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Contemporary Art

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
Cowboy TV (framed) - large photograph of iconic movie in Western landscape
Cowboy TV (framed) - large photograph of iconic movie in Western landscape

Cowboy TV (framed) - large photograph of iconic movie in Western landscape

By Frank Schott

Located in San Francisco, CA

Large scale original photograph of vintage television set with iconic western movie in American Wild West landscape with "frameless" plexiglass facemounting Cowboy TV by Frank Schot...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Art

Materials

Photographic Paper, Archival Pigment, Plexiglass, Archival Ink, Archival...

Harness Racing, Beach, black and white photograph, limited edition landscape
Harness Racing, Beach, black and white photograph, limited edition landscape

Harness Racing, Beach, black and white photograph, limited edition landscape

By Gerald Berghammer

Located in Vienna, Vienna

Gerald Berghammer - Black and white minimalist landscape photography. Harness racing on a deserted sand beach near the ocean on a rainy day. Archival pigment ink print, edition of 9...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Art

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Archival Pigment

Soul of the City - 21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative Portrait, Africa Women
Soul of the City - 21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative Portrait, Africa Women

Soul of the City - 21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative Portrait, Africa Women

Located in Ibadan, Oyo

Pursuing dreams beyond borders is a journey fraught with complexities and challenges, yet it also offers profound opportunities for growth and transformation. "Finding Solace in Fore...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Art

Materials

Canvas, Ink, Mixed Media, Acrylic

Boxers - Lithograph by Giuseppe Gallo - 2008

Boxers - Lithograph by Giuseppe Gallo - 2008

By Giuseppe Gallo

Located in Roma, IT

Boxers is an original lithograph on paper realized by the artist Giuseppe Gallo in 2008. Edition 59/260, it is part of the suite "Olympic Games Beijing 2008". Excellent condition. ...

Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Art

Materials

Lithograph

Moments in Time (Sidewinder) - Polaroid

Moments in Time (Sidewinder) - Polaroid

By Stefanie Schneider

Located in Morongo Valley, CA

Moments in Time (Sidewinder) - 2008 20x20cm, Edition of 10, Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist Inventory #3331 Not mounted. Stef...

Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Art

Materials

Photographic Film, Archival Paper, C Print, Color, Polaroid

Nirvana Nevermind original color slide print

Nirvana Nevermind original color slide print

Located in Austin, TX

Signed print taken from an original color slide of Nirvana taken by Kirk Weddle. This slide was taken during the famous swimming pool sessions with Nirvana for the release of Nevermi...

Category

Late 20th Century Contemporary Art

Materials

Digital Pigment

Forgiveness Then (Sidewinder) - 21st Century, Polaroid, Contemporary

Forgiveness Then (Sidewinder) - 21st Century, Polaroid, Contemporary

By Stefanie Schneider

Located in Morongo Valley, CA

Forgiveness Then (Sidewinder) - 2005 24x20cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print based on the Polaroid. Signature label and certificate. Artist Inventory 3364....

Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Art

Materials

Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, C Print, Color, Polaroid

Wooden Boat House - Black and White Photograph, Limited Edition - Lakescape
Wooden Boat House - Black and White Photograph, Limited Edition - Lakescape

Wooden Boat House - Black and White Photograph, Limited Edition - Lakescape

By Gerald Berghammer

Located in Vienna, Vienna

Gerald Berghammer - Black and white long exposure waterscape Photography. Lakeside cabin surrounded by trees with a calm reflective lake in the foreground. Archival pigment ink prin...

Category

2010s Contemporary Art

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Archival Pigment

American Dance Festival 2001 Offset Print, Contemporary, Unframed
American Dance Festival 2001 Offset Print, Contemporary, Unframed

American Dance Festival 2001 Offset Print, Contemporary, Unframed

By Cecily Brown

Located in Brooklyn, NY

Paper Size: 20.5 x 27.75 inches ( 52.07 x 70.485 cm ) Image Size: 20.5 x 27.75 inches ( 52.07 x 70.485 cm ) Framed: No Condition: A-: Near Mint, very light signs of handling Additional Details: Offset lithograph poster created by Cecily Brown...

Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Art

Materials

Offset

Fabric Cat, Original Painting
Fabric Cat, Original Painting

Fabric Cat, Original Painting

Located in San Francisco, CA

Artist Comments
A pink and purple cat prowls with quiet confidence, showing both elegance and attitude. Improvised geometric shapes and layered washes of paint reveal the unmis...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Art

Materials

Watercolor

Circular Portrait on Ochre Acrylic on Wood Reflecting Identity and Belonging
Circular Portrait on Ochre Acrylic on Wood Reflecting Identity and Belonging

Circular Portrait on Ochre Acrylic on Wood Reflecting Identity and Belonging

By Natasha Lelenco

Located in FISTERRA, ES

Circular contemporary portrait in acrylic on wood exploring identity, migration, and belonging through symbolic inscription and sculptural form. Currency #259 by Natasha Lelenco por...

