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Contemporary Abstract Paintings

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
Period: 1970s
Patrick Hughes - Hanging on a hook, rainbow, gloss, moon, contemporary, painting
Located in London, GB
Patrick Hughes (b.1939) Hanging on a Hook 1978 gloss paint on board 91 x 91 cm Price: £19,000 GBP Provenance: Private collection, UK (acquired directly from the artist in the late ...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paint, Board

Phenomena Winter Harth by Paul Jenkins - Abstract Expressionist painting
Located in London, GB
Phenomena Winter Hart by Paul Jenkins (1923-2012) Oil and sand on canvas 66 x 122 cm (26 x 48 inches) Signed, titled and dated on verso, Paul Jenkins “Phenomena Winter Harth” 1978 T...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

P045
Located in Westport, CT
Over the course of his 40-year career German-American artist, Gunnar Theel, has created a rich body of work largely comprised of painting and sculpture. S...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Dry Leaves, Large Painting by George Chemeche
Located in Long Island City, NY
Dry Leaves by George Chemeche, Israeli/American (1934) Date: 1975 Acrylic on Canvas, signed Size: 60 x 72 in. (152.4 x 182.88 cm)
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

David Kimball Anderson Large Oil Stick Pastel Abstract Flowers Drawing
Located in Surfside, FL
Large bright vivid drawing done in oil crayon or oil pastel. Abstract floral drawing. David Kimball Anderson’s work is bold and graceful, respectful and spiritual. A practicing Bud...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Oil Crayon, Oil Pastel

New Finnish Abstraction, 1972-2002, Acrylic on canvas, Flags, Visual Poetry
Located in Milano, IT
Work part of the series "New International Abstraction" produced from 1972 to 2002 accompanied by certificate of authenticity on photograph issued by the Sarenco Foundation. Coming f...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

New French Abstraction, 1972-2002, Acrilico su tela, Bandiere, Poesia Visiva
Located in Milano, IT
Opera parte della serie "Nuova astrazione internazionale" firmato, titolato e datato al verso. Prodotta dal 1972 al 2002 accompagnata da certificazione di autenticità su fotografia ...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

New Polish Abstraction, 1972-2002, Acrylic on canvas, Flags, Visual Poetry
Located in Milano, IT
Work part of the series "New International Abstraction" produced from 1972 to 2002 accompanied by certificate of authenticity on photograph issued by the Sarenco Foundation. Coming f...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

“Oranges”
Located in Southampton, NY
Interesting abstract of a stillife of oranges by the American artist, Clifford Johnson. Signed lower left. Titled verso. Condition is excellent. Circa 1970. Presently unframed. ...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

BILLY, 1975 Constructed Mixed Media Painting, Wall Sculpture
Located in Surfside, FL
BILLY, 1975, epoxy painting on riveted fiberglass and aluminum, titled signed and dated verso . Gallery label from Obelisk Gallery, Boston, MA Tom Holland (born 1936 in Seattle, Was...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Metal

Firecracker
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: William Copley Title: Firecracker Year: 1975 Medium: Oil on Canvas with Match and Firecracker, signed and dated Size: 12 in. x 12 in. (30.48 cm x 30.48 cm) Frame Size: 13 x 1...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Found Objects, Oil

Celestial Fields Post Soviet Avant Garde Russian Israeli Art, Leviathan Group
Located in Surfside, FL
SGenre: Contemporary Subject: Abstract Medium: Oil Surface: Canvas Country: France Dimensions: 23 3/4" x 19 3/4" x 1/2" Dimensions w/Frame: 24" x 20 1/2" A bright and colorful abstract oil painting from Ackerman's Celestial Field series. While most pieces in this series are goauche, this electric blue painting is done in oil. Shmuel Ackerman, (Shmuel Akkerman), Israeli, born 1951, Soviet Union, active in Israel and France. Shmuel Ackerman was born in Ukraine to a religious family. In 1973, he immigrated to Israel and settled in Jerusalem. From his earliest work, he created abstract symbolist art influenced by folkloristic motifs and modern Western art...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Eagle Kachina, painting, by Dan Namingha, vertical, brown, red, black, turquoise
Located in Santa Fe, NM
Eagle Kachina, painting, by Dan Namingha, vertical, brown, red, black, turquoise We present paintings, prints, and sculptures by Southwestern luminary, DAN NAMINGHA. Our collection ...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Merry Christmas, Spray Paint, Stencil
Located in Surfside, FL
Matt Mullican (born September 18, 1951 in Santa Monica, California) is an American artist and son of artists Lee Mullican and Luchita Hurtado. Mullican received his BFA from CalArts in 1974, and rose to prominence as a member of the "Pictures Generation" along with such artists as Troy Brauntuch, Jack Goldstein, David Salle, James Welling, Sherrie Levine, Cindy Sherman, Louise Lawler...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Spray Paint, Stencil

