The 10 Best Living Artists

The 10 best living artists: last update 2015.

Ai Weiwei

This year was the end of a long fight for Ai Weiwei. On July 22, the artist received his passport back from the Chinese authorities after four years. They had this in their possession since Ai Weiwei wanted to go from Beijing to Hong Kong in 2011. Ai is an activist, architect, curator, filmmaker and China’s best-known artist. In his conceptual works he highlights issues of cultural value or political ideology. He takes a critical look at the Chinese regime.

He often uses social media as a form of expression. After receiving his passport he almost immediately left for Berlin, where his studio had been waiting for him for many years. As well as an invitation to join the Universität der Künste, where he is currently a visiting professor. One of his best-known works, Sunflower Seeds (2010), consists of 100 million porcelain sunflower seeds painted by hand by 1,600 Chinese artisans. This work of art hides mass consumption, which causes the individual to disappear. He also helped design the stadium for the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and curated various museum exhibitions worldwide.

Ai Weiwei - Sunflower Seeds (2010)

Ai Weiwei - Grapes (2010)

Ai Weiwei - Han Jar Overpainted with Coca-Cola Logo (1995)

Jeff Koons

Young and old immediately know who you are talking about, as soon as they hear the name of the most expensive (still living) American artist. Jeff Koons' work is considered postmodern or for many simply simply "überkitsch". The elderly among us will probably know him for his work from the 1980s. He then gained brand recognition with his series of kitschy figurines "Banality". One of the most famous statuettes is Michael Jackson in company with his tame monkey Bubbles, entirely in gold.

The youngsters among us are more likely to know him for his gigantic poodles. Koons manages to transform banal objects into high-quality art by shaping paintings and sculptures based on historical art styles or techniques. "" Because I have always loved Surrealism, Dadaism and Pop Art, I focus on these interests. Once you do this, things become metaphysical ". Jeff Koons has already achieved several milestones in his life, such as his orange balloon dog that was sold last year for a record amount of $ 58.4 million (€ 43.5 million).

Jeff Koons - Michael Jackson & Bubbles (1988)

Jeff koons - Balloon Dog (1994 - 2000)

Jeff Koons - Jeff and Ilona made in Heaven (1990)

Yayoi Kusama

At the age of 86, the red-haired Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama is amazingly mobile. Not only physically she seems to be in perfect shape, nothing seems wrong with her flow of ideas either. Last summer she opened "Obliteration Room" at David Zwirner galleries in New York and Australia, among others. As a visitor you entered a snow-white domestic living room setting that hurt your eyes. You were then given the honor to break through the clinical appearance with a sticker sheet.

By sticking the stickers on objects in the room to your own taste. At the age of 10 she made every object in her environment unsafe by providing them with colored dots. She did this to visualize her hallicunations that she had due to a mental illness. She later used this method as an art form and gave dots to various objects and spaces. She called this process "obliteration," which means completely destroying every trace of something. Despite the age, Kusama even had "first experiences" this year, including her first major exhibition at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Scandinavia and her first solo show at the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Russia.

Yayoi Kusama - Self – Portrait (2009)

Yayoi Kusama - Obliteration Room (2015)

Yayoi Kusama - Pumpkin Sculpture (1998)

Damien Hirst

Damien Hirst can call himself a museum owner since this year. He opened his Newport Street Gallery in London in October. The light brown building, just like the contents, has a sober appearance and was designed by architects Caruso St John. However, due to the great interest in the museum, Hirst is making significant economic gains.

He had a few dull economic years behind him due to the economic crisis and negative criticism of his show at London's White Cube in 2012. Thanks to his new acquisition, Hirst is once again completely happy. Because in 1988 he curated a group exhibition called "Freeze". An exhibition that led to the start of a glorious career as an artist for both fellow students and Hirst himself. Since then Hirst has been one of the most influential artists of his generation. He broke through with the works The Physical Imposibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living (1991); a shark in formaldehyde, Mother and Child Divided (1993); an installation consisting of a halved cow and calf and For the Love of God (2007); a human skull covered with 8,601 diamonds. In addition to sculptures and installations, he is also known for his flat works such as "" Spot paintings "" and "" Butterfly paintings "".

Damien Hirst - The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living (1991)

Damien Hirst - Mother and Child Divided (1993)

Damien Hirst - For the Love of God (2007)

Yoko Ono

In December 1969, Yoko Ono and John Lennon launched a worldwide campaign with the message "" WAR IS OVER, if you want it. " Since the death of her husband in 1980, she has always fought for peace by taking action. Ono was a groundbreaking artist in the underground art scene in the 1960s in New York. Especially known for her experimental art, music, films and struggle for feminism. In December this year Ono blew new life into the campaign with the help of social media.

