Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
CONTEMPORARY STYLE
Used to refer to a time rather than an aesthetic, Contemporary art generally describes pieces created after 1970 or being made by living artists anywhere in the world. This immediacy means it encompasses art responding to the present moment through diverse subjects, media and themes. Contemporary painting, sculpture, photography, performance, digital art, video and more frequently includes work that is attempting to reshape current ideas about what art can be, from Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s use of candy to memorialize a lover he lost to AIDS-related complications to Jenny Holzer’s ongoing “Truisms,” a Conceptual series that sees provocative messages printed on billboards, T-shirts, benches and other public places that exist outside of formal exhibitions and the conventional “white cube” of galleries.
Contemporary art has been pushing the boundaries of creative expression for years. Its disruption of the traditional concepts of art are often aiming to engage viewers in complex questions about identity, society and culture. In the latter part of the 20th century, contemporary movements included Land art, in which artists like Robert Smithson and Michael Heizer create large-scale, site-specific sculptures, installations and other works in soil and bodies of water; Sound art, with artists such as Christian Marclay and Susan Philipsz centering art on sonic experiences; and New Media art, in which mass media and digital culture inform the work of artists such as Nam June Paik and Rafaël Rozendaal.
The first decades of the 21st century have seen the growth of Contemporary African art, the revival of figurative painting, the emergence of street art and the rise of NFTs, unique digital artworks that are powered by blockchain technology.
Major Contemporary artists practicing now include Ai Weiwei, Cecily Brown, David Hockney, Yayoi Kusama, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami and Kara Walker.
Find a collection of Contemporary prints, photography, paintings, sculptures and other art on 1stDibs.
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Style: Contemporary
Making Sense of It All II
Located in New York, NY
About the Artist:
Claire Gilliam is an English photographer, printmaker, painter now based from her home and studio in Warwick, NY. In 1997, she graduated from Sheffield Hallam Unive...
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Catalan Contemporary Art by Miquel Angel Benejam - Open
Located in Paris, IDF
Oil on paper
Miquel Angel Benejam is a Catalan artist born in 1958 who lives and works in Barcelona, Spain. The collage understood in a broad sense, that cultural, technical, and ar...
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Oil
Catalan Contemporary Art by Miquel Angel Benejam - Stripes and Brushstrokes
Located in Paris, IDF
Oil on paper
Miquel Angel Benejam is a Catalan artist born in 1958 who lives and works in Barcelona, Spain. The collage understood in a broad sense, that cultural, technical, and ar...
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Oil
Catalan Contemporary Art by Miquel Angel Benejam - Abstract
Located in Paris, IDF
Oil on paper
Miquel Angel Benejam is a Catalan artist born in 1958 who lives and works in Barcelona, Spain. The collage understood in a broad sense, that cultural, technical, and ar...
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Oil, Paper
79.54ºS, 89.01ºE; 140º@23 km/h; 46.0ºC 08/11/15 14:00 Local
Located in Montreal, Quebec
In Hyperobjects, Nova Scotia-based artist Colleen Wolstenholme presents works that developed from her earlier drawings of brain cell patterns and her interest in the way consciousnes...
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
'Color Interaction IV (1)' - color theory, glass beads, bright, saturated, grid
Located in Atlanta, GA
This piece features hues of purple and blue.
Atlanta-based artist and designer Gretchen Wagner is influenced by the use of color and their interactions. Her most recent body of work...
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Glass, Watercolor
'Color Interaction IV (2)' - color theory, glass beads, bright, saturated, grid
Located in Atlanta, GA
This piece features hues of green, orange and purple.
Atlanta-based artist and designer Gretchen Wagner is influenced by the use of color and their interactions. Her most recent bod...
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Glass, Watercolor
'Color Interaction IV (4)' - color theory, glass beads, bright, saturated, grid
Located in Atlanta, GA
This piece features hues of yellow, purple and blue.
Atlanta-based artist and designer Gretchen Wagner is influenced by the use of color and their interactions. Her most recent body...
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Glass, Watercolor
'Color Interaction IV (9)' - color theory, glass beads, bright, saturated, grid
Located in Atlanta, GA
This piece features hues of peach, blue, and purple.
Atlanta-based artist and designer Gretchen Wagner is influenced by the use of color and their interactions. Her most recent body...
