21 Under 31
Southwest Art spotlights 21 emerging artists under the age of 31 in its 25th annual edition of “21 Under 31.”
By Southwest Art staff
Southwest Art—an Artists Network publication—once again shines a spotlight on 21 talented artists under the age of 31, with a focus on those who create art of the American West or who live in the Southwest. These emerging talents work in a wide range of media, styles, and subject matter. Some of these young talents are recent graduates and others are in the early stages of their professional art careers, but all prove that the future of art is bright.
This story appears in the August/September 2024 issue of Southwest Art magazine. We’ve excerpted it here, but you can read the entire article on the Southwest Art site.
RACHEL BROWNLEE, 30
Nebraska
Style & Inspirations: I depict the living cowboy life using my neighbors and my life on my ranch in Nebraska. Beyond producing highly detailed, photorealistic work, I try to show the “timelessness” of a life that existed 200 years ago and also exists today in such a way that it demands a response from my viewers.
Website: rachelbrownlee.com
ELIZA HOFFMAN, 18
Texas
Style & Inspirations: I’m a fan of when paintings have dynamic colors that make your eye bounce around the composition. I receive inspiration from the people around me, especially my friends and the subject of each painting. I look for their personality and character and try to recreate the feelings I receive from them on canvas.
Website: elizahoffmanart.com
CODY KAMROWSKI, 28
New Mexico
Style & Inspirations: The ordinary world inspires me—anything from dirty dishes in a crusty sink to the buoyant roses of a lush garden. Lately, I’ve been moved by the works of Antonio López García, Auguste Rodin, Käthe Kollwitz and Cormac McCarthy for his ability to say so much with so little.
Website: codykamrowski.com
GUADALUPE HERNANDEZ, 30
Texas
Style & Inspirations: My artistic style is representative, informed by my family’s immigration journey and the Mexican craft tradition of Papel Picado. My artistic inspirations include South Texas artists Carmen Lomas Garza, Adan Hernandez and Jesus Treviño.
Website: guadalupehernandezart.com
ALLIE LOUISE, 24
Montana
Style & Inspirations: I work in a photorealistic style with soft pastel. I’ve always been inspired by Georges Seurat, who was known for his pointillism … [My] work is created in a similar manner, composed of hundreds of thousands of tiny pastel marks for the majority of each piece.
Website: allielouiseart.com
ERIC LEICHTUNG, 28
New York
Style & Inspirations: I’m inspired by the Hudson River School and the landscape paintings of the Peredvizhniki movement. Seeing The Heart of the Andes by Frederic Edwin Church at The Met as a teenager was a profound experience and influenced me to pursue landscape painting.
Website: ericlei.org
JAIVIN MCCOY, 24
Texas
Style & Inspirations: My style attempts to emulate the French academic approach to representational art with inspirations drawn from late-19th- and early-20th-century realist painters like Eugene de Blaas, George Dunlop Leslie and William Bouguereau, among others.
Website: jaivinfineart.com
SPENCER SIMMONS, 30
Arizona
Style & Inspirations: My “style” is somewhere between an impression and realism. My influences range widely … Walter Sickert, Fred Cuming, Andrew Wyeth, Marc Dalessio, Ken Howard and Andrew Cranston, to name a few.
Website: thespencersimmons.com
JOSHUA STEWART, 29
Texas
Style & Inspirations: I love the Western art of James Reynolds, Martin Grelle and Bill Anton. Reynolds’s book Traildust has brought loads of inspiration to me. I also love hanging out on Anton’s website and studying his beautiful work as well as the work found online by many other great artists.
Website: joshuastewartfineart.com
MEGHAN MURRAY, 30
Massachusetts
Style & Inspirations: While I’m not interested in being a photographer, I’ve always been engaged with the photograph and the archive. Storytelling, kinship and relational dynamics, and the concept of American childhood are really interesting to me. So, found photography has become a central source of inspiration.