She organized an action in which thousands of people formed a giant peace sign in Central Park. She also inspired many people with her art, which was exhibited in MoMA. "" As a pioneer in conceptual, social and performance art, she is one of the most innovative and breakthrough artists of our time, "said Klaus Biesenbach, director of MoMA. One of her best-known works of art was the performance Cut Piece (1964), which was first performed in Tokyo. While kneeling on the floor of a stage, she was gradually stripped by audience participants. Another work was Smoke Painting (1961): a canvas that could be burned by the viewers. The "Riverbed" exhibition is currently running at the Andrea Rosen Gallery and Galerie Lelong in New York. She wants the audience to experience a meditation. By letting visitors sit down and think about concepts such as "remember" and "wishes". The final thoughts and actions are part of the installation.

Yoko Ono en John Lennon - War is over (1969)

Yoko Ono - Cut Piece (1964)

Yoko Ono - Peace (2015)

Theaster Gates

The work of Theaster Gates focuses on racism and poverty in America. The aim is to remedy class struggle, population growth and population activism in disadvantaged neighborhoods and to bring about changes. His large sculptures are often constructed from recycled material found in disadvantaged neighborhoods. It is considered by many to be the world's most progressive work. This year, an installation the size of a living room was named at the Biennale in Venice, named Martyr Construction (2015).

Through this installation, he breathed new life into old tiles, statues and a clock that came from a demolished Chicago church. He also opened the Stony Island Arts Bank this year. An art center the size of 1,500 m2 which is based on a non-profit institution. Gates is one of the few artists who has succeeded in an innovative way with his commitment to social rejection within society.

Theaster Gates - Martyr Construction (2015)

Theaster Gates - Painting Black People (2012)

Theaster gates - Tiki teak (2014)

Frank Stella

In the late 1950s, Stella was one of the first painters to switch from abstract expressionism to the angular compositions and color planes of minimalism. His canvases, inspired by architecture and set up with wall paint, were canonized and seen as a precursor to minimalism. In his new major exhibition, around 100 works of art from his entire career can be seen.

From the "Black Paintings" that moved him through the art world to his later works. Consisting of exuberant mash-ups of geometric shapes, gestures and styles. His goal was to make paintings whose visual power was based on materiality, instead of symbolism. His famous statement "What you see is what you see" became a statement within minimalism. Apart from Willem de kooning and Frank Stella, there may not be any other artists who, like them, have had such an eternal influence on this art movement.

Frank Stella - Black Study (1968)

Frank Stella - Darabjerd I (1967)

Frank Stella - Untitled (1966)

Tania Bruguera

In her works, the Cuban performance and installation artist pushes the boundary between art and activism. Hereby she advocates freedom of expression. In one of her most famous works, she had police on horses conquer museumgoers in the hall of Tate Modern. Last year she planned a performance in Havana where individuals could express their concerns about the communist Cuban government. However, for the first time it aroused the (negative) attention of the authorities. Bruguera was subsequently arrested and her passport confiscated to prevent the event from taking place.

Despite the fact that Bruguera presents her work as art, she does not think it is necessary that it should appear that way. "For me, the most interesting moment is as soon as the viewer is unsure whether or not a work of art is art," said Tania Bruguera. She currently has her passport back and is in an artist-in-residence on American art. Bruguera’s work is still just as radical as it was in the 90s with one of her first works "What Belongs To Me."

Tania bruguera - Tatlins Whisper Number 5 (Tate Modern, 2008)

Tania Bruguera - Displacement (1998-99)

Tania Bruguera - Tatlin's Whisper, #6 (Havana, 2009)

Alex Katz

In the 1950s, when abstract expressionism was in demand, Alex Katz dismissed the willful brushstrokes of Pollock and De Kooning. He did this with his unique style that was characterized by close-ups of stylized portraits and landscapes that are composed of color areas. The large color areas give all paintings a fairly flat appearance. He made many portraits of his wife and muse, Ada. In his career he also made sculptures of carved human figures made of wood or aluminum.

Today, Katz is praised at the age of 88 as the father of contemporary figurative painting. Contemporary young artists who focus on figurative painting use Katz as a source of inspiration. Katz continues to renew himself by looking at what other emerging artists are doing. This year the artist exhibited in various museums worldwide.

Alex Katz - Ada With Bathing Cap (1965)

Alex Katz - Private Domain (1969)

Alex Katz - Women In Jackets (1996)

Cindy Sherman

Few, and especially female, photographers are fortunate enough to have such a talent as Cindy Sherman. In her career as a photographer, she played countless roles of fictional figures: film stars, clowns, victims. She did it before the time came for self-representation and self-portraits to be "cool". Through her photos, discussions arose about the meaning and role of "identity". She also clearly shows the role of women in historical and contemporary perspective.

From the outset she took Warhol's statement that everyone could become a celebrity, very literally. In her "Untitled Film Stills" series, she hoisted herself in 69 disguises of female clichés from 20th century pop culture. Film stills from the 70s are very recognizable. Her work is currently on display in the "No Man's Land" exhibition in the Rubell Family Collection in Miami.

Cindy Sherman - Untitled Film Still #54 (1977)

Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Still #58 (1980)

Cindy Sherman. 'Untitled #352 (2000)