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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
Recognized Seller Listings
Chalk Streams 5, 2023 - Chalk Stream Photography Contemporary English Landscape

Chalk Streams 5, 2023 - Chalk Stream Photography Contemporary English Landscape

By Ellie Davies

Located in Brighton, GB

Chalk Streams 5, 2023 - Chalk Stream Photography Contemporary English Landscape by Ellie Davies Chalk Streams 5 is a stunning Digital C-Type Print on Fuji Maxima Matte paper, availa...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Art

Materials

C Print, Color, Photographic Paper

John Kennedy and Caroline Bessette NY Daily News Cover, Watercolor Painting
John Kennedy and Caroline Bessette NY Daily News Cover, Watercolor Painting

John Kennedy and Caroline Bessette NY Daily News Cover, Watercolor Painting

By Manuel Santelices

Located in Miami Beach, FL

Movies, TV and magazines are constant source of inspiration. Fame, as fleckring and shallow it can be sometimes, is very intriguing to him. The worlds of fashion, society and pop cu...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Art

Materials

Paper, Gouache, Pencil

untitled (Double Portrait) — Mixed Media Collage by Rodolfo Morales
untitled (Double Portrait) — Mixed Media Collage by Rodolfo Morales

untitled (Double Portrait) — Mixed Media Collage by Rodolfo Morales

By Rodolfo Morales

Located in Palm Springs, CA

A vibrant and emotionally charged mixed-media collage by Rodolfo Morales (1925–2001), one of the central figures of the Oaxacan school alongside Rufino Tamayo and Francisco Toledo. Morales is celebrated for his dreamlike vision of village life, the female presence, and the thin, poetic line between the real and the magical. This unusual double portrait features two frontal figures—rendered in Morales’ signature palette of saturated reds, golds, and earth tones—set against a radiant background of foils, hearts, and patterned papers. The faces, both direct and expressive, seem to mirror each other while remaining psychologically distinct. Morales constructs them from layered paper, painted elements, and bits of lace and metallic foil, each detail contributing to an atmosphere that is both intimate and theatrical. The composition is framed by its original hand-punched tin (hojalata) frame, a hallmark of Morales’ mixed-media works. These frames were often designed in collaboration with local Oaxacan art...

Category

1980s Contemporary Art

Materials

Foil

Invading #1 and #2. From The Botanical Interruption Series
Invading #1 and #2. From The Botanical Interruption Series

Invading #1 and #2. From The Botanical Interruption Series

By ALMO 4

Located in Miami Beach, FL

​Whether they are symbols, dreams or marks of the life of each of us. The artist's work often features heads, floating bodies, trees, dollar signs, cars, laurel branches, and symboli...

Category

2010s Contemporary Art

Materials

Leather, Acrylic

Entrelazar 5 and 6. Diptych. Backlit film in lightbox. Abstract wall Sculpture.
Entrelazar 5 and 6. Diptych. Backlit film in lightbox. Abstract wall Sculpture.

Entrelazar 5 and 6. Diptych. Backlit film in lightbox. Abstract wall Sculpture.

By Javier Rey

Located in Miami Beach, FL

The series, Entrelazar, is based on the selection of an urban element, the lamppost: a vertical element that rises above the urban landscape and is repeated in the city of Bogotá. Th...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Art

Materials

Color, Archival Pigment

Study After the Kotah Master

Study After the Kotah Master

By Mary Vernon

Located in Dallas, TX

"In the world of still life and landscape, conceptual events meet one another – the structural meets the narrative, the small stands in the space of the large, and color has a c...

Category

2010s Contemporary Art

Materials

Oil, Panel

Douglas Booth II and Elizabeth Olsen, Diptych. Intervened by the artists.
Douglas Booth II and Elizabeth Olsen, Diptych. Intervened by the artists.

Douglas Booth II and Elizabeth Olsen, Diptych. Intervened by the artists.

By Cristian Hunter

Located in Miami Beach, FL

This artwork was created by the artistic duo Hunter & Gatti (2010–2023). These works are part of the archive managed and exhibited by Cristian Hunter. The artist's technique cons...