Ross Bleckner Abstract Oil Painting
Located in Larchmont, NY
Ross Bleckner (American, b. 1949) Untitled, c. 1970 Oil on canvas 43 x 34 in. Signed verso: Ross B/ho Ross Bleckner grew up in Hewlett, Long Island, New York; drawing all the time without being aware that other artists existed. He was the middle child between two sisters; his father manufactures electronic parts He attended New York University where Sol Lewitt, Chuck Close and others were his teachers. He graduated in 1972, then spent a year at the California Institute of Arts. His contacts in the next few years were very fortuitous; Sol Lewitt and Chuck Close, Carl Andre, David Salle, Julian Schnabel, etc. Bleckner is on the nervous side, beset by self-doubt, insomnia, and gloom. He is unpretentious, although he is bluntly handsome, with olive complexion, and a compact build. He is "10 percent that is superficial and 90 percent that has to do with the depths and that is threatened by living. He is a very complicated individual. He is a very, very morose, deeply feeling, hardworking artist- he takes a lot from within himself - but always, no matter how successful he is, he feels he is going to fall into those depths." 1 Bleckner first exhibited his work in New York in 1974. The following year he was given his first one-man show; he was included in the 1975 Whitney Biennial.. Since about 1985 has addressed many of his paintings to the subject of AIDS- both documenting it as a historical phenomenon and commemorating specific individuals who have died. Written and submitted by Jean Ershler Schatz, artist and researcher from Laguna Woods, California. Bio sourced from the Archives of askArt. Sources include: Ross Bleckner's Mood Indigo by Lisa Liebmann, in ARTnews, May 1993...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Man - Original Oil painting by Danilo Bergamo - 1970s
Located in Roma, IT
Man is an original contemporary artwork realized by Danilo Bergamo in the 1970s. Mixed colored oil painting on canvas. Hand signed on the lower margin. Fair conditions Danilo Ber...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Defilé - Tempera by Danilo Bergamo - 1970s
Located in Roma, IT
Defilè is an original mixed colored tempera on cardboard realized by Danilo Bergamo in 1970s.. Hand signed on the lower right margin...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Tempera

Mixed Media Gravel Painting, Sculpture Abstract Expressionist Thomas Nozkowski
Located in Surfside, FL
Thomas Edward Nozkowski (American, 1944-2019). Original mixed media abstract composition art utilizing colored rock gravel. Titled, "Gravel Piece." Hand signed on verso, dated 5/73. Provenance: Collection of the Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach, Florida (Museum Inventory No. t.13.2000.053.) Thomas Nozkowski was an American contemporary painter. He achieved a place of prominence through his small scale paintings and drawings that push the limits of visual language. His work appeared in more than 300 exhibitions over the past 40 years. He had more than 70 solo exhibitions, and 24 of his paintings were featured in a large-scale retrospective in 1987 at Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC Nozkowski was born in Teaneck, New Jersey and raised in Dumont, where he graduated from Dumont High School in 1961. He spent his youth in the New Jersey suburbs, admiring New York culture from afar before moving there after graduating high school. His father worked in an Alcoa Aluminum factory and then as a postman. His mother worked in factories and as a bookkeeper. One of his aunts was a schoolteacher who gave him and his younger sister art supplies. When he was a senior in high school he won a scholarship to attend a painting class at New York University's School of Education, where he studied with Robert Kaupelis and Hale Woodruff. While he earned his BFA at Cooper Union, Nozkowski was making sculpture. He graduated in 1967. He later transitioned to large scale abstract expressionist painting, and exhibited some of his earliest works in group shows at the storied Betty Parsons Gallery. Richard Tuttle had his first show a year after he began assisting Betty Parsons. Thomas Nozkowski worked for her after graduating from Cooper Union. Between 1949 and 1951. In the course of 36 years, the Betty Parsons Gallery mounted important early shows of Robert Rauschenberg, Kenzo Okada...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Stone

Large Floralscape Original Oil Painting on Canvas by William Verdult, Framed
Located in Encino, CA
Untitled Floralscape, an original oil painting on canvas by William Verdult, is a piece for the true collector. The artist's genius reflects a fiery artistic approach that inspires u...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Agony - Drawing by Leo Guida - 1977
Located in Roma, IT
Agony is an original artwork realized in 1977 by the italian Contemporary artist Leo Guida (1992 - 2017). Original drawing pencil on ivory-colored paper. Hand-signed and dated...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Pencil

Composition - Original Oil Pastels by Jean Pons - 1970
Located in Roma, IT
Composition is an original oil pastels drawing on paper, realized in 1970 by the French artist Jean Pons (1913- 2005). This contemporary artwork, signed and dated on the front and...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil Pastel

