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
Artist: Bruce Adams
Acrylic Painting / Portrait / Figurative/ Museum/ Abstract/ Contemporary
By Bruce Adams
Located in Buffalo, NY
Bruce Adams was a painter, art educator, and writer. Born in Buffalo, N.Y., in 1952, he received a B.S. in 1976 and an M.A. in 1983 from Buffalo State College. Adams’s work is included in numerous private and museum collections, among them the Burchfield-Penney Art Center, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, the Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University, and the UB Anderson Gallery (all of which are located in Western New York...
Category
2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Materials
Acrylic, Paper
Oil Painting / Photorealism / Figurative Art / Human Figure /Museum
By Bruce Adams
Located in Buffalo, NY
Bruce Adams was a painter, art educator, and writer. Born in Buffalo, N.Y., in 1952, he received a B.S. in 1976 and an M.A. in 1983 from Buffalo State College. Adams’s work is includ...
Category
1980s Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil, Mixed Media
Oil Painting / Photorealism / Figurative Art / Human Figure /Museum
By Bruce Adams
Located in Buffalo, NY
Bruce Adams was a painter, art educator, and writer. Born in Buffalo, N.Y., in 1952, he received a B.S. in 1976 and an M.A. in 1983 from Buffalo State College. Adams’s work is included in numerous private and museum collections, among them the Burchfield-Penney Art Center, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, the Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University, and the UB Anderson Gallery (all of which are located in Western New York...
Category
1980s Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Mixed Media, Oil
Oil Painting / Photorealism / Figurative Art / Human Figure /Museum
By Bruce Adams
Located in Buffalo, NY
Bruce Adams was a painter, art educator, and writer. Born in Buffalo, N.Y., in 1952, he received a B.S. in 1976 and an M.A. in 1983 from Buffalo State College. Adams’s work is includ...
Category
1990s Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Materials
Oil, Canvas
Oil Painting / Photorealism / Figurative Art / Human Figure /Museum
By Bruce Adams
Located in Buffalo, NY
Bruce Adams was a painter, art educator, and writer. Born in Buffalo, N.Y., in 1952, he received a B.S. in 1976 and an M.A. in 1983 from Buffalo State College. Adams’s work is includ...
Category
1980s Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Oil Painting / Photorealism / Figurative Art / Human Figure /Museum
By Bruce Adams
Located in Buffalo, NY
Bruce Adams was a painter, art educator, and writer. Born in Buffalo, N.Y., in 1952, he received a B.S. in 1976 and an M.A. in 1983 from Buffalo State ...
Category
1990s Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Materials
Oil, Canvas
Acrylic Painting / Portrait / Figurative/ Museum/ Abstract/ Contemporary
By Bruce Adams
Located in Buffalo, NY
Bruce Adams was a painter, art educator, and writer. Born in Buffalo, N.Y., in 1952, he received a B.S. in 1976 and an M.A. in 1983 from Buffalo State College. Adams’s work is includ...
Category
2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Materials
Acrylic, Paper
Oil Painting / Photorealism / Figurative Art / Human Figure /Museum
By Bruce Adams
Located in Buffalo, NY
Bruce Adams was a painter, art educator, and writer. Born in Buffalo, N.Y., in 1952, he received a B.S. in 1976 and an M.A. in 1983 from Buffalo State College. Adams’s work is included in numerous private and museum collections, among them the Burchfield-Penney Art Center, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, the Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University, and the UB Anderson Gallery (all of which are located in Western New York...
Category
1990s Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Materials
Oil, Canvas
Oil Painting /Portrait/ Figurative Art / Human Figure /Museum
By Bruce Adams
Located in Buffalo, NY
Bruce Adams was a painter, art educator, and writer. Born in Buffalo, N.Y., in 1952, he received a B.S. in 1976 and an M.A. in 1983 from Buffalo State College. Adams’s work is includ...
