Taryn Boals

Taryn Boals was born in the small town of Orangeville, Illinois, surrounded by farmland, horses and open skies. Growing up in the country inspired her to develop a passion for art and a dedication to drawing from an early age. After years of artistic practice, Boals earned her BFA from Montana State University in 2008 followed by an MFA in painting from Northern Illinois University in 2012. Over the years, Boals has developed a painterly style all her own. Her aesthetic strikes a balance between the rich traditional themes of western art, and a fresh interpretation that is tailored for a contemporary audience. Boals draws inspiration from the sweeping vistas surrounding her home in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, the vast Teton mountain range, awe-inspiring wildlife and the thriving artistic community that feeds her desire to create daily. Boals continues to make her mark as an emerging artist in the Jackson area.

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.