33PA Showroom | Tim Okamura →

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Tim Okamura investigates identity, the urban environment, metaphor, and cultural iconography through a unique method of painting. Urban life and hip-hop has greatly influenced Okamura's subject matter in his paintings - he often blends classical techniques of oil painting with the spontaneity of spray painted graffiti, combining the academic "realism" of his portrait and figure painting with modern graphics set in contemporary urban environments. The juxtaposition of the rawness and urgency of street art and academic ideals has created a visual language that acknowledges a traditional form of story-telling through portraiture, while infusing the work with resonant contemporary motifs.

Okamura has had several solo exhibitions in New York and Canada. His work has been shown in several prominent group exhibitions, including After Matisse/Picasso at the MOMA PS.1 in Queens, New York, as well as the BP Portrait Awards Exhibition at London's National Portrait Gallery. Okamura was invited to The White House in 2015 to honor artists whose work addresses issues of social justice, and received a letter of commendation from President Joe Biden. His 2020 portrait of Toni Morrison was chosen for the cover of Time Magazine and his portrait of Dr. Anthony Fauci was acquired by the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC. In 2021, the New York Historical Society acquired his 2021 painting Nurse Tracey, which was featured in the exhibition Dreaming Together.

Okamura - a recipient of the 2004 Fellowship in Painting from the New York Foundation for the Arts – has also had his paintings featured in several films including Pieces of April (InDiGent), School of Rock (Paramount), Jersey Girl (Miramax), and most prominently in Prime (Universal), a romantic comedy about a young New York painter starring Uma Thurman and Meryl Streep. Okamura's work is also notable in Ethan Hawke’s The Hottest State.

Aidamaris Román Tejera | Forgotten Hearts →

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One of a Kind BJD Dolls are made using the finest and silkiest porcelain. Fully articulated body with leather lining on every joint for a smoother rotation, extensive movement and posing. They feature delicate and detailed expressive hands. Industrial carbon steel springs mechanism. Doll is painted with permanent china colors and her body is all polished and blushed with the same paints that are used in ceramics and porcelains that resist scratches and will not fade. Hand painted face features detailed down to individual eyelashes and eyebrows. Includes a hand made candy like clear stand and hand made box.

Aidamaris Román Tejera creates works of art that blend realism and fantasy, exploring spirituality and emotional depth through luminous and ethereal imagery.

New Arrival | Pauline Aubey →

Paulina Aubey’s LEGO portraits ingeniously merge popular form with popular content in order to question our relationship to celebrity. Having begun her artistic career working with pastels, Aubey’s passion for pop culture inspired her to try her hand with a more popular medium: LEGO bricks. She has elevated this unusual medium to the status of fine art, creating expressive portrayals of contemporary icons and the idols of her 1980s childhood. Her portraits of religious figures, movie characters, and pop stars—including David Bowie and Marilyn Monroe—blur the distinction between figurative and abstract art. They appear highly detailed from a distance and become pixelated upon closer inspection; this viewing experience prompts audiences to reflect on how much we can ever truly understand our idols. In order to create her portraits, Aubey chooses a digital image of her subject and manipulates it to create the desired expression and color scheme before selecting appropriate blocks of LEGO to build the work.

Pauline Aubey

Candy, 2024

Lego plates

14 × 14 in | 35.6 × 35.6 cm

Frame included

New Arrival | Yunior Hurtado Torres →

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Yunior Hurtado Torres

Be Yourself, 2024

Oil on linen

59 1/10 × 59 1/10 in | 150 × 150 cm

Patricia Schappler | Evocative Paintings →

What's the purpose or goal of your work?
Most of my work begins with the desire to share a meaningful image and in that sense, connect with the viewer. I want to create moments of recognition whether through a familiar gesture, a quality of light, or the passage of time which reaches the viewer in a way that remains, so we join within the space of the work as friends.

Which art trends inspire your current work?
I look at contemporary realism and work from centuries past equally, swayed by quality, mood, and conviction. I love pattern and look at textiles from around the world and have been thinking more about connecting the spaces I’m interested in: nature/our planet, animals and the figure.

How do you manage a work-life balance as an artist?
Sometimes managing a work life balance is messy.  I teach drawing and painting, paint out of a home studio, have four adult children just beginning families, and an extended family with both spectrums of newly born and far into the aging process. I exhibit as regularly as possible and don’t when I can’t.  At the moment, I have work at WMOCA, and at the Dunfey exhibit, as well as online with 33 Contemporary. Within the next month, I’ll be exhibiting with Great Bay Community College, New Hampton School, and St Anselms College. Work balances with family, tipping to and fro depending on human needs, but art is a way of living and never far from my thoughts and actions. I have a lot of good energy, prioritizing home and community and within that, finding many subjects and points of inspiration.

