Famous contemporary artists of the world and their paintings. Talented artists create extraordinary paintings

The art of the most expensive young Russian artists (even those whose names have long been heard) is still quite accessible. "Entrance ticket" to the top 20 will cost less than $ 5,000

The inspiration for our new ranking was the recent curiosity of the world's top 10 most expensive works by artists under 33, which came from two surnames. Not wanting a similar fate for our authors, we used our traditional rule of "one artist - one picture".

In addition, it was decided to raise the age limit for a young artist from 33 to 35 years. Because it is this age that is taken as the formal criterion for a “young artist” in Russian competitions, awards and biennials. In particular, 35 years is the cut-off for the “New Generation” nomination of the Innovation Prize, for the “Young Artist” nomination in the Kandinsky Prize, for participation in the Moscow International Biennale for Young Art Youngart.ru, for incentive scholarships from the Garage CSC and many others. other projects for young artists. So, reluctantly, we had to exclude from the ranking everyone who was born before 1979.

The next selection criterion: place of birth - the USSR. Therefore, the rating included not only our today's compatriots, but also other artists of the orbit of Russian art from near or far abroad - be it Ukraine, France or Great Britain. So don't let the individual names fool you - that's how it was intended.

And of course, our rating, as always, is based solely on public auction sales. Gallery transactions are not taken into account, since this is a painfully dark matter. Prices do not take into account the buyer's premium and are traditionally quoted in the currency of the transaction and in dollars at the exchange rate at the date of sale. So, here's what we got.

What can be noted at the end?

The art of young Russian artists (even those whose names have long been heard) is still relatively inexpensive. "Entrance ticket" in the top 20 will cost less than $ 5,000. And already for 8,000-10,000 dollars, collectors managed to buy the best things of the well-known to us Tatyana Akhmetgalieva, Valery Chtak or the less known to us "Russian Frenchman" Vitaly Rusakov. The graffiti of the latter was recently brought by a French gallery to Moscow to the Salon of Fine Arts - where, as they said, the artist is quite popular. In total, you will be surprised that in order to buy up the entire top 20 of Russian young art, a hypothetical collector or investor would need 218,903 dollars (adjusted for the condition "one artist - one picture").

Seekers of a universal "formula for success" in art will be disappointed this time as well. There is no single dominant style and direction in the works of the group of champions. On the contrary, a wide range of genres and trends is represented. From postmodernism to realism. In terms of technology, there is also a complete variety. There are graphics, and photography, and fabrics, and ceramics. But, nevertheless, 11 out of 20 works are paintings (canvas, oil or acrylic). This is hello to those who have long predicted the death of painting in general and in contemporary art in particular.

So, the type of art and the genre of the work of decisive importance do not matter. At the same time, it is clear that in order to be successful, one must “be in the trend” - and not in Russia, but in the global one. This is what young Russian artists are trying to do: their works are extremely up-to-date.

To do this, in a number of cases they use acute social issues, topical visual motifs and artistic techniques, mixing types and genres of art in a postmodern spirit. Like stencil drawing on the surface of the canvas, as in graffiti, or digital art techniques in painting. However, despite all their postmodernism and acute social orientation, the authors clearly do not forget that these works should also be pleasing to the eye and fit into the design of modern interiors. Hence - smoothness and a touch of gloss, curtsies towards realism (photorealism). And of course, let's take into account the buyers as a huge plus the fact that our rating of young artists still managed to do without the romantically sugary nudes that are massively sold at auctions (fortunately, mainly at interior auctions) and even more enthusiastically post on blogs.

Another thing that catches your eye is the big gap between the first and second results. The record-breaking innovative digital art by Oleg Dou separates from the second place - painting by Veronika Smirnova - as much as 20 thousand dollars. By the way, if we broke the rule "one artist - one picture" - and the Russian ambassador of the Adobe Photoshop program (in April 2012, the work of Oleg Dow graced the cover of Photoshop version CS6) would take seven more places in our rating with his works. Why not Liu Chunxi? But our Dow is even two years younger.

Surprisingly, almost half of the records in our top 20 come from 2011-2013. That is, these are not some pre-crisis “cases of bygone days”, but quite a living commercial process.