Category

2010s Contemporary Art

Materials

Wood, Spray Paint, Acrylic

Two male Nudes. Painting.Pastel, carbon pencil, ink on archival paper mounted
Two male Nudes. Painting.Pastel, carbon pencil, ink on archival paper mounted

Two male Nudes. Painting.Pastel, carbon pencil, ink on archival paper mounted

By Celso José Castro Daza

Located in Miami Beach, FL

Drawing on paper is his basic work tool, some are sketches of his surviving works, others are sketches of moments he documents. Undefined by medium, Celso Castro’s works each carry the presence of the artist’s hand through the transparency of their process. Castro’s oeuvre is strongly divided between his photomontage assemblies and watercolor paintings: the prior is marked by the labor-intensive deconstruction of portrait photographs and the latter, by the seemingly frenzied recreation of a past encounter rendered in the drips and scribbles of paint and ink. Both discriminating in what they reveal of the subject, his photomontage and watercolor portraits exude raw sexuality through the combination of Castro’s mark-making and gaze. Celso Castro’s work is a bare-bulb erotic photo foray into the underbelly of Colombia’s drug world. Castro’s labor-intensive, photo-collage works of drug kingpins, smugglers, hitmen, countrymen, street vendors, soldiers, paramilitaries, kidnappers, and pimps pose showing with pride their erect penises...

Category

2010s Contemporary Art

Materials

Carbon Pencil, Paper, Pastel, Ink

Bucky the Sheep - black and white photography - landscape - limited edition
Bucky the Sheep - black and white photography - landscape - limited edition

Bucky the Sheep - black and white photography - landscape - limited edition

By Gerald Berghammer

Located in Vienna, Vienna

Gerald Berghammer - Black and white landscape photography. A sheep standing on grassy land near the Atlantic Ocean with hills on a small island. Archival pigment ink print, edition o...

Category

2010s Contemporary Art

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Digital Pigment

Contemporary Abstract Figurative Graffiti, 115X115 cm, Excellent
Contemporary Abstract Figurative Graffiti, 115X115 cm, Excellent

Contemporary Abstract Figurative Graffiti, 115X115 cm, Excellent

Located in New York, NY

The image is a colorful, abstract acrylic on canvas artwork that combines figurative and geometric elements. At the center, there is a person with short dark hair, resting their arms...

Category

2010s Contemporary Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Bearden 'School Bell Time' Serigraph African American
Bearden 'School Bell Time' Serigraph African American

Bearden 'School Bell Time' Serigraph African American

By Romare Bearden

Located in Brooklyn, NY

This reproduction of Romare Bearden's School Bell Time has been officially approved and numbered by the Bearden Foundation, with the foundation's seal printed in the lower right-hand...

Category

1990s Contemporary Art

Materials

Screen

Tell Me A Story I, Contemporary Mixed Media Art, Books, Hahnemuhle Paper, 2025
Tell Me A Story I, Contemporary Mixed Media Art, Books, Hahnemuhle Paper, 2025

Tell Me A Story I, Contemporary Mixed Media Art, Books, Hahnemuhle Paper, 2025

By Roberta Fineberg

Located in New york, NY

The contemporary work on paper is both art and photography, highlighting color fields. Tell Me A Story I, 2025 by Roberta Fineberg (RF) is 16 x 16in on Hahnemuhle paper, an original ...

Category

2010s Contemporary Art

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Rag Paper, Archival Pigment, Oil Pastel, M...

Harness Racing - France - Beach - black and white landscape - wood frame
Harness Racing - France - Beach - black and white landscape - wood frame

Harness Racing - France - Beach - black and white landscape - wood frame

By Gerald Berghammer

Located in Vienna, Vienna

Silver Gelatin Prints, Selenium Toned, Printed 2017. Limited Edition 3/20. Signed, numbered, dated by Artis. Handmade wood frame, black, natural white archival Passepartout, anti-r...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin, Digital Pigment

Model On Back: Mixed media painting on paper

Model On Back: Mixed media painting on paper

By Angela Lyle

Located in Brecon, Powys

This mixed media on paper is a subtle study of the model, soft and flowing. Angela was born in 1946 and studied art at Kingston Art College, London. Her early career was predominan...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Art

Materials

Mixed Media

FALLING STAR Signed Lithograph Black Woman Portrait, African American Culture
FALLING STAR Signed Lithograph Black Woman Portrait, African American Culture

FALLING STAR Signed Lithograph Black Woman Portrait, African American Culture

By Romare Bearden

Located in Union City, NJ

FALLING STAR is a limited edition color lithograph by the renowned African American artist Romare Bearden, printed using traditional hand lithography methods on archival printmaking paper, 100% acid free. FALLING STAR presents a visual memory from Bearden's childhood in Mecklenburg County North Carolina expressed as a modern collage portrait of a black woman set in a nostalgic Southern domestic interior. FALLING STAR's main focus is a black woman standing on the right drinking from a blue and white teacup...