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Glass, Watercolor
Chinese Contemporary Drawing by He Jinshi - The Nostalgia
Located in Paris, IDF
Chinese ink on paper, possible to have a frame upon simple request
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Chinese Contemporary Drawing by He Jinshi - The Lonely Passenger
Located in Paris, IDF
Chinese ink on paper, possible to have a frame upon simple request
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Chinese Contemporary Drawing by He Jinshi - The Recurrence
Located in Paris, IDF
Chinese ink on paper, possible to have a frame upon simple request
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Chinese Contemporary Drawing by He Jinshi - The Fragrance of Flowers and Plants
Located in Paris, IDF
Chinese ink on paper, possible to have a frame upon simple request
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Chinese Contemporary Drawing by He Jinshi - The Corruption of Purity
Located in Paris, IDF
Chinese ink on paper, possible to have a frame upon simple request
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Chinese Contemporary Drawing by He Jinshi - The Broken Space
Located in Paris, IDF
Chinese ink on paper, possible to have a frame upon simple request
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Chinese Contemporary Drawing by He Jinshi - Secret Love
Located in Paris, IDF
Chinese ink on paper, possible to have a frame upon simple request
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Chinese Contemporary Drawing by He Jinshi - Gone with Wind
Located in Paris, IDF
Chinese ink on paper, possible to have a frame upon simple request
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Chinese Contemporary Drawing by He Jinshi - Deep Red
Located in Paris, IDF
Chinese ink on paper, possible to have a frame upon simple request
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Chinese Contemporary Drawing by He Jinshi - Circles
Located in Paris, IDF
Chinese ink on paper, possible to have a frame upon simple request
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Swiss Contemporary Art by Zdenka Palkovic - Brave New World
Located in Paris, IDF
Pastel on paper
Framed 85 x 65 cm
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paste, Paper
View
Located in New York, NY
ink and watercolor on paper, 42"x 42" available framed
This painting is from as series of ink and watercolor paintings that depict ad-hoc structures, similar to tree hous...
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Watercolor
Illustration Framed on Canvas: 'December Bride'
Located in New York, NY
The murder of John Lennon. The birth of my children. Nixon’s resignation. Brain surgery.
Driven by the desire to express myself, and leave a physical record of my life and times, I’v...
Category
1990s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Canvas, Wood, Color Pencil
Friday I'm in Love (red gold)
By Ayse Wilson
Located in Westport, CT
Ayse Wilson is a Turkish-American artist who lives and lives and works in Connecticut. Her work draws from memory and emotion to remind viewers of youth, innocence and the timeless space we occupy when we are young. She creates lively and childlike characters, finding inspiration in the works of early Italian Renaissance masters such as Fra Angelico.
Wilson graduated from Wellesley College in 1991, and pursued her education in Florence. She received her MFA at New York Academy of Art, and later worked as a painting assistant to Jeff Koons for two years.
This current series employs the toile wallpaper samples that the artist had lying around her house during lockdown as a backdrop for ambiguous and complicated feelings toward quarantine and domestic confinement. In this work, she is hoping to narrate how fear of the pandemic unknown, coupled with household anxieties, and increased self-awareness contributed to the mixed emotions of security and hostility towards enforced domesticity within a masked world.
The toile tradition represented a coincidental parallel with the COVID era rediscovery of old-fashioned pastoral lifestyles, and the embrace of self-reliant artisanal practices like cooking, gardening, sewing, and prescribed homeschooling. Her colorful inscriptions, some original, some appropriated, layer in our contemporary lifestyle, our modern methods of connectivity as well as our high-tech world.
The punky playfulness of the neon and fluorescents contrasts with the backdrop of Fragonard-esque imagery and hopes to delivery her messages of love and connection, awareness and newness, hope and emotions, as well as the occasional glossily veiled hostility expressed in certain so-called “love” declarations.
The phrases evolved from a previous series addressing the Me Too movement...
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Acrylic
Georgian Contemporary Art by Nina Narimanishvili - Inside Out
Located in Paris, IDF
Mixed media on handmade paper
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Mixed Media
Georgian Contemporary Art by Nina Narimanishvili - Inside Out 5
Located in Paris, IDF
Mixed media on handmade paper
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Mixed Media
Georgian Contemporary Art by Nina Narimanishvili - Inside Out 2
Located in Paris, IDF
Mixed media on handmade paper
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Mixed Media
Chinese Contemporary Art by Xia FuNing - Without Boundary
By Xia FuNing
Located in Paris, IDF
Oil on paper
Xia Fu-Ning is a Chinese artist born in 1962 in Nanjing. He was a professor in the Department of Fine Arts during the 1980s at Tianjin Polytechnic University. He curren...
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Oil
Chinese Contemporary Art by Xia FuNing - The Unexpectations
By Xia FuNing
Located in Paris, IDF
Oil on paper
Xia Fu-Ning is a Chinese artist born in 1962 in Nanjing. He was a professor in the Department of Fine Arts during the 1980s at Tianjin Polytechnic University. He curren...