It is also noteworthy that only six works from the top 20 rating received their high marks at our national auctions - at the Kiev "Golden Section" and at the Moscow VLADEY and the auction of the "Russian Gallery of Art". All the rest collected cash at foreign auctions, most often at Phillips, which, however, also belongs to Russian owners. And the point here is not only that there is no prophet in his own country. And not only in the fact that in Russia the purchase of works by young artists is still perceived almost as an eccentricity. And also that the national auction infrastructure, working with contemporary art, is just beginning to take shape. The same VLADEY auction recently held only its first auction, and the old-timers of the Moscow auction market with contemporary art (especially the art of the 21st century) do not work: the audience of buyers is small, and good commissions cannot be earned on inexpensive items. But in the near future this niche of affordable contemporary art will be attacked by other trade formats - new electronic platforms that have a strong offline reputation behind their backs. In particular, the other day the structure of Sergei Gridchin (the owner of the art residence Gridchinhall) announced the launch in September of a new electronic platform Artlet.com - immediately with a thousand works by almost 200 contemporary artists. They will not get into our rating (there is no auction principle), but we all need to go, not checkers.

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How much does contemporary art cost? Which of the living artists enjoy the greatest recognition, the measure of which is banknotes? Artnet answered this question by analyzing auction results from 2011 to 2015 and listing best selling contemporary artists. Alas, there were no creators from Russia on the list.

10. Ed Ruscha

In the 60s of the last century, Ed, along with now famous artists such as Andy Warhol and Jim Dine, took part in the historical event "Re-imaging ordinary objects." It was one of the first exhibitions in the emerging pop art style in America. To an unenlightened look, Rushei's paintings are most reminiscent of a stenciled inscription against the backdrop of landscapes or a cheerful splash of flowers. However, over 4 years of his creations were sold for a total amount of $129,030,255.

9. Richard Prince

Richard made a name for himself by re-photographing images from print ads, arranging them in random order and embellishing them with scathing slogans. Marlboro cowboys, celebrities, porn stars, nurses and biker girlfriends suffered at his hands. He also paints the hoods of cars. The public appreciated his work in $146,056,862- it was for this amount that several works of the artist were sold.

8. Yayoi Kusama

The mentally ill artist loves to cover surfaces with dots of paint - it's called "infinity nets". She managed to trademark both this polka dot and her own illness and is now the best-selling contemporary artist in the world ( $152,768,689).

7. Peter Doig

One of the representatives of traditional landscape painting. His work is invariably popular with the viewer, who is tired of the hyper-ironic postmodern, because after the inscriptions, collages of photographs and polka dot chairs, it is so nice to stop your eyes on the tropical night landscape. For 4 years, paintings have been sold for $155,229,785.

6. Fan Zeng

Calligraphic lettering, transparent watercolor landscapes and portraits in traditional Chinese style are also selling well - $176,718,242 from 2011 to 2015.

5. Cui Ruzhou

This contemporary Chinese artist is famous for his ink paintings of flowers, birds and landscapes. However, ordinary people are unable to understand the mighty power of art - and in 2012, the cleaner of the Grand Hayatt hotel accidentally threw one of his works worth $ 3.7 million into the trash. Cui Ruzhou's work over the past 4 years has been sold for $223,551,382.

4. Zeng Fanji

Complex multi-colored works by another Chinese artist, where living beings and objects are either entangled in the web, or lost in the winter forest, as well as sinister pioneers with bloody hands from 2011 to 2015, were also sold well - for $267,949,220.

3. Christopher Wool

Christopher's trademark is huge white canvases with black lettering. Four of these letters, which form the word Riot ("rebellion"), were sold at Sotheby's for $29.9 million. And in just 4 years, the artist's works were sold in the amount of $323,997,854.

2. Jeff Koons

Former husband of porn star Cicciolina prefers to work in the neo-pop genre. He is especially famous for his steel sculptures imitating elongated balloon toys. For one of the works (steel orange dog) was paid at Christie's auction 58.4 million dollars. Jeff also plans to install a crane in front of the Los Angeles Museum of Art, on which he will hang a steam locomotive so that it puffs and emits clouds of smoke. From 2011 to 2015, Koons sold works worth a total of $379,778,439.

1. Gerard Richter

In the first place in the ranking of artists with the best-selling paintings is a master who does not even consider himself such. According to Gerard, for a long time he created something that was not related to art, composition, color, creativity, etc. Namely, he covered canvases with paint stains using scrapers and spatulas. One of these paintings, called "Abstract Image", most reminiscent of a watermelon that died in agony, was priced at Sotheby's for $43.6 million, and the artist's works for four years were sold for a modest amount of $1,165,527,419.

