In this monthly series, Artsy’s Curatorial team features a group of five emerging and noteworthy artists who are working in a similar style or spirit as a well-known or established artist. This month, we focus on Jean-Michel Basquiat, the iconic painter who passed away in 1988 at the age of 27, and who left behind a profound artistic legacy.
Genesis Tramaine
B. 1983, Brooklyn. Lives and works in Brooklyn.
Brooklyn-based artist Genesis Tramaine is best recognized for her bold and abstract paintings of Black subjects set against monochromatic backdrops. The fragmented faces in Tramaine’s portraits speak to the many facets and complexities of the Black experience. For Tramaine, the process of creating is spiritual, and she considers herself a vessel through which a higher power communicates. In her recent solo show “Parables of Nana,” at Almine Rech in London, Tramaine listed “Yeshua”—Hebrew for “Jesus”—as one of the mediums used to create the work. In Tramaine’s words, she “paint[s] with the techniques of rhythm, color, space and prayer.”
Stylistically, Tramaine considers herself an Urban Expressionist painter, and draws much of her inspiration from the graffiti scene of 1980s New York. Her work has been exhibited at gallery spaces internationally from Almine Rech in Paris and London to Richard Beavers Gallery in Brooklyn.
Aboudia
B. 1983, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Lives and works in Abidjan and Brooklyn.
Abdoulaye Diarrassouba, known as Aboudia, creates large-scale paintings inspired by the culture of Abidjan, his hometown in Côte d’Ivoire. Graduating from the Technological Centre of Applied Arts in Bingerville, Aboudia’s work is informed by both Western and African art movements, referencing styles from Abstract Expressionism to the street art and public murals of West Africa. His paintings consist of layered figures, and often incorporate clippings from newspapers or magazines to contextualize the work within current events.
Aboudia gained international attention in 2011 for his depictions of the Ivorian war, where he painted and sought refuge in a basement studio in Abidjan. More recently, he has turned to the children of Abidjan for inspiration, painting honest and hopeful scenes of the youth and future of the city. Aboudia has shown at international gallery spaces such as Galerie Cécile Fakhoury in Abidjan and Dakar, Jack Bell Gallery in London, and Ethan Cohen Gallery in New York, as well as art fairs including Art x Lagos and 1-54 in Marrakech and London.
Huma Bhaba
B. 1962, Karachi, Pakistan. Lives and works in Poughkeepsie, New York.
A prolific printmaker and photographer, Huma Bhaba is best known for the large-scale, totemic sculptures that she began creating in the 1990s. Her raw, hybrid figures appear both ancient and alien-like, and borrow from a range of cultural sources—from science fiction to archeological ruins. Born in Karachi, Pakistan, Bhabha came to the United States to pursue a degree in printmaking at the Rhode Island School of Design and went on to receive an MFA at Columbia University. Her work meditates on primal and psychological concepts such as nature, civilization, fear, and war.
A critically acclaimed artist, Bhaba has been the subject of solo exhibitions at major institutions including the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston in 2019, The Contemporary Austin in 2018, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2018. Her work sits in the permanent collections of museums including the Centre Pompidou, the Hammer Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Daniel Crews-Chubb
B. 1984, Northampton, England. Lives and works in London.
British artist Daniel Crews-Chubb’s technique is iterative. He works quickly and intentionally, combining painting, drawing, and collage to create heavily layered canvases that reveal the process behind their construction. The richly textured surfaces of Crews-Chubb’s work are a reaction to the flatness of digital imagery, and demand to be viewed in person for the details and dimension to be fully appreciated. Crews-Chubb asserts that the materiality of the work is as important as the subject matter. From totemic figures to still lifes, his gestural paintings depict archetypes of art history and pay homage to artists and movements before his time.
Crews-Chubb has recently gained the attention of top collectors, selling out fair booths at the online edition of Frieze New York with Timothy Taylor, and Art021 in 2019 with Vigo Gallery. His work is now included in international public and private collections including the Denver Art Museum, the Long Museum, Saatchi Gallery, and the Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection. He was slated to have his first institutional show and major public art installation this past April at the Wellington Arch in London, commissioned by English Heritage.
Amadou Sanogo
B. 1977, Ségou, Mali. Lives and works in Bamako, Mali.
Malian artist Amadou Sanogo’s work explores themes of social and political injustice. Focused on the human experience, his work often depicts a central figure whose body is contorted in shape, wearing a pained expression or altogether headless, representing a lack of vision among political leaders.
Prior to studying painting at the Institut National des Arts in Bamako, Sanogo studied the traditional technique of Bogolan, the iconic fabric of Malian culture. He maintains a connection to the textile tradition in his practice by painting on found and repurposed fabrics. Sanogo seeks to develop his own visual language, and intentionally leaves his work appearing unfinished, rejecting perfectionism and embracing the flaws in the human subjects he paints.
Sanogo has recently garnered attention for his plans to open an arts center in the Koulouba neighbourhood of Bamako, the capital of Mali. The center is slated to open in 2022 and will consist of studio space for artist residencies and workshops for children, with the aim of stimulating creativity in the country.