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Oil
Chinese Contemporary Art by Xia FuNing - Series The Fugitive Light No.1
By Xia FuNing
Located in Paris, IDF
Oil on paper
Xia Fu-Ning is a Chinese artist born in 1962 in Nanjing. He was a professor in the Department of Fine Arts during the 1980s at Tianjin Polytechnic University. He curren...
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Oil
Chinese Contemporary Art by Xia FuNing - The Passage of Life
By Xia FuNing
Located in Paris, IDF
Description:
Xia Funing(B.1962)
The passage of life
80 x 110
oil on paper , framed
hand signed on the reverse side
Dated 2021
Xia FuNing was born on 09/01/ 1962 in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. In 1981, he studied in the department of Fine art of Su-Zhou university. He was once a professor in the Department of Fine Arts in 1985 in Tianjin Polytechnic University. Since 2020 , he has been invited specially as postgraduate tutor in the Department of Fine-arts of
Nanjing normal university, and currently lives and works in Song Zhuang Art Colony, Beijing, China.
Zhuangzi et Laozi’s philosophy has exercised a great influence on Xia’s artworks. In his oriental vision, Xia realized that “Qi (the character signi es the original reality, breath of life), the major component of life, is of great signi cance in painting.
Chinese people adopt the phrase “Qi-Xi (signifying breath, xi means the process of breathing) to perceive the intrinsic aspect of art in a more vivid and essential manner, displaying the origin and status of object existence. In his works, the artist arranges the daily intimate surroundings in “Qi-Xi(breathing) ”by means of his unique visual logic, surpasses the transient and restricted nature, retrieves the poetic and spiritual feature of their existence origin, thus attaining freedom and eternity.
His solo shows has staged at Yushan Contemporary Art Museum, Jiang Su , China (2018); 5 Art Center, 5 Art Center, Beijing, China (2014); Gallery Elements, Suzhou, China(2014); National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China( 2013). Major group exhibitions include: “ Contemporary Burgeoning of Oriental Heritage”Reality space, Beijing, China (2016); “New Enlightenment” cross-border exhiinitionn and reading, traditional arts gallery, Nanjing, Jiangsu , China (2016); “Sublimation” contemporary oil painting sketching...
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Oil
Chinese Contemporary Art by Xia FuNing - Not See, Not Know
By Xia FuNing
Located in Paris, IDF
Oil on paper
Xia Fu-Ning is a Chinese artist born in 1962 in Nanjing. He was a professor in the Department of Fine Arts during the 1980s at Tianjin Polytechnic University. He curren...
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Oil
Corner
Located in New York, NY
ink and watercolor on paper, 26"x 30"
This painting is from as series of ink and watercolor paintings that depict ad-hoc structures, similar to tree houses or forts. The ...
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Watercolor
Chinese Contemporary Art by Xia FuNing - Life Facing Death No 2
By Xia FuNing
Located in Paris, IDF
Oil on paper
Xia Fu-Ning is a Chinese artist born in 1962 in Nanjing. He was once a professor in the Department of Fine Arts during 1980s in Tianjin Polytechnic University and curre...
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Oil
Chinese Contemporary Art by Li Chi-Guang - Series the Red Mountain No.17
By Li Shi-Guang
Located in Paris, IDF
Ink on paper
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Chinese Contemporary Art by Li Chi-Guang - Series the Red Mountain No.15
By Li Shi-Guang
Located in Paris, IDF
Ink on paper
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Chinese Contemporary Art by Li Chi-Guang - Series the Red Mountain No.2
By Li Shi-Guang
Located in Paris, IDF
Ink on paper
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Chinese Contemporary Art by Li Chi-Guang - Series the Red Mountain No.19
By Li Shi-Guang
Located in Paris, IDF
Ink on paper
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Chinese Contemporary Art by Li Chi-Guang - Series the Red Mountain No.22
By Li Shi-Guang
Located in Paris, IDF
Ink on paper
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Chinese Contemporary Art by Li Chi-Guang - Series the Red Mountain No.18
By Li Shi-Guang
Located in Paris, IDF
Ink on paper
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Chinese Contemporary Art by Li Chi-Guang - Series the Red Mountain No.21
By Li Shi-Guang
Located in Paris, IDF
Ink on paper
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Chinese Contemporary Art by Li Chi-Guang - Series the Red Mountain No.16
By Li Shi-Guang
Located in Paris, IDF
Ink on paper
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Chinese Contemporary Art by Li Chi-Guang - Series the Red Mountain No.4
By Li Shi-Guang
Located in Paris, IDF
Ink on paper
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Chinese Contemporary Art by Li Chi-Guang - Series the Red Mountain No.12
By Li Shi-Guang
Located in Paris, IDF
Ink on paper
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Chinese Contemporary Art by Li Chi-Guang - Series the Red Mountain No.9
By Li Shi-Guang
Located in Paris, IDF
Ink on paper
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Chinese Contemporary Art by Li Chi-Guang - Series the Red Mountain No.11
By Li Shi-Guang
Located in Paris, IDF
Ink on paper
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Chinese Contemporary Art by Li Chi-Guang - Series the Red Mountain No.10
By Li Shi-Guang
Located in Paris, IDF
Ink on paper
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Compulsion Drift
Located in New York, NY
watercolor, charcoal, graphite, ink on paper
19"x25" available framed
Known for her idiosyncratic cartographic explorations of the psyche and mental states, Smith incorporates ou...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Charcoal, Graphite, Ink, Paper, Watercolor
Chinese Contemporary Art by Xia FuNing - The Floating Clouds
By Xia FuNing
Located in Paris, IDF
Oil on paper
Xia Fu-Ning is a Chinese artist born in 1962 in Nanjing. He was once a professor in the Department of Fine Arts during 1980s in Tianjin Polytechnic University and curre...