Category
1990s Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Materials
Paper, Acrylic
Oil Painting / Photorealism / Figurative Art / Human Figure /Museum
By Bruce Adams
Located in Buffalo, NY
Bruce Adams was a painter, art educator, and writer. Born in Buffalo, N.Y., in 1952, he received a B.S. in 1976 and an M.A. in 1983 from Buffalo State College. Adams’s work is includ...
Category
Early 2000s Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Materials
Oil, Canvas
Acrylic Painting / Portrait / Figurative/ Museum/ Abstract/ Contemporary
By Bruce Adams
Located in Buffalo, NY
Bruce Adams was a painter, art educator, and writer. Born in Buffalo, N.Y., in 1952, he received a B.S. in 1976 and an M.A. in 1983 from Buffalo State College. Adams’s work is included in numerous private and museum collections, among them the Burchfield-Penney Art Center, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, the Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University, and the UB Anderson Gallery (all of which are located in Western New York...
Category
2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Materials
Acrylic, Paper
Acrylic Painting / Portrait / Figurative/ Museum/ Abstract/ Contemporary
By Bruce Adams
Located in Buffalo, NY
Bruce Adams was a painter, art educator, and writer. Born in Buffalo, N.Y., in 1952, he received a B.S. in 1976 and an M.A. in 1983 from Buffalo State College. Adams’s work is included in numerous private and museum collections, among them the Burchfield-Penney Art Center, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, the Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University, and the UB Anderson Gallery (all of which are located in Western New York...
Category
2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Materials
Acrylic, Paper
Acrylic Painting / Portrait / Figurative/ Museum/ Abstract/ Contemporary
By Bruce Adams
Located in Buffalo, NY
Bruce Adams was a painter, art educator, and writer. Born in Buffalo, N.Y., in 1952, he received a B.S. in 1976 and an M.A. in 1983 from Buffalo State College. Adams’s work is includ...
Category
2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Materials
Acrylic, Paper
Untitled 38 (Desert Sequence)
By Bruce Adams
Located in Buffalo, NY
An original oil on wood painting by contemporary American artist Bruce Adams.
This work was part of a recent pop up exhibition The Dreamer Who Dreams, which was curated to raise mon...
Category
2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Materials
Wood, Oil
Diana and the Stag
By Bruce Adams
Located in Buffalo, NY
Bruce Adams is best known as a conceptually based figurative painter who references various (often historical) painting styles. In exploring the act of painting, Adams peels back the...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Materials
Oil, Canvas
Untitled 012 (Snow)
By Bruce Adams
Located in Buffalo, NY
An original contemporary painting by American artist Bruce Adams.
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Materials
Oil, Canvas
Eros and Psyche in L.A.
By Bruce Adams
Located in Buffalo, NY
Bruce Adams is best known as a conceptually based figurative painter who references various (often historical) painting styles. In exploring the act of painting, Adams peels back the...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Materials
Oil, Canvas
Sampson and Dahlia
By Bruce Adams
Located in Buffalo, NY
Bruce Adams is best known as a conceptually based figurative painter who references various (often historical) painting styles. In exploring the act of painting, Adams peels back the layers of meaning inherent in making and viewing art.
Artist Statement:
Though we don’t generally think about it, thirteenth-century religious art actually reflects medieval European perceptions of events that occurred in the ancient Middle East. In the Divine Beauty project I filter sacred iconography through the secular lens of today’s societal perceptions by placing found commercial fashion imagery (from magazines and other sources) in the context of painted religious narratives, producing a clash of ideas that throw both sources into question.
Like many Western New Yorkers, I was raised Catholic. I attended a Catholic elementary school, went to church every day. While the indoctrination didn’t last beyond childhood, it did instill a lifelong affinity for the visual traditions of sacred art. But, as the recent economic meltdown has made apparent, conspicuous global consumption has replaced western religion today as the favored path to personal fulfillment. Fashion models serve as the new icons...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Materials
Gold Leaf
Barbara
By Bruce Adams
Located in Buffalo, NY
Bruce Adams is best known as a conceptually based figurative painter who references various (often historical) painting styles. In exploring the act of painting, Adams peels back the...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Materials
Gold Leaf
Narcissus with Venus Effect
By Bruce Adams
Located in Buffalo, NY
Bruce Adams is best known as a conceptually based figurative painter who references various (often historical) painting styles. In exploring the act of painting, Adams peels back the...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Materials
Oil, Canvas
A Pair of paintings Rituals 1 and Rituals 2
By Bruce Adams
Located in Buffalo, NY
A pair of original mixed media paintings by American contemporary artist Bruce Adams from the artist's technology series.
