5 Artists on Our Radar in December 2024

“Artists on Our Radar” is a monthly series focused on five artists who have our attention. Utilizing our art expertise and Artsy data, we’ve determined which artists made an impact this past month through new gallery representation, exhibitions, auctions, art fairs, or fresh works on Artsy.

Stevie Dix

B. 1990, Belgium. Lives and works in Genk, Belgium.

For her current solo exhibition with carlier | gebauer, “CHAOS,” Belgian artist Stevie Dix focuses on classic Surrealist themes of the body and cosmic landscapes in minimalist multipanel works, often joined together in unusual rectangular formations. Representations of faces in profile and transcendental landscapes recur throughout these turbulent works, rendered in oil mixed with a homemade beeswax impasto (more wax is used to treat her canvases). Dix constrains her palette to mostly gloomy tones, with occasional flashes of color—for example, in Lucid dreaming (2024), where hints of crimson and magenta flash through three abstract canvases filled with fleshy forms. “Given some of the themes of the work, being about the internal workings of the human body, as well as what is…experienced outside, it was a color that could symbolize both of those,” the artist explained in an Instagram post.

Though this is her first solo show with carlier | gebauer, taking place in the gallery’s Madrid space, Dix has shown extensively with tastemaking galleries internationally. The artist has mounted solo presentations with galleries including Barcelona’s L21 Gallery, New York’s The Journal Gallery, and London’s Hannah Barry Gallery. Dix has also shown in the U.S. with The Hole in New York and Steve Turner in Los Angeles, and her work has been acquired by the Portland Museum of Art in Maine.

—Josie Thaddeus-Johns

Ayotunde Ojo

B. 1995, Lagos. Lives and works in Lagos.

Initially focusing on creating hyperrealistic pencil drawings, Ayotunde Ojo transitioned to figurative painting during the COVID-19 pandemic, inspired by his everyday life in isolation as he embraced a full-time career as a studio artist.

His current practice often features blurred edges and diffuse forms, giving these domestic scenes—often portraying Black men lounging at home—a dreamlike or nostalgic quality. This creative evolution took root during his residency with Southern Guild in Cape Town last year. The South African gallery is now hosting his debut solo exhibition, “These Four Walls,” through February 27, 2025. A standout piece is Untitled (Self-Portrait) (2024), depicting a man at a kitchen table, where partially obscured objects painted with muted colors create a hazy effect. Reflecting on his work via Instagram, Ojo wrote: “What I’m trying to convey is a feeling, rather than exactitude.”

Ojo completed a degree in general art at Yaba College of Technology in 2015, followed by a degree in graphic design in 2018. Since quitting his job at the advertising company, he has participated in group shows at Rele, MARUANI MERCIER GALLERY, kó, and Harper’s, among others.

—Maxwell Rabb

Kwaku Yaro

B. 1995, Labadi, Ghana. Lives and works in Accra.

Crafted from a vibrant array of materials and patterned fabric, Kwaku Yaro’s mixed-media portraits bring together the past and present—detailed figurative works that explore community and memory. Applying traditional pointillist techniques to his large-scale compositions, Yaro has developed a unique visual language. His works are currently on view in a solo exhibition “A Night Out With Lariba in Paris,” at SEPTIEME Gallery, which represents him.

Materiality is central to Yaro’s practice, with the artist incorporating recycled and repurposed materials into his pieces. Ayele & Ayorkor (2022), for instance, depicts two young women posing against an embellished backdrop, their clothing stitched together from a patchwork of woven nylon and burlap. Ghana’s signature checkered tote bags are reimagined as skirts, a fusion of tradition and street style. These recycled materials invite the viewer to consider the potential of everyday objects.

A self-taught artist, Yaro is a member of African art collective Artemartis. His work has been featured in both solo and group exhibitions at Rele, Chilli Art Projects, Gallery 1957, Efiɛ Gallery, Citronne Gallery, The Cowrie Culture, and SEPTIEME Gallery.

—Adeola Gay

Xiangjie Rebecca Wu

B. 1998, Jiangyin, China. Lives and works in Brooklyn.

Xiangjie Rebecca Wu’s intimate canvases are steeped in detail, with many focusing on a single object or scene: a neighboring house viewed through a window at dusk, a paper crane in the grass, a figure carrying a bowl, steam rising against a gray background.

Having studied ceramic glazing, Wu blends her oil pigments dry and applies a wet layer on top, creating a matte finish that lends a weight and texture to the works. She uses deep, muted colors to build hazy images and a sense of time gone by. For example, in Moonlight (2023), she portrays a young tree with two split branches, their soft fibrous insides glowing in the dark.

Wu conceptualizes her works as series, comparing individual paintings to lines in a poem. Two such series are currently on view in New York, in a group show at Brooklyn gallery Eleventh Hour Art and a two-person show at 1969 Gallery with Mason Hunt in Tribeca.

Xiangjie Rebecca Wu earned her MFA at Pratt Institute. She has exhibited in group shows at Cinema Supply in New York, Tutu Gallery in New York, and elsewhere. She has presented solo exhibitions at the College of Wooster Art Museum in Ohio and Marvin Gardens in New York, and she was recently nominated for the Rema Hort Mann Foundation’s 2024 Emerging Artist Grant.

—Isabelle Sakelaris

Benoit Platéus

B. 1972, Liège, Belgium. Lives and works in Brussels.