Women Artists You Should Be Following

As we continue our focus on the theme of women who inspire us, we’re celebrating women artists and their contribution to the art world in the past, present and future, influenced by the National Museum of Women in the Arts’ #5WomenArtists campaign, which you can learn more about here.

We are constantly seeking creativity and exposure to those who are expressing themselves in meaningful ways and recognize the importance of amplifying the work of women who are shaping our visual landscape, design aesthetic, and art world as we know it. So here are some of our current favorites, from those who are easily accessible via social media to those whose work hangs in museums. And whether their legacies are long or just getting started, all are impactful today and will be for years to come.

1. Christina Quarles, @cequarles: Christina Quarles is a contemporary American artist living and working in Los Angeles whose gestural, abstract paintings confront themes of racial and sexual identities, gender and queerness. Her work can be seen globally, in revered collections such as that of the Tate Museum, Regen Projects, X Museum, MOCA Chicago and more.

2. Deborah Roberts, @rdeborah191: Deborah Roberts is a mixed media artist whose work challenges the concept of ideal beauty. Her work has been seen around the globe, in the collections of The Whitney Museum, Brooklyn Museum, and LACMA, as well as in the private collections of Beyoncé and President Barack Obama as fans.

3. Bernice Bing: Bernice Bing, or “Bingo” was a Chinese American lesbian artist involved in the San Francisco Bay Area art scene in the ‘50s and ‘60s whose abstract expressionist paintings see roots in Zen Buddhism and philosophy. Her work has been largely impactful and influential, yet often overlooked. Her aesthetic changed and evolved and ultimately told the story of a modern woman facing and overcoming obstacles time and again.

4. Tschabalala Self, @Tschabalalaself: Self is a Harlem-born mixed media artist who is best known for her depictions of Black female figures and their identity in contemporary culture. Her work uses collage and sewing to assemble paintings, scraps from old works, and other collected materials to create and portray black bodies with alternative narratives. Her work has appeared in collections and shows such as Hammer Museum, Art Basel, Jeffrey Deitch, Rubble Museum and more.

5. Shirin Neshat, @shirin__neshat: Shirin Neshat is an Iranian visual artist whose artwork often comments on the contrasts and the spaces between Islam and the West, femininity and masculinity, public and private life, the old and the new. Neshat’s work has graced the collections of iconic institutions such as the Guggenheim Museum, The Broad Museum, Hirshhorn Museum and more.

6. Beatriz Gonzalez: Beatriz Gonzalez is a Colombian painter and sculptor often associated with the Pop Art movement. She is best known for her bright and colorful paintings depicting life in Colombia during the war-torn period known as La Violencia and for her symbolic paintings on common store-bought furniture that reflected historical and religious figures.

7. Betye Saar, @betyesaar: Betye Saar is a contemporary artist best known for her printmaking and assemblage. A part of the Black Arts Movement in the 70s, Saar’s work is highly political and has explored racism in White America and reclaiming the black body. Her work can be seen at Detroit Institute of Art, SFMOMA and The Studio Museum in Harlem, NY.

8. Carrie Mae Weems, @carriemaeweems: Carrie Mae Weems is a contemporary artist working in text, fabric, audio, digital images and installation video, whose work centers most often around the themes of racism, sexism, politics and personal identity in the black community. You can view her work at SFMOMA, Serpentine Gallery, SCAD Museum of Art, George Eastman Museum and more.

9. Luchita Hurtado: Luchita Hurtado is a Venezuelan American artist whose work explored various styles and motifs surrounding the interconnectedness of all living things and our environment. Her career was long and varied, having only gained broad notoriety for her work towards the end of her life. Her work has been displayed by various revered institutions including LACMA, Hauser & Wirth, Serpentine Gallery, Hammer Museum and more.

10. Loribelle Spirovski, @loribellespirovski: Loribelle Spirovski is a self-taught Filipino-Australian artist whose work is often figurative, expressive, abstract and surreal. She has won countless awards for her art and has been showcasing in various galleries across the globe, including Miami Art Fair, LA Art Show, Guy Hepner Gallery in NY, Metro Gallery in Victoria, House of Fine Art in London and more.