The world is full of creative people and every day hundreds of new paintings appear, new songs are written. Of course, in the world of art, there are some missteps, but there are such masterpieces of real masters that are simply breathtaking! We will show you their work today.

pencil augmented reality

Photo artist Ben Heine continued to work on his project, which is a mixture of pencil drawings and photography. First, he makes a freehand sketch with a pencil on paper. Then he photographs the drawing against the background of a real object and refines the resulting image in Photoshop, adding contrast and saturation. The result is magic!

Illustrations by Alisa Makarova

Alisa Makarova is a talented artist from St. Petersburg. In an age when most of the images are created using a computer, the interest of our compatriot in traditional forms of painting is respected. One of her latest projects is the triptych "Vulpes Vulpes", which shows charming fiery red foxes. Beauty, and more!

Fine engraving

Wood artists Paul Rodin and Valerie Lou have announced the creation of a new engraving entitled "Moth". The painstaking work and exquisite craftsmanship of the authors do not leave indifferent even the most stubborn skeptics. The engraving will be on display at an upcoming exhibition in Brooklyn on November 7th.

Ballpoint pen drawings

Probably, at least once in lectures, instead of writing down the words of the teacher, everyone drew various figures in a notebook. Was the artist Sarah Esteje (Sarah Esteje) among these students is unknown. But the fact that her drawings with a ballpoint pen are impressive is an indisputable fact! Sarah just proved that you don't need to have any special materials at all in order to create something really interesting.

Surrealistic worlds of Artem Chebokha

Russian artist Artem Chebokha creates incredible worlds where only the sea, the sky and endless harmony exist. For his new works, the artist chose very poetic images - a wanderer traveling through unknown places and whales circling in clouds-waves - this master's flight of fantasy is simply limitless.

Spot portraits

Someone thinks about the stroke technique, someone thinks about the contrast of light and shadow, but the artist Pablo Jurado Ruiz draws with dots! The artist developed the ideas of the pointillism genre, which was still inherent in the authors of the neo-impressionism era, and created his own style, where details are everything. Thousands of touches on paper result in realistic portraits that you just want to look at.

Pictures from diskettes

In an era when many things and technologies become obsolete at the speed of an express passing by, quite often you have to get rid of unnecessary rubbish. However, as it turned out, not everything is so sad, and a very modern work of art can be made from old objects. English artist Nick Gentry (Nick Gentry) collected square diskettes from friends, took a jar of paint, and painted stunning portraits on them. It turned out very nice!

On the verge of realism and surrealism

Berlin artist Harding Meyer loves to paint portraits, but in order not to become another hyperrealist, he decided to experiment and created a series of portraits on the verge of reality and surrealism. These works allow us to look at the human face as something more than just a "dry portrait", highlighting its basis - the image. As a result of such searches, Harding's work was noticed by the Gallery of Modern Art in Munich, which will exhibit the artist's work on November 7th.

Finger painting on iPad

Many modern artists are experimenting with materials to create paintings, but the Japanese Seikou Yamaoka outdid them all, taking his iPad as a canvas. He simply installed the ArtStudio application and began not only to draw, but to reproduce the most famous masterpieces of art. Moreover, he does this not with some special brushes, but with his finger, which is admired even by people who are far from the world of art.

"Wooden" painting

Using everything from ink to tea, woodworking artist Mandy Tsung has created truly mesmerizing paintings filled with passion and energy. As the main theme, she chose the mysterious image of a woman and her position in the modern world.

hyperrealist

Every time you find the work of hyperrealist artists, you involuntarily ask yourself the question: “Why are they doing all this?” Each of them has their own answer to this and sometimes a rather contradictory philosophy. But the artist Dino Tomik says bluntly: "I just love my family very much." Day and night he painted and tried not to miss a single detail from the portrait of his relatives. One such drawing took him at least 70 hours of work. To say that the parents were delighted means to say nothing.

Soldier portraits

October 18 at the London gallery Opera Gallery launched an exhibition of works by Joe Black (Joe Black) called "Ways of Seeing". To create his paintings, the artist used not only paints, but also the most unusual materials - bolts, badges and much more. However, the main material was .... toy soldiers! The most interesting exhibits of the exposition are portraits of Barack Obama, Margaret Thatcher and Mao Zedong.