What are your favorite and least favorite parts of professional art?
I love the process of thinking and doing, creating something from ideas and observations, moving materials in my hand, watching work come to life through methods and processes until something that wasn’t much becomes something satisfying, engaging… shared. The same applies to seeing works and engaging with ideas, feeling enlightened through another persons’ choices. Demands of social media and marketing are time consuming activities and add to pressure over deadlines, time which I’d prefer to spend in the studio.

What are your most valued skills as an artist?
I see with empathy.

Do you have a network of other artists, and how do they support you?
I have a small local group of artist friends…we comment on imagery, let each other know when competitions are coming up, try to attend exhibits where we have work from the group, hurrah each others’ wins, and in general help each other to feel a part of something a bit bigger than ourselves. I am also part of several artist associations and groups like PoetsArtists where even if I’ve never met the members, we feel like we know each other from our posts, our art work, our general enthusiasm for each other. 

How can your work affect societal issues?
I’m not making work that directly affects societal issues and yet I cannot make work that isn’t about society, how I am feeling within it, where my concerns lay. I’m a woman, a mother, daughter, wife, instructor, artist, so many labels, but it comes down to creating images as a window into my life giving voice to experiences both of joy and sorrow, and, in the process, discovering domestic and heroic scenes are not dissimilar. I present figures through the lens of wonder and respect, the sharing of stories around themes of family, friendship, home … I believe when we recognize loved ones in others, we remember the best of what it is to be human, so perhaps I’m working on my own quiet revolution that celebrates humanity, resiliency and possibility. 

Introducing Haejin Yoo Surrealistic Expressionism

Haejin Yoo, is a self-taught acrylic artist born in Seoul, South Korea, but grew up in Australia. She creates surrealistic expressionist art to evoke past and present emotions.

In her artistic exploration, Haejin extends beyond the canvas, integrating mixed media such as acrylics, textiles, carpentry, and spray paint. Her intention is to breathe life into the image, surpassing the constraints of a flat surface. Whether painting onto the frame itself or infusing various materials, each element contributes to the illusion of her surreal expressions.

Haejin's artistic passion was discovered at a young age but was suppressed until her late twenties. Following an early career in the sciences has allowed Haejin to apply her skills towards a greater understanding of acrylics and other artistic mediums. She now lives in Cologne, Germany, where she exhibits her work across Europe.

Haejin Yoo

Woman in the Bath IV, 2024

Acrylic and textile on 400gsm Fabriano Pittura acrylic cardboard

11 4/5 × 11 4/5 in | 30 × 30 cm

Frame included

Haejin Yoo

Woman in Bath V, 2024

Acrylic and textile on 400gsm Fabriano Pittura acrylic cardboard.

11 4/5 × 11 4/5 in | 30 × 30 cm

Add to your art collection @Artsy with 33 Contemporary

O'Neil Scott | Captivating Portraiture

O’Neil Scott is a Pennsylvania based representational oil painter. Captivated by portraiture and its capacity to impart complexities that comprise the human condition his work is designed to give a voice to marginalized communities. His paintings convey contemporary subject matter and look to give the viewer a way to understand and relate across social boundaries. He had his third solo show in 2022 and has been in numerous publications including Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine, American Art Collector Magazine, and Artist Magazine. His work is in private collections across the United States and Internationally. He currently has a solo exhibition planed for Villanova University in 2022 and a Solo Museum Exhibition at the Zillman Art Museum in 2025.

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Kim Leutwyler | Painting the LGBQT Community

Born in America, Sydney-based Kim Leutwyler migrated to Australia in 2012. She works in a variety of media including painting, installation, ceramics, print media and drawing. Leutwyler's current body of work features paintings exploring notions of beauty, gender and queer identity. She has come to focus on painting as a medium because of its primarily masculine history in the western art canon. Her artwork has been exhibited in multiple galleries and museums throughout Australia and the United States.