"Sometime around 1981 I was at my mother-in-law’s house r...
Category
1980s Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Materials
Mixed Media, Acrylic, Paper, Spray Paint
Doll Atrocities (Girl Parts and Boy Parts)
By Bruce Adams
Located in Buffalo, NY
A pair of mixed media paintings by American artist Bruce Adams. The frames were also painting by the artist and are meant to compliment the works and concept of the piece.
Bruce ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Materials
Wood, Archival Ink, Oil
Venus at her Mirror
By Bruce Adams
Located in Buffalo, NY
Bruce Adams is best known as a conceptually based figurative painter who references various (often historical) painting styles. In exploring the act of painting, Adams peels back the...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Materials
Oil, Canvas
Unbridled (Mrs. Clinton)
By Bruce Adams
Located in Buffalo, NY
Bruce Adams is best known as a conceptually based figurative painter who references various (often historical) painting styles. In exploring the act of painting, Adams peels back the...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Neo Geology
By Bruce Adams
Located in Buffalo, NY
Bruce Adams is best known as a conceptually based figurative painter who references various (often historical) painting styles. In exploring the act of painting, Adams peels back the...
Category
1980s Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Materials
Acrylic, Canvas
Woman on Couch with Boy
By Bruce Adams
Located in Buffalo, NY
With this series I continue my practice of alluding to historical painting styles and themes as a means of prompting various contextual associations. I began by referencing portrait ...
Category
1990s Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Matrix #3, How to Draw
By Bruce Adams
Located in Buffalo, NY
Bruce Adams is best known as a conceptually based figurative painter who references various (often historical) painting styles. In exploring the act of painting, Adams peels back the...
Category
1980s Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Materials
Acrylic, Canvas
Ampulla Veneration
By Bruce Adams
Located in Buffalo, NY
Bruce Adams is best known as a conceptually based figurative painter who references various (often historical) painting styles. In exploring the act of painting, Adams peels back the layers of meaning inherent in making and viewing art.
Artist Statement:
Though we don’t generally think about it, thirteenth-century religious art actually reflects medieval European perceptions of events that occurred in the ancient Middle East. In the Divine Beauty project I filter sacred iconography through the secular lens of today’s societal perceptions by placing found commercial fashion imagery (from magazines and other sources) in the context of painted religious narratives, producing a clash of ideas that throw both sources into question.
Like many Western New Yorkers, I was raised Catholic. I attended a Catholic elementary school, went to church every day. While the indoctrination didn’t last beyond childhood, it did instill a lifelong affinity for the visual traditions of sacred art. But, as the recent economic meltdown has made apparent, conspicuous global consumption has replaced western religion today as the favored path to personal fulfillment. Fashion models serve as the new icons...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Materials
Gold Leaf
Picture of People Sitting Before Painting - National Gallery, Washington DC
By Bruce Adams
Located in Buffalo, NY
Bruce Adams is best known as a conceptually based figurative painter who references various (often historical) painting styles. In exploring the act of painting, Adams peels back the...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Justice
By Bruce Adams
Located in Buffalo, NY
Bruce Adams is best known as a conceptually based figurative painter who references various (often historical) painting styles. In exploring the act of painting, Adams peels back the...
Category
20th Century Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Chaos Theory
By Bruce Adams
Located in Buffalo, NY
Bruce Adams is best known as a conceptually based figurative painter who references various (often historical) painting styles. In exploring the act of painting, Adams peels back the...
Category
1990s 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.