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Oil
Chinese Contemporary Art by Xia FuNing - The Beacon Tower
By Xia FuNing
Located in Paris, IDF
Oil on paper
Xia Fu-Ning is a Chinese artist born in 1962 in Nanjing. He was once a professor in the Department of Fine Arts during 1980s in Tianjin Polytechnic University and curre...
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Oil, Paper
Chinese Contemporary Art by Xia FuNing - La Rencontre
By Xia FuNing
Located in Paris, IDF
Oil on paper
Xia Fu-Ning is a Chinese artist born in 1962 in Nanjing. He was once a professor in the Department of Fine Arts during 1980s in Tianjin Polytechnic University and curre...
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Oil
Chinese Contemporary Art by Xia FuNing - Contemplation
By Xia FuNing
Located in Paris, IDF
Oil on paper
Xia Fu-Ning is a Chinese artist born in 1962 in Nanjing. He was once a professor in the Department of Fine Arts during 1980s in Tianjin Polytechnic University and curre...
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Oil, Paper
Chinese Contemporary Art by Xia FuNing - The Spread of Red
By Xia FuNing
Located in Paris, IDF
Watercolour on paper
Xia Fu-Ning is a Chinese artist born in 1962 in Nanjing. He was once a professor in the Department of Fine Arts during 1980s in Tianjin Polytechnic University a...
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor, Paper
Chinese Contemporary Art by Xia FuNing - Blood Sacrifice
By Xia FuNing
Located in Paris, IDF
Watercolour on paper
Xia Fu-Ning is a Chinese artist born in 1962 in Nanjing. He was once a professor in the Department of Fine Arts during 1980s in Tianjin Polytechnic University a...
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
Carpet II
Located in New York, NY
Stratis Tavlaridis
Carpet II, 2014
100x140cm
handmade cut out paper
Stratis Tavlaridis, was born in 1990 in Thessaloniki, Greece. He is a visual artist who constructs perforated in...
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Archival Paper
American Contemporary Art by Michael Alan - Serenity
By Michael Alan
Located in Paris, IDF
Watercolor and ink on Bristol paper
Michael Alan is an American artist born in 1977 who lives & works in New York, USA. As a multidisciplinary artist. Hi...
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink, Watercolor
American Contemporary Art by Michael Alan - Toxic America
By Michael Alan
Located in Paris, IDF
Ink, wash, blow pen, pen & colored pencil on paper
Michael Alan is an American artist born in 1977 who lives & works in New York, USA. As a multidisciplinary artist. His work has be...
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink, Pen, Color Pencil
American Contemporary Art by Michael Alan - Sticks & Bones in my Head
By Michael Alan
Located in Paris, IDF
Ink on archival red paper
Michael Alan is an American artist born in 1977 who lives & works in New York, USA. As a multidisciplinary artist. His work has been featured in many solo ...
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Archival Paper
American Contemporary Art by Michael Alan - Review Board
By Michael Alan
Located in Paris, IDF
Ink wash & technical pen on paper
Michael Alan is an American artist born in 1977 who lives & works in New York, USA. As a multidisciplinary artist. His work has been featured in ma...
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Pen, Paper
Contemporary abstract drawings and watercolors for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Contemporary abstract drawings and watercolors available for sale on 1stDibs. Works in this style were very popular during the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artists have continued to produce works inspired by this movement. If you’re looking to add abstract drawings and watercolors created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of blue, orange, purple, red and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including David Barnett, Renato Garza Cervera, Michael Alan, and Reginald K. Gee. Frequently made by artists working with Paper, and Paint and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large Contemporary abstract drawings and watercolors, so small editions measuring 2.96 inches across are also available. Prices for abstract drawings and watercolors made by famous or emerging artists can differ depending on medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $60 and tops out at $190,000, while the average work sells for $1,402.