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Ann Moeller Steverson | The Emotive Figure

Ann Moeller Steverson is an American artist known for her emotive and mood filled figurative works, primarily created with oil on copper. Her works are described as having a timeless quality which invites the viewer to create their own sensitive response and narrative through a compelling tension and sense of mystery. Through the quiet intensity of each piece she seeks to share her most authentic self, what she loves, and an invitation for connection. Born in Huntsville, Al, in 1980 she continues to reside there, working within a vibrant artist community. There she paints, teaches, and operates an atelier to promote the advancement of realism in modern painting.

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Pauline Aubey | LEGO Art

Paulina Aubey uses lego bricks to create portraits who question our relationship to cultural icons through an interplay between abstraction and realism. Inspired by stained glass, she now adds some luminous effects to her artwork using a superimposition of matte and transparent bricks that she calls glazing. She mainly focuses on intimate close-up portraits that remain undecipherable despite close inspection. Her body of work is an attempt at alleviating the inherent tension between technology and mysticism. She is part of the Lunar Codex and a judge for Lego Masters France.

Amy Ordoveza

Amy Ordoveza is a contemporary realist artist who creates detailed, imaginative still-life paintings. She carefully crafts and arranges the delicate cut-paper plants, animals, and architectural elements that she depicts in her oil paintings. The fragility of the paper objects suggests impermanence while Ordoveza’s close observation and meticulous handling of paint hint at their significance. Her compositions evoke a sense of beauty and mystery in ordinary surroundings.

Ordoveza received her MFA from the New York Academy of Art and her BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art. Her historical influences include 17th century Dutch still life painters including Rachel Ruysch and Jan Davidsz de Heem as well as surrealists such as Kay Sage and René Magritte. Ordoveza’s work is included in the Lunar Codex and the Nova Scotia Art Bank and has been featured in publications and websites including American Art Collector, PoetsArtists, and Booooooom!

Pauline Aubey

Paulina Aubey’s LEGO portraits ingeniously merge popular form with popular content in order to question our relationship to celebrity. Having begun her artistic career working with pastels, Aubey’s passion for pop culture inspired her to try her hand with a more popular medium: LEGO bricks. She has elevated this unusual medium to the status of fine art, creating expressive portrayals of contemporary icons and the idols of her 1980s childhood. Her portraits of religious figures, movie characters, and pop stars—including David Bowie and Marilyn Monroe—blur the distinction between figurative and abstract art. They appear highly detailed from a distance and become pixelated upon closer inspection; this viewing experience prompts audiences to reflect on how much we can ever truly understand our idols. In order to create her portraits, Aubey chooses a digital image of her subject and manipulates it to create the desired expression and color scheme before selecting appropriate blocks of LEGO to build the work.

Artists Painting Artists | A Window into Creative Souls →

In the realm of painting, there's a profound beauty in artists painting their peers. This practice is more than just a mere portrayal; it's a tribute, an intimate dialogue between creatives who share a relentless impulse to express. The online exhibition "Artists Painting Artists" magnificently en- capsulates this concept, offering viewers a chance to witness one artist's perspective of another's essence.

Imagine a world where each brushstroke is an ode, where every color and line is a symbol of respect for a fellow artist's journey. In this unique form of portraiture, the artist is both a narrator and a participant, engaging in an unspoken conversation with their subject. It's akin to self-portraiture, yet here, the artist sees themselves through the eyes of another, providing an external viewpoint that is often enlightening.

The exhibition leads us through various narratives, each portrait unfolding a story that beckons us to explore deeper. There's a certain magic in the gaze captured by these artists. It invites us to ponder, to lose ourselves

in the depths of the subject's character. What lies behind those eyes? What stories do they tell? These are questions that resonate throughout the gallery.

Historically, the art world is rich with examples of artists painting their contemporaries. These portraits are not just mere records; they are tes- taments, eternalizing the honor and reverence of being the subject of a fellow artist's canvas. They forge a bond across time, connecting the past, present, and future in a continuous thread of artistic admiration.

As you delve into this exhibition, let each portrait intrigue you, drawing you into the narratives they weave. Each piece is a journey into the heart of creativity, a celebration of the artistic spirit that connects us all. This is not just an exhibition; it's a homage to the enduring bond between artists, a tribute to the shared passion that fuels their creative souls.

- Sergio Gomez, MFA

Lisa Fricker

Laurence O'Toole

Aki Kano

Karzai Amal

Amy Gibson

Chenoa Warner

Gabriella Di XX Miglia

Christopher Cart

Julie Kavanaugh

John Hyland

Katarzyna Adamiak Jaśnikowska

Steven DaLuz

Leah Lopez

Sarah Warda

Lydia Rose Spencer

Michael James

Patricia Schappler

Eva Evangelista

Diana Carolina Lopez

Scott Brooks

Erica Calardo

Erica Calardo is a figurative painter living and working in Italy. Her works in oils, watercolors, and pencils are windows on the solitude of lost souls. She explores the realm of Beauty, Grotesque, and Magic, by creating eery oneiric feminine figures who tell tales of long forgotten dreams, of an imaginary timeless past.