Category

2010s Contemporary Art

Materials

Mixed Media, Black and White, Archival Pigment

Invading #2. From The Botanical Interruption Series
Invading #2. From The Botanical Interruption Series

Invading #2. From The Botanical Interruption Series

By ALMO 4

Located in Miami Beach, FL

​Whether they are symbols, dreams or marks of the life of each of us. The artist's work often features heads, floating bodies, trees, dollar signs, cars, laurel branches, and symboli...

Category

2010s Contemporary Art

Materials

Leather, Acrylic

Abstract head looking right. From The Head Series
Abstract head looking right. From The Head Series

Abstract head looking right. From The Head Series

By ALMO 4

Located in Miami Beach, FL

​Whether they are symbols, dreams or marks of the life of each of us. The artist's work often features heads, floating bodies, trees, dollar signs, cars, laurel branches, and symboli...

Category

2010s Contemporary Art

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

"Reverb" by Denzil Forrester (Reggae, Club, Dance, Concert, Print, Drawing)
"Reverb" by Denzil Forrester (Reggae, Club, Dance, Concert, Print, Drawing)

"Reverb" by Denzil Forrester (Reggae, Club, Dance, Concert, Print, Drawing)

Located in New York, NY

This vibrant image is a stellar example of Denzil Forrester’s depictions of dub and reggae clubs – a subject that has been central to his practice since the late 1970's. "I’m interes...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Art

Materials

Archival Pigment

Lady Bunny, Wigstock, NYC, Girlfriend Series.  Black and White Portrait Photo
Lady Bunny, Wigstock, NYC, Girlfriend Series.  Black and White Portrait Photo

Lady Bunny, Wigstock, NYC, Girlfriend Series. Black and White Portrait Photo

By Michael James O’Brien

Located in Miami Beach, FL

Men, Women, and Drag, draws inspiration from his diverse roles as a photographer, poet, and activist. His work often intersects with themes of identity, social justice, and cultural ...

Category

1990s Contemporary Art

Materials

Black and White, Archival Pigment

Set of 4 photos of Pharrell, from the series Live Forever. Intervened
Set of 4 photos of Pharrell, from the series Live Forever. Intervened

Set of 4 photos of Pharrell, from the series Live Forever. Intervened

By Cristian Hunter

Located in Miami Beach, FL

This artwork was created by the artistic duo Hunter & Gatti (2010–2023). These works are part of the archive managed and exhibited by Cristian Hunter. The artist's technique cons...

Category

2010s Contemporary Art

Materials

Oil Pastel, Acrylic, Black and White, Archival Pigment

Memorial, From the series Ser Cosa, Color Photograph
Memorial, From the series Ser Cosa, Color Photograph

Memorial, From the series Ser Cosa, Color Photograph

By RODRIGO ETEM

Located in Miami Beach, FL

This series of portraits that at first glance appear to us as extraterrestrial beings, once we understand the images they become more familiar than they appear, “humans too human” perhaps more human than they appear. And for Adorno's negative dialectic, the problem was given as a human being in a world hostile to humans, the characters of Etem seem so natural to us to the extent that their presence is outside the pose of the portraits of the kings of the past, rather resemble the workers, peasants, common people in general, portrayed by Gustave Courbet or the realists of the mid-19th century, these new realists are captured by the camera in the usual development of their daily lives, in the hostile world of the desert or the swamp or the storm…” In recent years -through the use, production, and appropriation of content hosted on the net- The artist has been developing a body of work that aims to resignify narratives from the files. The series "All the faults of the world", 2021/23 are digital prints printed on Hahnemuhle smooth canvas. The Images are taken by Google Street View (GSV) users that cover a 360º viewing angle and are captured to show everything that is around the subject taking the photograph. These images, uploaded to the application (GSV) are geolocated at the precise point where they were taken so that other users can access them. Due to involuntary human errors in the capture, a small percentage of these images present anomalies because some fragment does not have a record, and a void is produced in the image and an opaque figure without representation. The entry of these anomalies into the system interferes with any attempt to full representation of the world. Motivated by this, the artist in the game "travels the world" from the app, looking to build my collection of failures from around the world. Rodrigo Etem...

