Art in America’s Summer “New Talent” Issue Features 20 Artists to Watch, Figurative Painting’s Boom, Art’s Spiritual Turn, and More

The outset of the second Trump administration—we were just 12 weeks in when this issue went to press—has been tumultuous and frightening, with DOGE having decimated one federal agency after another. As I write this, the handwringing in the political precincts of such websites as Bluesky has finally turned into something like action, with Democratic New Jersey Senator Cory Booker taking over the Senate floor for a 25-hour filibuster, besting the previous record (set in 1957 by conservative Strom Thurmond). He electrified the chamber—as well as everyone who tuned in online—with a rousing and eloquent anti-Trump diatribe.

The art world too has been wringing its hands. In early April, the inevitable happened: cuts at the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. So now we ask, what is to be done? Here, in Art in America’s annual “New Talent” issue, the answer—or rather, answers—come from artists.

Nico Williams speaks of a powerful metaphor for how humor can be a political force: He elaborately beads everyday objects that are displayed in museums he couldn’t afford to visit as a child, with the hope that they will be met with “booming Native laughter that shakes windows down the street.” In this same vein, Bint Mbareh remarks, “I feel like it is a huge privilege to be able to make art that is political, but so much needs to be made fun of.” Justin Allen, on the other hand, found political critique in 2000s-era indie sleaze music. “It was a weird moment when everyone was scared for different reasons,” he says. “Whenever people are scared, interesting things happen in culture.” He might as well be speaking about today.

Maybe the answer is just to continue to do things, even if—especially if—they become scary. Agnes Questionmark makes unflinching work about being trans, a state of being that is increasingly under attack by the current administration. McKenzie Wark writes in these pages about how Questionmark “spent 12 hours a day for 16 days in a glass enclosure at a subway station in Milan, suspended via slings and cables in a casing with a mermaid-like tail some 20 feet long. Something about monstrousness can be triggering: She tells me of viewers who yelled at her and banged on the glass.” And yet, she persisted.

FEATURES

New Talent
20 exciting artists to watch, as chosen by the editors of Art in America.

Postmortem
On the recent boom in figurative painting.
by Barry Schwabsky

The Spiritual Turn
In a world that feels increasingly inhospitable, spiritual art offers a salve.
by Eleanor Heartney

What Is Art Good For?
Seven artists respond to an existential question.
as told to Emily Watlington

DEPARTMENTS

Datebook
A highly discerning list of things to experience over the next three months.
by the Editors of A.i.A.

Hard Truths
A painter wonders whether she doth protest too much, and a gallery worker cringes over a regrettable one-night stand. Plus, a jogging-themed quiz.
by Chen & Lampert

Sightlines

Fashion designer Michèle Lamy tells us what she likes.
by Francesca Aton

Inquiry
A Q&A with Amalia Ulman about her pivot from art to film.
by Emily Watlington

Object Lesson
An annotation of Sara Cwynar’s Apple on Sky I.
by Francesca Aton

Battle Royale
Art Fairs vs. Biennials—venerable gatherings go head-to-head.
by the Editors of A.i.A.

Syllabus
A reading list for a crash course on self-taught artists.
by Lynne Cooke

Appreciation
A tribute to Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, who made her artistic voice—and those of so many others—heard.
by Emmi Whitehorse

Issues & Commentary
How to be a culture worker in times like these.
by Laura Raicovich

Spotlight
The French painter Suzanne Valadon celebrated changes in a modernizing Paris and within herself.
by Kelly Presutti

Book Review
A reading of Hito Steyerl’s Medium Hot: Images in the Age of Heat.
by Larissa Pham

Cover Artist
Jen DeLuna talks about her painting on the cover of A.i.A.

REVIEWS

Los Angeles
Los Angeles Diary
by Jack Lowery

Amsterdam
“Anselm Kiefer—Sag mir wo die Blumen sind”
by Eugenie Brinkema

Chicago
“Project a Black Planet: The Art and Culture of Panafrica”
by Joseph L. Underwood

London
“Leigh Bowery!”
by Eliza Goodpasture

New Brunswick
“Indigenous Identities: Here, Now & Always”
by Julia Silverman

Seattle
“Ai, Rebel: The Art and Activism of Ai Weiwei”
by Louis Bury