New year, new me…New art? Six Gen-Z artists to look out for this 2025

Claudia Koh in her studio

By Laura De Remedios December 28, 2024

These young visionaries offer compelling reasons to follow them midway through the 2020s decade.

As the new year approaches, the promise of reinvention looms large in the air—not just for ourselves, but for the art world too. Discovering emerging artists is one wise way to embrace the season. Hailing from different corners of the globe, we spoke with six rising talents whose work redefines contemporary creativity. Spanning folklore-inspired canvases to hyper-realistic portrayals of the everyday, these Gen-Z visionaries offer compelling reasons to follow them midway through the 2020s decade.

Claudia Koh and navigating currents of identity

Straddling the cultural environment of Singapore and New York, Claudia Koh’s work delves into self-perception and the complexities of identity. Her canvases are, as she articulates, incarnations of herself—self-portraits that probe the depths of her psyche. Even those with multiple figures are her, interplaying among various facets of her inner world. When asked why she refrains from depicting others, she responded that she simply doesn’t feel she is in a place to paint others: “It can be a daunting responsibility, as it involves both capturing and potentially judging the essence of another person.”

Koh’s art reflects the tension between the landscapes of Singapore and the US. She describes herself as a ‘fish’ freely navigating the waters of Singapore, albeit always under the pressure of the water — an existence marked by the paradox of creative freedom and the heavy burden of societal expectations. It is this sense of constraint that propels her to seek refuge in the United States, a place where the waters are less turbulent.

With highly anticipated upcoming exhibitions, notably her solo exhibition at Brussel's gallery Super Dakota this upcoming March 2025, Koh continues to push artistic boundaries and provoke meaningful conversations through her work.

Pedro Hoz in his studio

Pedro Hoz, a surrealist patience

Malaga-born Pedro Hoz invites viewers into surreal, Bosch-inspired dreamscapes filled with strange creatures, and fantastical landscapes. Surprisingly, Hoz only began painting at 18, an endeavour sparked by curiosity rather than serious ambition, as the artist tends to get easily bored. A self-described impulsive person, this changed quickly once he met the canvas. Now, for him, painting is a rare exercise in patience, allowing an exploration into a quieter side of himself.

Rooted in his Basque heritage, Hoz’s work carries a mystical quality, drawing from folklore and ancestral themes. A type of surrealist ‘Where’s Wally’ but it’s a vivid and surreal mix of fantastical elements and human forms that blend seamlessly into bizarre, otherworldly scenes. His paintings invite viewers to engage in a playful search for hidden meanings, offering a kaleidoscope of absurdity and whimsy that reveals the human condition in its rawest form. While influenced by artists like Dalí and George Condo, Hoz also draws from personal experiences, like the peeling bathroom walls of his childhood home, at which he spent countless hours staring when grounded as a kid.

At just 23, Hoz has exhibited internationally, with his most recent work displayed at the West Bund Shanghai art fair. Where to find him this 2025? If you’re around London or Paris, swing by his upcoming charity auction in January or solo show in February, respectively.

Nicolas Tovar in his studio

Nicolas Tovar: Stitching matter and memory

Nicolas Tovar, is a mixed media artist who graduated from the prestigious Slade School of Art and SAIC. Having lived in Chicago, London, and New York, his works epitomise an urban sensibility. Tovar presents the raw canvas as a site of memory and combines complicated artistic techniques with the simple accumulation of accidental marks and residue from other components in the studio, all of which are welcome on the canvas.

His series of billboards, present adverts, and signage as crucial aesthetic and cultural influences that are collapsed out of context. His works from London similarly invite the viewer into an automatically recognisable cultural space; that of the city's electric green Lime bike. These shots through the city, much like human memory, are hazy but familiar and combine inner and outer worlds as a meditative waypoint.

During his time in London he worked at the studio of Turner prize nominee Oscar Murillo as well as having his series Delirium shown at the Shipton Gallery. Now he's back in Manhattan, working from Cinema Supply's lofts. The abundance of light in the original lumberyard is the perfect setting for Tovar’s works, which he describes as ‘sites of physical labor’. Taking a non-fetishized approach to the material, he is more interested in enabling environments where memory takes form through the layered process of marking and erasure.