Category

2010s Contemporary Art

Materials

Photographic Paper, Archival Pigment

0483 and 0529, Diptych. From The ONE Series
0483 and 0529, Diptych. From The ONE Series

0483 and 0529, Diptych. From The ONE Series

By Salvatore Arnone

Located in Miami Beach, FL

Although photography remains Arnone's primary form of expression, the artist begins to see certain limitations in this medium when it comes to adequately depicting his altered and of...

Category

2010s Contemporary Art

Materials

Archival Pigment

Desirable Garden, by Yuji Hiratsuka
Desirable Garden, by Yuji Hiratsuka

Desirable Garden, by Yuji Hiratsuka

By Yuji Hiratsuka

Located in Palm Springs, CA

Signed, titled, and numbered by the artist. Extravagant multi-colored blossoms fill the image in this etching by Yuju Hiratsuka. While Hiratsuka's images have some resemblance to tr...

Category

2010s Contemporary Art

Materials

Etching, Aquatint

Fashion designer Gilles Mendel in Paris, France Watercolor fashion portrait
Fashion designer Gilles Mendel in Paris, France Watercolor fashion portrait

Fashion designer Gilles Mendel in Paris, France Watercolor fashion portrait

By Manuel Santelices

Located in Miami Beach, FL

A new series inspired by architecture, décor and stylish personalities of the world of interior design. The worlds of fashion, society and pop culture are captured in the illustrati...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Art

Materials

Ink, Watercolor

Fluorescent Ascension #1. From The Neon Progress Series
Fluorescent Ascension #1. From The Neon Progress Series

Fluorescent Ascension #1. From The Neon Progress Series

By ALMO 4

Located in Miami Beach, FL

Almo wonders about his identity, the countries he has lived in, his daily routine and how he creates himself. An outsider who has made the world his home, skin, and citizenship, and ...

Category

2010s Contemporary Art

Materials

Paper, Gouache

Burning Woman, #2250 Homage to Horst P. Horst limited edition color photograph
Burning Woman, #2250 Homage to Horst P. Horst limited edition color photograph

Burning Woman, #2250 Homage to Horst P. Horst limited edition color photograph

By Natasha Zupan

Located in Miami Beach, FL

Natasha Zupan's body of work, 'Homage to Horst P. Horst', explores the manipulation of surface texture, light, and the interweaving of time. She has incorporated found images in book...

Category

2010s Contemporary Art

Materials

Photographic Paper, Color, Archival Pigment

Cider forest V (diptych) - Contemporary, Landscape, Beige, Brown, Trees, Nature
Cider forest V (diptych) - Contemporary, Landscape, Beige, Brown, Trees, Nature

Cider forest V (diptych) - Contemporary, Landscape, Beige, Brown, Trees, Nature

By Ioan Sbârciu

Located in Baden-Baden, DE

Cider forest V (diptych), 2006 Mixed technique: acrylic paint, sparkle, white powder mounted on wooden panel 30.7 H x 94.48 W in ( 30.7 H x 47.24 W in each) 78 H x 240 W cm (78 H x 120 W each) Signed on each panel " 'Cider Forest' series is an artistic project carried out by Ioan Sbârciu...

Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Art

Materials

Canvas, Mixed Media, Acrylic

Black Azzedine Alaia Dress
Black Azzedine Alaia Dress

Black Azzedine Alaia Dress

By Peter Sorel

Located in Chicago, IL

Taken at the Galleria Borghese, Rome Archival chromogenic print on Hahnemüle Photo Rag Paper. Edition of 12.

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Art

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Inkjet

Seascapes 2, 2020 - Grass and Flowers under Tree Canopy in Woodland Forest

Seascapes 2, 2020 - Grass and Flowers under Tree Canopy in Woodland Forest

By Ellie Davies

Located in Brighton, GB

Seascapes 2, 2020 - Grass and Flowers under Tree Canopy in Woodland Forest by Ellie Davies Seascapes 2 by Ellie Davies is a stunning Digital C-Type Print on Fuji Maxima Matte paper,...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Art

Materials

Photographic Paper, Digital, C Print, Color

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.