The Beginning, 2021, cast paper, framed sculpture, black, Chinese text
Located in Santa Fe, NM
Cheung Yee, Cast Paper painting, wall sculpture, black, edition CHEUNG YEE (1936–2019) The Chinese artist Cheung Yee, a pioneer of the contemporary art scene in Hong Kong, died in Los Angeles on December 4 at the age of eighty-three. The Hong Kong Museum of Art confirmed his passing. Best known for his paper castings; bronze relief; and wooden, stone, and bronze sculptures, which mixed Western modernism, traditional Chinese aesthetics, and elements of folklore and ancient philosophies, Cheung cofounded the avant-garde Circle Art Group with Hon Chi Fun, Wucius Wong, and several other peers. The group was active from 1964 to 1971. Born in Guangzhou, China, in 1936, Cheung was raised in Hong Kong but was forced to leave the region when the Japanese invaded China during the Second Sino-Japanese War; his family relocated to Guangzhou. When the conflict ended, Cheung returned to the region and began learning Gongbi, a realist brush technique in Chinese painting. In the 1950s, he studied art at Taiwan Normal University in Taipei, where he met his wife. Throughout his schooling, Cheung pursued his interests in archaeology and began experimenting with different materials and with approaches to copperplate etching, welding, and modeling. In 1964, Cheung’s first major retrospective was organized by the City Museum and Art Gallery at Hong Kong City Hall. The following year, he received a grant from the Institute of International Education to study in the United States and Europe. Since then, he has had solo exhibitions at the Hong Kong Museum of Art, AO Vertical Art...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Handmade Paper

Untitled - Oil Paint on Canvas by Leo Guida - 1970s
Located in Roma, IT
Untitled is an original Contemporary artwork realized in the 1970s by the italian artist Leo Guida (1992 - 2017). Original Oil on canvas. Dimensions: cm 40 x 3 x 50. Fair conditio...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Mandolin - Oil Paint on Canvas by Leo Guida - 1970s
Located in Roma, IT
Mandolin is an original Contemporary artwork realized in the 1970s by the italian Contemporary artist Leo Guida (1992 - 2017). Original Oil on canvas. Dimensions: cm 40 x 3 x 50. ...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Untitled - surreal landscape minimalist painting
Located in New York, NY
This early work by Jacob El Hanani was done in 1970. It is mixed media on masonite. It is hand signed in Hebrew and English in the bottom right. The piece comes framed in a black woo...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Masonite, Ink

Llano Prairie, Oil Painting by Thelma Appel
Located in Long Island City, NY
Oil painting by Thelma Appel circa 1975. A landscape of grass fields fill the canvas, gently swaying in the wind. Painted in bright, surreal multicolored tones of yellows, reds, and ...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Eyeball to Eyeball
Located in Palm Desert, CA
An oil on canvas, abstract painting executed in white, red, and pale pinks and blue by contemporary artist Hassel Smith. Signed "Hassel Smith, December 1972" on back. Signed "Has...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Ricercare un centro II (Looking for a Center 2) - 1970s - Guido Strazza
Located in Roma, IT
Acrylic on Panel. Hand signed, dated and titled on the rear. Authenticated by the artist on a photo. On rear: label “Il Collezionista d’Arte Contemporanea, Roma”. In excellent condit...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Flight on the Flieblies no.1 - Tempera on Paper by Alan Davie - 1972
Located in Roma, IT
Flight on the Flieblies no. 1 is a beautiful tempera on paper, realized by Alan Davie (1920-2014) in 1972. Signature and date in pencil on the lower right margin. Title in pencil on...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Tempera

Non nato non morto il 1° di settembre 190
Located in Roma, IT
Enamel on cardboard. Signed at lower right. Signed, dated and titled on overleaf. Authenticity certificate by Fondazione Pablo Echaurren.
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Enamel

Composed Flower Garden, Large Painting by George Chemeche
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: George Chemeche, Iraqi/American (1934 - ) Title: Composed Flower Garden Year: circa 1979 Medium: Six Acrylic on Canvas Panels mounted to Canvas, signed l.r. Image Size: 43.25...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Martignac, Polignac, Cavaignac
Located in Roma, IT
Enamel on cardboard. Signed at lower right. Signed, dated, titled on overleaf. Authentication by Fondazone Pablo Echaurren.
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Enamel

Abstract Statement Piece Pop Color Texture Vibrant 1970s Funky Groovy Fun Signed
Located in Milwaukee, WI
"Year In Year Out" is a large and intricate acrylic painting created by Joseph Rozman. Rozman is known for his playfulness with colors and shapes, as made evident with this boastful ...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Anche la Valvola Mitrale Ha Una Sua Morale - Original Enamel on Cardboard
Located in Roma, IT
Enamel on cardboard. Hand signed, 1970. Dimensions: 27x22 cm. This artwork by Pablo Echaurren is a typical example of his production in 70s. Echaurren, son of Sebastian Matta, is ...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Enamel

Yizzle
Located in New York, NY
1970s Geometric Abstract painting in bright oranges and silver tones, oil on linen
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Linen, Oil

Untitled (Borg)
Located in New York, NY
When Bucher moved back to Zurich from California in the mid-1970s and established her studio in an old butcher’s shop, she began creating latex castings of architectural elements, li...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Textile, Latex

Contemporary abstract paintings for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Contemporary abstract paintings 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 paintings created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of blue, purple, orange, red and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Anastasia Pelias, Chelsea Davine, Waleria Matelska, and Anna Maria Caboni. Frequently made by artists working with Paint, and Fabric 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 paintings, so small editions measuring 1.63 inches across are also available.

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