Why collecting emerging artists Is key to shaping art’s future
Artscapy recently had the pleasure of hosting an intimate collector’s event to explore Penumbra, NewChild Gallery’s latest exhibition featuring new works by Andrew Sendor, Chris Oh, James Owens, Kristian Touborg, Madeleine Bialke, and Viktor Mattsson. Following the event, a panel discussion on collecting contemporary emerging artists highlighted the vital role these creators play in shaping the future of the art world. Here is a deeper look into these artists’ practices:
Andrew Sendor is a visual artist celebrated for his masterful representational painting, which reflects his deep engagement with the power of imagination. His works introduce fictional characters and narratives born from a unique creative process in which Sendor scripts, produces, directs, and documents performances that bring his eccentric cast to life. Each painting explores psychologically charged, hallucinatory scenes, examining the materiality of images and the intertwined history of photorealism and the evolution of photography. Sendor's monochromatic compositions feature sharp pictorial focus and disrupted visual motifs, while the artist’s frames elevate the painted imagery, creating an idiosyncratic painting language that blends narrative and form.
Chris Oh’s work blends appropriation and the ready-made, using Renaissance art as a foundation to create meticulous replicas on unexpected surfaces like playing cards, crystals, and shells. This fusion of painting and unconventional materials serves as a meditation on time, existence, and art history. By moving beyond the traditional canvas, Oh deconstructs historical compositions and reimagines them in sculptural installations, where the physicality of the materials deepens the narrative. Through his unique approach, Oh revives the past to reflect on the present, creating a space where history and modernity converge.
James Owens’ work strikes a delicate balance between figuration and abstraction, capturing ethereal outdoor scenes brimming with wild flora and fauna. His experimental style incorporates diverse brushstrokes and mark-making techniques, creating paintings that delve into deep interior worlds while maintaining an air of mystery. Owens blends memory, heritage, contemporary culture, and imagination, crafting new narratives that thrive in ambiguity. His works introduce viewers to a realm of outsiders, drawn to the unknown and searching for something greater.
Kristian Touborg merges intimacy and playfulness with art historical references and new media. His works defy categorisation, combining vivid brushstrokes of oil paint with industrially treated materials and digitally printed surfaces. Touborg’s works engage with the ecology of modern images, creating imagined artefacts from a near-future society. His practice champions the analogue in a world overwhelmed by digital imagery, offering a personal narrative where dreamlike sensations and private elements are woven into the fabric of his painting.
Madeleine Bialke’s work is a poignant reflection on our changing environment, blending nature, society, and ecological concerns. Drawing inspiration from the landscape traditions of the 19th century, she tackles themes of extinction and ecological harm, while infusing hope through nature’s capacity for empathy. Growing up near the Adirondack Mountains, Bialke’s deep connection to the natural world manifests in her post-apocalyptic landscapes, where bold and unsettling colour gradients evoke both the devastation and the possibility of renewal. Her layered oil paintings on linen remind us that nature is a living organism, not just a resource to be exploited.
Viktor Mattsson’s surrealist works resonate with themes of good and evil, focusing on archetypal figures such as devils, cowboys and clowns. His paintings explore moments of tension and fragile balance, where characters grapple with affliction through drinking, melancholy, and violence. By juxtaposing contrasting emotions—joy and sorrow, humour and melancholy—Mattsson’s work probes the emotional spectrum, offering a deep exploration of the complexities of the human condition, drawn from enduring Western iconography.
In a rapidly evolving art world, collecting contemporary emerging artists is more important than ever. These artists not only challenge the boundaries of established art forms but also respond to the pressing issues of our time—environmental crisis, technology, and the complexity of human experience. By supporting emerging talent, collectors have the opportunity to shape the future of art, while also engaging with work that holds a deep resonance in both personal and cultural contexts. The art of today, as seen in Penumbra, is a reflection of the world we inhabit and a glimpse into the narratives that will define the art world of tomorrow.
