsa Guevera is influenced by the tropical surroundings of her childhood.
Exquisitely rendered fruit and botanicals surround and entwine graceful nude figures as if part of a sacred rite. Calling to mind the work of Frida Kahlo, her detailed compositions burst with exotic colors.
The mosaic-like portraits of Ann Gale are comprised of small patches of color that blend organically. Leaving much unsaid, the viewer fills in the blank as her subjects merge with their environment. Capturing the particular natural light of the Pacific Northwest, her work is thoughtful and introspective while maintaining the truth and presence of her subjects.
The sculptor Beth Cavener creates ceramic and stoneware animals that exteriorize human psychology. Creatures crafted with elegance and prowess engage in unfiltered action. Caught in moments of extreme tension that echo human struggles, her sculptures remind the viewer of our innate animal instincts.
Portraits of everyday objects- chairs, banana peels- are the unexpected subject of Chelsea Gustaffson’s engaging work. With bright, juicy colors that contrast with deep shadows, the chairs symbolize an in-between moment of time. Symbolic of a human presence, her paintings defy categorization by combining elements of still life, interior, portrait, and narrative.
Colleen Barry paints luminous portraits of emotional depth. Often her subjects look away from the viewer, immersed in a private world. Under the artist’s thoughtful gaze, her paintings are built with subtle, graceful layers of paint interspersed with glazes and impasto.
With exquisite detail and thoughtfully crafted compositions, the still lifes of Dana Zaltzman transform the quotidian into the sublime. Her work combines classical aesthetics with a fresh minimalism. The sense of reality is profound in her iconic representation of the beauty of simple objects.
With a background in illustration, Dilleen Marsh’s work has storytelling at its core. Like Norman Rockwell, she has an eye attuned to the special moments amid normal life. Using mixed media including colored pencil, pen and ink, Marsh creates uniquely colorful worlds that are a refreshing blend of reality and imagination.
The paintings of Esther Huser are a superb tapestry of flora and fauna. Her micro vision of nature causes her subjects to become something other than they are. By taking botanicals out of context and rendering with expert detail, she creates breathtaking and unexpected landscapes.
The intensely emotional graphite drawings of Gabriela Handal address themes of violence, silence and power struggle in complex human relationships. Working with a strong range of tonal values, parts of the compositions are barely rendered while the focus is on the person being subjugated. The result is a demonstration of a moment of extreme tension and a longing for empowerment over fraught situations.
The enchanting world of Hiba Schahbaz’s art is a powerful display of female strength and beauty. With a background in Persian miniature painting, Schahbaz has expanded to working in life-size figurative paper cutouts. Using water-based media and black tea, her delicate compositions are both scenic and immersive.
The contemporary, figurative work of Jenny Morgan addresses a sensitive dialogue between disguise and vulnerability. Her subjects have unexpected, colorful tones to their skin with bare suggestions of highlights on glassy eyes or parted lips. Portrayed as if seen through a screen, Morgan often uses red, a color symbolic of life.
There is a raw power in the larger than life figurative work of Jenny Saville. Body parts merge, twine and collide in her works, directing the viewer to both the grotesque and beautiful aspects of human anatomy. Her paintings show the gestural act of creation in the exuberant quality to her paint application.
The incredibly bold and imposing work of Kara Walker tackles race, gender, sexuality, exploitation, violence and empowerment. Her cut out silhouettes surprise the viewer who at first may be expecting tidy, predictable illustrations. They are instead exquisitely detailed renditions revealing a violent history not to be silenced.
Kelley Benes concocts surprising art objects using shells combined with renditions of teeth, eyes and other body parts. All stem from a true love of nature resulting in an unexpected portrayal both playful and sinister. With her original creations celebrating the bizarre, one can’t help but think of 19th century museums of curiosities.
The hyper-detailed paintings of Lee Price center on the theme of consumption. Women appear to be caught in private moments of indulgence. The intricate patterns of fabrics and wallpaper elicit a camouflage effect as the subjects blend in with their environment.
Lindsey Kutusch’s energetic paintings offer realism with a lively variation. Her paintings of birds have a solid sense of weight combined with an atmospheric quality. With bold paint strokes she creates interesting abstractions in her backgrounds that contrast well with detailed subjects.
The intimate paintings of Michelle Doll are about human connection. Whether her subjects are mother and child or lovers in an embrace, Doll approaches her themes with an unobtrusive grace and an empathetic eye. Ranging in sizes from larger than life to small, intimate gems her paintings have a presence of compassion and relatability.
In the striking landscape paintings of Rachel Personett, more is more under her precise and knowledgeable eye. Her classical style utilizes the sight-size tradition where subjects are painted to the exact scale in which they are viewed. Especially interesting photos emerge of her work in their context, where it is hard to distinguish where the painting ends and reality begins.
Artist and activist Swoon is a street artist at heart, best known for her large wheatpaste prints and paper cutouts. With themes of social justice, her unique style of realism and storytelling celebrate the human spirit. Multi-faceted in her approach, Swoon also creates murals and large mixed media work on wooden panels.
