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Contemporary Figurative 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
Color:  Green
Ruckenfigur
Located in Montreal, Quebec
In his book Now or Never naturalist Tim Flannery describes a vision of a world with a dead purple ocean and a poisonous green sky. This is a world where warming has melted the ice ca...
Category

2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings

Materials

Wood Panel, Acrylic

Viswaroopam 1, Hindu Mythical, Acrylic on Canvas, Blue, Green, Pink "In Stock"
Located in Kolkata, West Bengal
Birendra Pani - Viswaroopam - 1 - 30 x 42 inches (unframed size) Acrylic on Canvas ** Will be delivered in rolled form Should you want the work in ready to hand condition please c...
Category

2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings

Materials

Acrylic, Canvas

Japanese Contemporary Art - Wake Up, But Never Awake From The Dream
Located in Paris, IDF
Oil on canvas
Category

2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Tropical - Abstraction, Expression, Pop, Street Art, Energetic, Joyful
Located in Salzburg, AT
Paweł Myszka graduated from the European Academy of Arts in Warsaw. He holds a Master of Arts degree in Graphic Design and Painting and graduated with hon...
Category

2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

French Contemporary Art by KEJ - Un Monde Violent
By Kej
Located in Paris, IDF
KEJ is a French artist born in 1959 who lives & works in Paris, France. He is considered to belong to the movement of Figuration Libre & Outsider Art. His works are referenced in the...
Category

2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Acrylic

French Contemporary Art by KEJ - Aenigma
By Kej
Located in Paris, IDF
KEJ is a French artist born in 1959 who lives & works in Paris, France. He is considered to belong to the movement of Figuration Libre & Outsider Art. His works are referenced in the...
Category

2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Acrylic

Human Hand, Acrylic in Green & Black, Young Santiniketan Artist Bilasendu Sil
Located in Kolkata, West Bengal
Bilasendu Sil - Untitled - 15 x 11 inches (unframed size) Acrylic on Paper ( ALL IN DOOR DELIVERED FRAMED )
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Figurative Paintings

Materials

Paper, Acrylic

Korean Contemporary Art by Shin Seung-Hun -Fantasy Jejuisland, Island Girl Story
Located in Paris, IDF
Shin Seung-Hun is a South-Korean artist born in 1979 who lives & works in Jeju Island, Korea. He is considered by critics as the new Korean Takashi Murakami.
Category

2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Japanese Contemporary Art - Someday, We Will Go There In A Sparkling Green Boat
Located in Paris, IDF
Oil on canvas
Category

2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"boat in quiet sea " oil cm. 50 x 40 2016
Located in Torino, IT
Boat,sea,green Birgitte LYKKE MADSEN (Odense, Denmark, 1960) 1981-86, Educated from the Academy of Fine Arts, Odense First solo exhibition in 1983 Artist statement: “I am a painter. I am fascinated by the difference in cold and warm colors and the different atmospheres that it creates in our mind. My hereby presented oil paintings are describing people in water...
Category

2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

El origen de las especies
Located in New York, NY
El origen de las especies, 2018 120w x 120h Oil on cloth Julio Alan Lepez graduated from the National School of Arts Prilidiano Pueyrredón in 1997. He has been the subject of solo and group exhibitions internationally, including at Museo Municipal de Arte in La Plata, Argentina, Centro Cultural de España in Mexico City, Centro Cultural Recoletta in Buenos Aires, Artemisa Gallery...
Category

2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings

Materials

Fabric, Oil

Tante Tilly
Located in New Orleans, LA
[ New Orleans, LA :: b.1959, Augsburg, Germany ] In 1959, Ruth Owens was born to a young German woman and a Black serviceman from Georgia. The nomadic military lifestyle of her chi...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Party, Dan McDermott, Original art, Figurative Painting, Oil on Linen
Located in Deddington, GB
Dan McDermott' painting 'Party' is an original oil painting on linen. This artwork is sold unframed, measuring at Size : H 50 cm x W 70 cm x D 3 cm. Dan McDermott’s dynamic painting...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Paintings

