When CULTURED debuted its first Young Artists list a decade ago, we were coming off a few years of a booming art market. Some emerging artists had made six-figure sums from a single exhibition. But what goes up must come down—and down it went. The same boom-and-bust cycle is happening now.
What we know from experience is that artists who are coming up at this moment have more freedom to experiment, to fail, and to grow. To help lighten their load, for the second year in a row, CULTURED is teaming up with MZ Wallace and an expert jury—this year comprised of MoMA curator T. Lax, Hammer Museum curator Erin Christovale, and Met curator Jane Panetta—to award one artist from our 10th annual list an unrestricted $30,000 grant. The recipient will be announced on Dec. 10.
The list introduces 27 artists aged 35 and under who are working in the United States at a time of great economic uncertainty and political upheaval. They were selected from dozens of submissions by the magazine’s editors and contributors, as well as art dealers, collectors, and artists from around the world. Each has a rising profile, something important to say, and a novel way in which to express it.
Operating out of New York and Los Angeles, as well as Tucson, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and Saint Paul, the artists in this year’s cohort work in media ranging from video games to precious gemstones. They rarely restrict themselves to a single material (or even one home base), but thing they do share is a commitment to pushing their work into uncomfortable, sometimes revelatory, and deeply engaged places. CULTURED will continue to mirror that commitment, now and in the years to come, no matter the weather. Thanks to the work of these artists, the future looks bright.
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