Deeply rooted in the Italian Tradition, her technique is inspired by the Renaissance and Mannerism old masters (Leonardo, Bronzino, and Lavinia Fontana above all). She is mostly self-taught and has learned her skills from old dusty books. She has recently studied academic painting with Italian master Roberto Ferri.

Since 2010, she has showcased her work in galleries in Italy (Mondo Bizzarro, Studio21), and abroad (La Luz de Jesus - LA, Auguste Clown - Australia, Modern Eden, Swoon, Flower Pepper, WWA, and Spoke Art, Distinction - USA, Pinkzeppelin - Berlin among others). Erica's paintings have appeared in several magazines and books, like Miroir Magazine, Beautiful Bizarre, Il Manifesto, Inside Art, Italian Pop Surrealism, Illustrati.

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Eugen Varzić

Eugen is an artist who has developed a highly personal style that makes his beautiful pieces instantly recognizable. His paintings from the last few years, is simultaneously beautiful in both technique and aesthetic, but also creates a subtle sense of unease in the viewer. The work demands answers (or at least questions) from the viewer. It demands contemplation. And yet, the sheer honesty of it makes it something that can be lived with. This is challenging art that could take pride of place in a living-room and be accepted into your life. Eugen is one of the bravest artists that we know, in that his paintings are a refined, but almost excruciatingly honest, recording of the journey of his life, both the highlights and also the dark depths of thoughts and emotions that generally are hidden away and never shared. Even though they can be uncomfortable, something of Eugen’s innate empathy and compassion is also contained in each of his paintings and they provide a deep sense of support and strength that comes from exploring and knowing your limits.

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Ariane Kamps | 10 QUESTIONS →

1- What is different from your art work than other artists working in contemporary realism?

My work is different in that I tend to use a lot of punchy colors, lots of neons, etc and the subject matter is often centered around modern problems, mostly concerning how technology is affecting society on a spiritual level. My goal is to create modern mythologies.

2- How important is the process versus the end result?

The process means a lot to me, I enjoy a lot of the little things. I enjoy sanding panels of all things, gilding the edges with gold, little things like that. I'm always excited to begin a piece. That initial excitement is what carries me through the long process that becomes the end result.

3- What is your ultimate goal when creating contemporary realism?

I want to have a conversation with the viewer about our modern life, the choices we make each day and the world we're ultimately building.

4 -What do you like best about your work?

I like to creating little worlds and making peculiar dreams become reality. It helps me think about the issues we're facing when I can see it represented. 

5- What do you do you like least about your work?

I dislike having to explain the meaning or inspiration behind the work because I often don't have a "message" attached to each work, just loose ideas that I wonder about when I look at each painting.

6 -Why contemporary realism?

I'm a very literal person, I get stuck on details which is useful in realism and I've found a safe haven in contemporary realism. I feel like the artists that work in contemporary realism are pushing boundaries and asking important questions, it really feels like an art movement that is alive and growing.

7- Which are your greatest influences?

I love the work of Frank Frazetta not only for his fantastical worlds and narrative work but also because, not unlike myself, he started oil painting later in life. He was very gutsy, and made being true to himself and his vision paramount. I also love the work of Mucha, Klimpt, Monet, and Waterhouse. In terms of living artists I'm very moved by the work of Kari-lise Alexander, Ali Cavanaugh, and  Kristin Kwan.

8- What is your background?

I didn't end up going the conventional education route but much of what I learned was from fellow painters, workshops and what I could find online.

9- Name three artists you'd like to be compared to in history books. 

I would feel honoured to simply be mentioned in a history book, I can't imagine being compared to any of the incredible talent out there today.

10- Which is your favorite contemporary realism artwork today?

I love this egg tempura piece by Julio Reyes. It feels timeless yet still contemporary.

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Lorena Lepori | 10 QUESTIONS →

What is different from your art work than other artists working in contemporary realism?

I believe intentions are what makes every work unique. Mine are unpredictable, sometimes. I am mostly inspired by personal memories, abstract feelings and references from movies and music I grew up with. This combination of elements characterizes  what I produce.