Sensual oil portraits

Korean artist Lee Rim (Lee Rim) was not so famous a couple of days ago, but her new paintings "Girls in Paint" caused a wide response and resonance in the art world. Lee says: “The main theme of my work is human emotions and psychological state. Even though we live in different environments, at some point in time we feel the same when we look at an object." Perhaps that is why, looking at her work, I want to understand this girl and feel her thoughts.

From June 8 to July 31, the VI International Biennale for Young Art takes place in Moscow. More than 50 artists from all over the world under the age of 35 presented their works. But contemporary artists are not just exhibited in galleries or museums - often their work can be bought. It doesn't have to be expensive: the popularization of contemporary art has set off a process of price democratization that has led some city dwellers to budget for the cost of paintings for renovations. Even auction houses and art fairs could not ignore the interest in the art of the middle class, in which works of young artists began to appear. The Village asked Ekaterina Polozhentseva, a journalist and co-owner of the Oily Oil gallery, to select works by contemporary Russian artists that are accessible both in terms of approach and price.

Ekaterina Polozhentseva

Timofey Radya

Yekaterinburg artist Tima Radya combines philosophy and street art in her works. A philosopher by education and a real artist by nature, Tima has been nurturing the idea of ​​a future work for a long time, and then implements it in the urban space with the help of her small army of fellow colleagues. Phrases that have become memes, "I would hug you, but I'm just text", "The more light, the less you can see" or "Who are we, where are we from, where are we going?" temporarily become part of the urban environment, but remain in Radi's photographs forever. He sells them in galleries.

Timofey Radya. Down with death. 2013. Photo printing on matte paper. 60 x 80. Circulation 15/24. Price - 44 000 rubles. Buy - Artwin Gallery

Alexey Dubinsky

Dubinsky was born in Grozny in 1985 and received his classical education at the Ilya Glazunov Russian Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. Alexei works in the manner of abstract expressionism, which always hides the image of some kind of hero - Alexei himself, his friends or "a completely happy family." In the spring of 2018, Dubinsky held a large solo exhibition curated by Sofya Simakova at the Triumph Gallery, after which the appearance of Alexei in this list is a great success: large (meter by meter) Dubinsky's works have long gone out of the category of prices that are decently called aloud. But past years' graphics are still available for purchase without crashing for a personal or family budget.

Kirill Kto

If you see eyes carved into banners on the streets of Moscow, know that they are made by one person who loves to walk very much - Kirill Lebedev. The second brand sign of Who is phrases written in block letters. It often happens that each letter is drawn in its own color. Who is difficult to confuse with someone. A couple of years ago, gallery owners Elvira Tarnogradskaya and Nadezhda Stepanova asked Kirill to transfer several works to canvases: the success of the idea was obvious. Who's prices are rising faster than the city's new eyes appear. But there is also an option for those who count their money - silk-screen printing, signed by the author and produced in a limited edition.

Julia Iosilzon

Iosilzon was born in Moscow in 1992. Yulia now lives in London, where she is pursuing a bachelor's degree from the Slade School of Art at the Faculty of Fine Art. Round-the-clock stay in the student art workshop did not prevent her from holding a solo exhibition at the Triumph Gallery in Moscow. She usually makes expressive works on silk stretched on a stretcher. Among the heroes of the works, a wolf and a hare from the Soviet “Well, you wait!” are recognizable. Iosilzon will have to set aside several salaries for painting, but graphics can still be bought for little money.

Anton Totibadze

Anton Totibadze is the son of the artist Konstantin Totibadze and the nephew of the artist Georgy Totibadze. Anton continues the unspoken family tradition of painting still lifes and everyday landscapes, often inspired by cooking shish kebabs in his own yard. The St. Petersburg Russian Museum has already included one of these works by Anton Totibadze in its collection. Not bad for a 25 year old artist.

Anton Totibadze. Temporary inconvenience. 2017. Tempera on canvas. 15 x 19. Price - 25 000 rubles. Buy - OilyOil.com

Ales Nomad

Anna Asyamova was born in Kazakhstan and graduated from the Kemerovo University of Arts. Her early works are ascetic portraits, in which she did not mix colors. Later, Ales became interested in painting and began to paint portraits in the style of the old masters and reshape them into backpacks or soft toys, using zippers to make the work multifunctional. Around this stage, Vladimir Dubossarsky noticed her and offered to make a joint exhibition. One of the most expensive living Russian artists, of course, influenced the cost of new works by Ales. But early works and today you can buy at a price of up to 22 thousand rubles.

