Press Release  March 1, 2019

10 Up and Comers to Look for at SCOPE NY 2019

Now in its 19th year at the Metropolitan Pavilion in Chelsea, SCOPE is renowned for bringing cutting-edge contemporary artists and movements to the forefront. With 60 international exhibitors, talent from around the globe will be on show from March 7-10 in New York. Here is a sampling of 10 artists on the rise at this year’s SCOPE.

Jan Vytiska, Hare O´Death, 2010
Courtesy SCOPE

Jan Vytiska takes the already gory world of fairytales and pushes them to their campy limit, swapping out familiar tropes from stories and characters from pop culture. Sometimes very dark, sometimes nostalgic, Vyiska’s works are always provocative.

Jan Vytiska, Hare O´Death, 2010
The Chemistry Gallery (Prague)

Izwelethu Machepha, Untitled
Courtesy SCOPE

South African multimedia artist Izwelethu Machepha captures his subjects in many dimensions, sitting still for a portrait and yet moving in all directions. Just like corporeal people, they are complex and come together as one whole person: beautiful shifting and changing creatures that are hard to pin down.

Izwelethu Machepha, Untitled
Drawing, 60 x 40 cm
Richard Beavers Gallery (Brooklyn)

Benjamin Edwards, Joy
Courtesy SCOPE

Benjamin Edwards' figural abstractions are surreal portraits by way of multi-layered landscapes. Full of color, texture, and emotion, they offer a visual and intellectual smorgasbord for us to explore.

Benjamin Edwards, Joy 
Painting, 122x92 cm
Neumann Wolfson Art (New York)

Kukula, Diamond Tea
Courtesy SCOPE

Nataly Kukula Abramovitch creates a gothic fantasy world centered around doll-like figures in extravagant gowns that references both pop-culture and classical European art. 

Kukula, Diamond Tea 
Painting, 24 x 20 in
Haven Gallery (New York)

Leon Keer, Congo Calling
Courtesy SCOPE

Street artist Leon Keer fools passers-by with his incredible creations, engaging social critique and a sense of awe in his unsuspecting audiences around the world. His paintings on panel do the same, pushing hyperrealism to new limits.

Leon Keer, Congo Calling
Acrylic on panel
Thinkspace (Los Angeles)

Tim Conlon, CN 32
Courtesy SCOPE

Graffiti writer Tim Conlon brings his tags and spraypaints into the gallery through massive paintings and miniature train cars that recreate the world of street art in photorealistic detail.

Tim Conlon, CN 32
Sculpture, 61 x 18 cm 
Roman Fine Art (East Hampton, NY)

Sarah Sitkin
Courtesy SCOPE

Known for her hyperrealistic recreations and perversions of the human body made in silicon, Sarah Sitkin is a master of the human form, creating works that are straight out of the uncanny valley.

Sarah Sitkin is represented by Superchief Gallery (Los Angeles).

Trevor Guthrie, Wald Taxi
Courtesy SCOPE

Trevor Guthrie's large-scale charcoal drawings present us with alternate realities, intricately crafted altered versions of what might be familiar, but is slightly off.

Trevor Guthrie, Wald Taxi
Drawing, 95 x 65 cm
a-space gallery

Peter Opheim, Owl
Courtesy SCOPE

Peter Opheim's paintings of character's of his own making evoke classic claymation figures portrayed with a gravitas usually reserved for formal portraits. Hand-crafted in clay before being reproduced on the canvas, his brightly colored creatures remind us of the once-serious world of play we left behind as adults.

Peter Opheim, Owl
Painting, 140 x 166 cm
Askeri Gallery (Moscow)

Crocodile Power, F-ck Them with Innocence
Courtesy SCOPE

Based in Moscow, the art-making duo Crocodile Power are in it to upend our notions of reality: "We perceive contemporary reality as a moveable, flexible space in which the past, present and future simultaneously exist and mix. We are interested in a process, which excites us with its unpredictability, in which a person simultaneously takes the role of the creator and the laboratory mouse. Creativity becomes a game in which each next step brings us closer to the limits of conventional everyday life."

Crocodile Power, F-ck Them with Innocence
Painting, 120 x 90 cm 
Ural Vision Gallery (Yekaterinburg)

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