Website: meghancmurray.com
LAKIN CERAL EPALOOSE, 20
New Mexico
Style & Inspirations: Much of my inspiration and style derives from Zuni artists such as my father, Geddy Epaloose, and Alex Seowtewa and Duane Dishta. As I began to extend my frame of knowledge in the art world, I found myself inspired by artists that created works in the styles of baroque, cubism, romanticism and neo-expressionism.
Website: lakinepalooseart.com
LOUISA LORENZ, 25
Utah
Style & Inspirations: My artistic style is based on a feeling when I come across something, trying my hardest to put that fresh impression of it on a panel. Inspiration comes when I am observing from life, the subtle shifts in temperatures and values, oftentimes that includes plein air painting.
Website: louisalorenz.com
LESLIE DE LEON, 25
Colorado
Style & Inspirations: My style is traditional Western with influences of Tex-Mex borderlands culture.
Website: lesliedeleonart.com
LIVIA LYNNE MILLER, 25
Washington
Style & Inspirations: My style is contemporary realism, with a focus on portraiture and landscapes. I am influenced by current artists such as Serge Marshennikov and Alex Kanevsky, as well as historical landscape paintings by artists such Claude Monet and John Singer Sargent. I draw inspiration from nature and beauty, as well as other art forms like cinematography, photography, and fashion design.
Website: livialynnemillerart.com
NELSON TUCKER, 30
Colorado
Style & Inspirations: My style/technique is called scratchboard. It’s a subtractive technique in which you’re scratching off black ink to revel white clayboard. I use an assortment of sharp objects such as X-Acto knives, scalpels, tattoo needles, etc., to achieve my finished product. My inspiration is mostly derived from nature, animals, and the beauty within these intelligent beings. I’m dabbling with portraiture more recently to try to capture the human condition and overlooked groups.
Website: nelsonbktucker.com
MADELYNN MUTTER, 26
Utah
Style & Inspirations: I take inspiration from many well-known Western artists, most of whom paint incredibly real-looking paintings. I love a good balance between realism and impressionism in my work.
Website: madelynnmutter.com
MARK BARAL, 26
Florida
Style & Inspirations: My work mostly falls into the style of realistic impressionism. It’s inspired by the great masters of the late-19th century.
Website: markbaral.com
SUMMER SPITSBERGEN, 28
Oregon
Style & Inspirations: My painting style overall has a realistic look; however, you’ll see painterly strokes and hints of Impressionism.
Website: summerspitsbergen.com
OLIVIA STUDE, 27
California
Style & Inspirations: My style is narrative plein air painting inspired by the Bay Area Figurative Movement and California Impressionism.
Website: oliviastude.com
SAMUEL C. WALTER, 29
Connecticut
Style & Inspirations: Growing up, the four artists that I was primarily exposed to were N.C. Wyeth, Norman Rockwell, Monet, and Rembrandt. Recently I have found myself mainly studying Hans Holbein, John Singer Sargent, and Andrew Wyeth.
Website: samuelwalterartist.com
ABIGAIL CROW, 27
Utah
Style & Inspirations: I’m inspired by many forms of art, particularly contemporary and impressionist artwork. Though primarily focused on representational work, I love to incorporate abstraction into my images. By mainly painting on acrylic glass, I have created my own personal style that allows the oil paint to have a luminous and dimensional effect.
Website: crowfineart.gallery
About the Showcase
Each fall since 2000, Southwest Art has published a special feature called “21 Under 31,” showcasing 21 talented artists who are under the age of 31. The editors work with art galleries, art schools, ateliers, workshop instructors and many other sources to find candidates for this special feature. We also accept submissions for review.
Artists: You are eligible to submit your work to each edition of “21 Under 31” if you are still under the age of 31 at the September 1 deadline. While the focus is to highlight the talent of artists who create art of the American West, or who live in the Southwest, we have and can feature artists outside of these parameters.
To submit, please email at least five images of your recent work, plus any available background information (biography, artist’s statement, resume, website, etc.), to [email protected].
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