Category

1970s Contemporary Art

Materials

Lithograph

Bob Dylan, "Motel Pool, " hand signed
Bob Dylan, "Motel Pool, " hand signed

Bob Dylan, "Motel Pool, " hand signed

By Bob Dylan

Located in Chatsworth, CA

This piece is a giclee on Hahnemuhle 350gsm Museum paper, created by Bob Dylan in 2013. It is from Dylan's series entitled The Drawn Blank Series. Bob Dylan is known as one of the mo...

Category

2010s Contemporary Art

Materials

Giclée

Santa Maria della Salute, Venice, black and white cityscape fine art photography
Santa Maria della Salute, Venice, black and white cityscape fine art photography

Santa Maria della Salute, Venice, black and white cityscape fine art photography

By Gerald Berghammer

Located in Vienna, Vienna

Gerald Berghammer - Black and white photography. Two gondolas docked at a pier on a calm body of water with the cityscape of Venice, Italy. Archival fine art pigment print, Limited ...

Category

2010s Contemporary Art

Materials

Photographic Film, Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Black and White, Digita...

Black and White Landscape Photograph of Potato Field and Cherry Trees, Austria
Black and White Landscape Photograph of Potato Field and Cherry Trees, Austria

Black and White Landscape Photograph of Potato Field and Cherry Trees, Austria

By Gerald Berghammer

Located in Vienna, Vienna

Archival pigment ink print, produced in a limited edition of 7 // Gallery ID: 21118 Fine art prints are produced to order on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta. Each print is stamped on the...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Art

Materials

Digital Pigment

Wallscape V ( 40 x 32" / 102 x 81cm )
Wallscape V ( 40 x 32" / 102 x 81cm )

Wallscape V ( 40 x 32" / 102 x 81cm )

By Frank Schott

Located in San Francisco, CA

WALLSCAPE V by Frank Schott from a series of photographic observances capturing urban textures and wallscape color palettes 40 x 32 inches / 102cm x 81cm edition of 25 signed 60 x...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Art

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, Archival Pigment

Expectation 2 - 21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative Portrait, African Women
Expectation 2 - 21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative Portrait, African Women

Expectation 2 - 21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative Portrait, African Women

Located in Ibadan, Oyo

This artwork is inspired by one of the issues amongst many in the traditional Yoruba African society where I'm still growing up as the son of the soil. As I was growing up and up til...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Art

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Bent Palm - Beach - Florida - USA
Bent Palm - Beach - Florida - USA

Bent Palm - Beach - Florida - USA

By Gerald Berghammer

Located in Vienna, Vienna

Black and white fine art landscape photography. Archival pigment ink print as part of a limited edition of 9. All Gerald Berghammer prints are made to order in limited editions on Ha...

Category

2010s Contemporary Art

Materials

Digital Pigment

Leopard Moth

Leopard Moth

By Kate Breakey

Located in Sante Fe, NM

For me, an artistic process is an act of investigation – a passionate attempt to establish an understanding of the natural world – a version that incorporates both intellectual and e...

Category

2010s Contemporary Art

Materials

Pastel, Pencil, Archival Pigment

"Revolution" Limited Edition Hand Written Lyrics
"Revolution" Limited Edition Hand Written Lyrics

"Revolution" Limited Edition Hand Written Lyrics

By John Lennon

Located in Laguna Beach, CA

Rare Limited Edition Serigraph of John Lennon's handwritten lyrics for the song "Revolution," first released on The "White Album" by the Beatles in 1968 This limited edition was r...

Category

1990s Contemporary Art

Materials

Other Medium

The Dance Goes On, Original Painting
The Dance Goes On, Original Painting

The Dance Goes On, Original Painting

Located in San Francisco, CA

Artist Comments
Sunlight filters through the dilapidated room, illuminating dust motes and peeling paint. Before the crumbling fireplace, the translucent figures of the home'...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Art

Materials

Acrylic

Blue Fig
Blue Fig

Blue Fig

Located in Zofingen, AG

A fragment of a fig tree, rendered in the spirit of Matisse, appears in simple lines and deep blue silhouettes. Against the light background reminiscent of a sun-washed Mediterranean...

Category

2010s Contemporary Art

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Lavender Field with Tree Panorama, black and white photography, art landscape
Lavender Field with Tree Panorama, black and white photography, art landscape

Lavender Field with Tree Panorama, black and white photography, art landscape

By Gerald Berghammer

Located in Vienna, Vienna

Archival pigment ink print, produced in a limited edition of 8 // Gallery ID: 21213 Fine art prints are produced to order on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta. Each print is stamped on the...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Art

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Archival Pigment

Contemporary art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Contemporary art 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 art 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 Stefanie Schneider, Tyler Shields, Kirsten Thys van den Audenaerde, and Richard Heeps. Frequently made by artists working with Paint, and Paper 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 art, so small editions measuring 0.02 inches across are also available.