Ales Nomad. Wedding. 2013. Cardboard, acrylic, markers. 70 x 100. Price - 22 000 RUBLES. Buy - OilyOil.com

Valery Chtak

Valery Chtak is an artist with a great exhibition history and a recognizable style. His work is always a monochrome black-white-gray palette with text. There is little painting in his paintings and many simple images, as if from the wall of a nearby underground passage. A librarian by education, Chtak works a lot with the word: “All the dead are dead the same”, “Love to have fun, hate and take revenge” or “When it’s midnight in Moscow, it’s also midnight in Murmansk” - the lyrics of the artist, which is also worth buying today.

Dmitry Aske

Dmitry Aske is another artist who moved from the street to the art studio. Much of Aske's work today is hand-cut and hand-painted wood paneling, which the artist assembles into panels. Of Dima's budget works, today it is worth paying attention to his silk-screen printing with hand-painted acrylic paints. Asuke's prints are signed and numbered.

Dmitry Aske. Buddha. Silkscreen, acrylic, cotton paper. 50 x 50. Price - 16 000 RUBLES. Buy - format1.net

Photos: cover, 15–21 - Oily Oil, 1 - Artwin, 2 - Timofei Radya, 3–7, 12–14 - Sample, 8, 25, 26 - White Wall Problems online gallery, 9–11, 22–24 - Gallery Triangle, 27 - "Format One"

The majestic and diverse Russian painting always pleases the audience with its inconstancy and perfection of art forms. This is the peculiarity of the works of famous masters of art. They always surprised with their unusual approach to work, reverent attitude to the feelings and sensations of each person. Perhaps that is why Russian artists so often depicted portrait compositions that vividly combined emotional images and epicly calm motifs. No wonder Maxim Gorky once said that an artist is the heart of his country, the voice of the entire era. Indeed, the majestic and elegant paintings of Russian artists vividly convey the inspiration of their time. Like the aspirations of the famous author Anton Chekhov, many sought to bring into Russian paintings the unique flavor of their people, as well as the unquenchable dream of beauty. It is difficult to underestimate the extraordinary canvases of these masters of majestic art, because truly extraordinary works of various genres were born under their brush. Academic painting, portrait, historical painting, landscape, works of romanticism, modernism or symbolism - all of them still bring joy and inspiration to their viewers. Everyone finds in them something more than colorful colors, graceful lines and inimitable genres of world art. Perhaps such an abundance of forms and images that Russian painting surprises with is connected with the huge potential of the surrounding world of artists. Levitan also said that in every note of lush nature there is a majestic and unusual palette of colors. With such a beginning, a magnificent expanse appears for the artist's brush. Therefore, all Russian paintings are distinguished by their exquisite severity and attractive beauty, from which it is so difficult to break away.

Russian painting is rightly distinguished from world art. The fact is that until the seventeenth century, domestic painting was associated exclusively with a religious theme. The situation changed with the coming to power of the tsar-reformer - Peter the Great. Thanks to his reforms, Russian masters began to engage in secular painting, and icon painting separated as a separate direction. The seventeenth century is the time of such artists as Simon Ushakov and Iosif Vladimirov. Then, in the Russian art world, the portrait was born and quickly became popular. In the eighteenth century, the first artists appeared who switched from portraiture to landscape painting. The pronounced sympathy of the masters for winter panoramas is noticeable. The eighteenth century was also remembered for the birth of everyday painting. In the nineteenth century, three trends gained popularity in Russia: romanticism, realism and classicism. As before, Russian artists continued to turn to the portrait genre. It was then that world-famous portraits and self-portraits of O. Kiprensky and V. Tropinin appeared. In the second half of the nineteenth century, artists more and more often depict the simple Russian people in their oppressed state. Realism becomes the central trend of painting of this period. It was then that the Wanderers appeared, depicting only real, real life. Well, the twentieth century is, of course, the avant-garde. The artists of that time significantly influenced both their followers in Russia and around the world. Their paintings became the forerunners of abstractionism. Russian painting is a huge wonderful world of talented artists who glorified Russia with their creations