Yuma Radné in her studio

Yuma Radné: Myth, magic, and fish

Yuma Radné, a contemporary artist from Ulan Ude, Buryad-Mongolia, explores themes of identity within the Asian diaspora and post-Soviet context. Beginning her artistic journey at five, Radné quickly developed a distinctive style, holding her first solo exhibition at the National Museum of Buryatia when she was only 14.

Radné's work dances between the ancient and the contemporary, blending her Buryat heritage with bold, modern artistic expressions. Her pieces come alive with whimsical creatures—mermaids, sea monsters, and fantastical beings—that pulse with energy and colour. These figures are more than playful; they carry the weight of spiritual traditions, offering a vibrant commentary on the deep interconnectedness of all life. Sometimes, Radné’s connection to her heritage surprises even her. She found herself painting fish over and over, without fully understanding why. It was only later that she uncovered their profound cultural meaning as a symbol of her tribe. Before her mind caught up, her subconscious had already known how to weave her heritage into the canvas.

At just 22, Radné has already held solo exhibitions in France and Los Angeles, appeared in notable art fairs, and earned recognition from Artsy as one of the 10 Emerging Painters Born in the 2000s to Watch Now. Now based in London, she continues to create thought-provoking works that challenge perceptions of identity, culture, and the relationship between humans, animals, and myth. In fact, stay tuned for her upcoming solo show at the British capital’s gallery, Incubator, this February 2025. 

Naomi Hawksley

Naomi Hawksley's vellum and vulnerability

Naomi Hawksley describes drawing as the one place where she can be entirely “frank”. Initially envisioning a career as a printmaker, her artistic journey took a pivotal turn during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the lack of access to printmaking facilities led her to explore new mediums. Indeed, can’t get any more frank than that. This shift thus suits her work’s transparent nature, both in its physical execution — often rendered on delicate vellum — and in its thematic openness.

Also a graduate from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Hawksley delves into themes of femininity, identity, and societal perceptions of women. Her drawings juxtapose delicate, detailed pencil work with a sense of starkness, often presenting intertwined organic forms — braids, plants, and figures — against negative space. The San Francisco-based artist’s use of vellum amplifies the metaphor of transparency, as the material itself allows light to pass through, echoing her themes of exposure and fragility. The result is a slow dance between the boundaries of public and private life, emphasising tension and softness within these intersections

Hawksley’s rising prominence in contemporary feminist art is reflected in her upcoming shows: a group exhibition at Romance in Pittsburgh this January and a duo exhibition with Maggie Chen at Hardboiled in Chicago.

Callum Eaton in his studio

Callum Eaton turns ATMs into art

Bath-born British artist Callum Eaton gravitated toward oil painting but found little joy in traditional subjects like landscapes or figures of authority. Instead, he turned to his friends, Waitrose bags, ATMs, and vending machines, developing a meticulous, hyper-realistic style that skirts the edge of optical illusion. This unconventional approach distinguished him as an artist who was willing to find beauty in the ordinary, as well as earning him the nickname ‘ATM guy’—he joked, “next is vending machine bloke.”

Eaton's interest in bringing colour to mundane matters came from an early age: as a child, he liked the advertisements more than the films themselves when he went to the cinema. "If you can't find beauty in your own backyard, it's not worth looking for," he quoted. He may not have been the first to say it, but he certainly practises it well. Eaton’s background, enriched by working with the esteemed Olli Epp and a repertoire of diverse exhibitions, has been instrumental in refining his craft and cultivating his artistic lexicon. Other subjects of his art include hyper realistic elevators and mechanical stairs.

Though often interpreted as commentary on consumerism, Eaton insists his work stems from a desire to find beauty in the every-day. With a reputation for meticulous technique and playful subject matter, he’s already captured the attention of collectors and galleries alike.

The work of these six artists offers a new-found aesthetic appeal unique to the eclectic, nomad soul of Gen-Z artists. To engage with their art is not only an act of appreciation; but also an opportunity to align with the future of culture and witness its evolution firsthand. WM