How important is process versus the end result?

In my case the two  are deeply connected. Once the right idea hits me, the creative process evolves quickly; subjects, backgrounds, outfits and props are already in the picture before I touch the brush. They are so clear to me, that ,rarely, I found something different from what I have planned on my canvas.

What is your ultimate goal when creating contemporary realism?

Make the  viewers curios about the references and amuse them with the twist I like to add in the composition.

What do you like best about your work?

In the process I like the attention I give to the  concept. In the end, I like to see the materializing of my abstract idea.

What do you do you like least about your work?

I would love to be more spontaneous, less obsessed with technical details.

Why contemporary realism?

I consider myself a pragmatic soul, but nothing trigs me more than realistic figures, amazingly executed, immersed in the abstraction of an idea. 

Which are your greatest influences?

My very first love was Tamara De Lempicka, flamboyant colors and beautiful women in glamorous  and swoony poses. I think I got my imprinting from her, and that would explain the focus of my attention into feminine figures.

Caravaggio, and his incredible dramatic work, definitively represents a level I have always aimed to. Last but not least,  Gustave Klimt who stimulated my curiosity  with his ethereal pale women,  wrapped in symbols and flat fabric.

What is your background?

I used to be a cartoonist and illustrator in my twenties. Life drove me away from that  world  for several years. Only in my forties I went back to my original passion, and I started to train myself as a painter, with the help of artist friends and a lot of self-teaching. It is now 9 years that I am totally committed to oil painting. And I love it!

Name three artists you'd like to be compared to in history books.

I would love to see  my name mentioned next to the three artists named above, that would be of course very ambitious and not very humble.

Which is your favorite contemporary realism artwork today?

A huge masterpiece by Sergio Martinez - The portrait of Desire

Gemma Di Grazia | 10 QUESTIONS

1. What is different from your art work than other artists in contemporary realism?
Unlike still life, landscape painting or botanicals, my flowers are my live models. They have personality, express emotion and have a narrative. The story of my flowers is a dialog between color and the shapes they create; and the conversations can be harmonious, complementary, or energetic.

2. How important is process versus the end product?
The process of painting provides such joy. I love the fluidity of the oil paint, and the satisfying control of my brush. The discovery of the palette as it reveals itself is like watching an engrossing movie. Time doesn’t exist when I’m painting, I’m simply in a zone, a headspace of hundreds of intentional decisions flowing from my mind. The end product is, as some say, “when I stop painting.” To conclude a painting is to finish a good book: resolved and better for the experience.

3. What is your goal when creating contemporary realism?
My goal is to sell my work, so I may afford to continue painting! I heard Audry Flack say recently that art is healing; that can be for the artist and the viewer. Flowers are life-affirming, and beautiful. Beauty itself is healing, whether creating or appreciating it.

4. What do you like best about your work?
My new series of floral paintings fuse representational florals with elements of design. It is exciting and hopeful to make work with the goal of expressing beauty.

5. What do you like least about your work?
I have many more ideas than I can paint. Editing is crucial. My painting process takes time, so I never have enough.  

6. Why contemporary realism?
I enjoy painting what I see, then putting it through my filter and express the beauty.

7. Which are your greatest influences?
My parents, who were artists.

8. What is your background?
A family of artists contributed to my early interest in art. My grandmother, mother and father all attended Cooper Union for art. My mother was a painter and my father, Thomas Di Grazia was a published illustrator and painter. I attended LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and then earned a B.F.A. from Hunter College. I also studied at S.V.A., Parsons, and the Art Students League of New York.

9. Name 3 artists you’d like to be compared to in the history books:
Instead of artists from history, I’d rather be along side the many artist friends whose work I admire.

10. Which is your favorite contemporary realism artwork today?
It is difficult to choose just one particular favorite contemporary realism painting, but some of my favorite contemporary artists are: Xenia Hausner, Hope Gangloff, Audry Flack, and Janet Fish.

GEMMA DI GRAZIA

Di Grazia’s representational paintings are a celebration of color, light and form. Her compositions exhibit formal aesthetic elements, whether using soft pastels or oil paints, she uses a luminous and vibrant color palette that transform the formal foundation into something exciting and dynamic. Her work seeks to evoke the life-affirming beauty inherent in the natural world, and reveal what is extraordinary in the familiar. Ultimately, it’s not the subject matter that interests Gemma, it’s the tone, the gesture, color, light, scale and composition, that continue to absorb and inspire her.