Materials

Linen, Oil

Die Unterhändler_in (White Flag)
By Sebastian Maas
Located in München, BY
Sebastian Maas Die Unterhändler_in (White Flag), 2022 Oil on truck tarpaulin 190 x 270 cm (74 3/4 x 110 1/4 in) Collage-like, Sebastian Maas takes concret...
Category

2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

"GEMELOS", MesoAmerican, Mexico, myth, gods, twins, Aztec, Mayan, dream, statue
Located in Toronto, Ontario
GEMELOS, an oil painting on canvas by Anna Ortiz, measures 48" high x 40" wide. Gemelos is recent work and characteristic of the artist's practice – the pal...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

"Untitled, " Acrylic and Paper Collage on Canvas
Located in Houston, TX
This work was one of Long’s earliest compositions as an artist. Even earlier in his artistic career, Long was interested in exploring the intersection of various media, branching out into new innovative spaces. This work demonstrates the technique and forms at play that have since germinated into Long’s signature style. Bert L. Long Jr., was self-taught artist, was born in 1940 in Texas, grew up the Houston’s historic Fifth Ward and received his formal education from UCLA. Following a career as a successful master chef, Long decided to devote himself entirely to art in the late 1970’s. He began to explore folk art and assemblage to create a unique body of work, attracting the attention of Jim Harithas, then Director of the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, and artists John Alexander, Salvatore Scarpitta and James Surls. His life spanned an era of radical change in the American social climate, the influence of which can be seen clearly in his work. Long’s paintings and sculptures incorporate a high level of skill and sophisticated knowledge of art history, along with complex philosophical and social issues.  Long describes the philosophy behind his work as "a quest to help people diagnose their inner self," believing his art to be "the vehicle to help facilitate the process." “As artists we have the obligation to provide the world with art which communicates as truth. I believe that art has the power to heal our souls of their afflictions. I try to create art which helps to diagnose the prevalent conditions within our societies, hopefully providing an insightfulness which will help us all become brothers and sisters united in equality and compassion”                                       - Bert L. Long, Jr. The late Peter Marzio, former Director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, said of Bert Long during the major retrospective of Long’s work at the museum: “Bert Long does not avert his gaze from that which is painful, but as [his artworks] testify, he also brings a spirit of joy and redemption to his art. We can all learn from this great artist.” Over Long’s 33-year career as a painter, sculptor, and photographer, he had several solo exhibitions at respected museums and was awarded many significant awards including the National Endowment for the Arts Grant in 1987 and the prestigious international Prix de Rome fellowship in 1990. Other notable awards of Long’s include the Texas Accountants and Lawyers for the Arts Artist of the Year Award in 2009, the Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation Emergency Assistance Grant in 1997, the Houston Art League Texas Artist of the Year in 1990, the NEA Visual Artists Fellowship Grant, 1987 and the Bemis Foundation Residency in 1998. His work can be seen in over 100 private and public collections worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Houston Museum of Fine Art, the Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, the El Paso Museum of Art, and the Instituto de Bachillerato in Spain. With a recent solo exhibition at the Houston Museum of African American Culture and an exhibition overseas which is pending featuring his work, plus interest from several national museums, Bert L. Long Jr. continues to be recognized as an important African American artist throughout Texas, nationally and internationally. Bert L. Long, Jr. "Untitled" 1978 Acrylic and Paper Collage on Canvas...
Category

1970s Contemporary Figurative Paintings

Materials

Acrylic, Canvas

Contemporary figurative paintings for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Contemporary figurative 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 figurative 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, orange, purple, red and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including America Martin, Alexandru Rădvan, Sax Berlin, and Adam Mysock. 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 figurative paintings, so small editions measuring 0.75 inches across are also available. Prices for figurative paintings 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 $13 and tops out at $254,827, while the average work sells for $3,411.

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