5 Artists on Our Radar in November 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.

ASMA

Matias Armendaris: B. 1990, Ecuador. Lives and works in Mexico City.

Hanya Beliá: B. 1994, Mexico. Lives and works in Mexico City.

Long, spindly forms, like tendrils or tentacles, stretch across the experimental, wide-ranging practice of the artist duo ASMA, whose work encompasses painting, sculpture, and design. These tangles result in intricate objects and canvases, which are often seductive and a touch surrealistic. See, for instance, two works they showed at Paris Internationale last month with their representing gallery, House of Gaga: a muted still-life painting encased in a metallic lattice cage; and the warped, plated-silver shape of a pistol latched to a vase containing a single stem.

ASMA is made up of Matias Armendaris and Hanya Beliá, who met in Mexico City and began collaborating creatively while completing their MFAs at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Their partnership is grounded in a shared commitment to using materials in unexpected ways, like “painting” with silicone, or sculpting with steel wool.

The pair marked a major milestone this fall with the opening of their first institutional exhibition in the United States: “Ideal Space for Music,” on view at New York’s SculptureCenter through February 3, 2025. They have had previous solo shows at galleries including PEANA in Mexico City, Everyday Gallery in Antwerp, and Pangée in Montreal.

—Olivia Horn

Patrick H Jones

B. 1987, London. Lives and works in London.

In “Target,” a new exhibition of work by Patrick H Jones at Duarte Sequeira in Braga, Portugal, herds of racehorses hurtle towards the finish line. The steeds blend together in thick layers of paint, teetering on the edge of abstraction as each painting bleeds into the next to create a dreamlike sequence.

Here, as in previous work by the London-based artist, animals act as symbols of human emotion. They appear in blurred scenes and chaotic formations, suggesting the turbulence and ferality that lives inside of us. In this new body of work, however, the artist applies striking shades of red and green oil paint over a muted palette. This brightness marks a departure from his earlier work, which was characterized by more somber hues.

Jones studied at the alternative art school Turps Banana in London. His work has been exhibited across London and internationally in both solo and group exhibitions at Flowers, Timothy Taylor, Linseed Projects, Galerie PCP, South London Gallery, and The Sunday Painter, the latter of which represents him.

—Adeola Gay

Daniel Correa Mejía

B. 1986, Medellín, Colombia. Lives and works in Berlin.

Daniel Correa Mejía uses a consistent palette of deep azure and sharp crimson in his dreamy paintings. On rough jute fabric, the artist depicts flowing human bodies in darkened, void-like settings, often using his subjects to stand in for specific emotions. For instance, in El duelo (2023)—featured in “Soy el dueño de mi casa,” his solo show at P.P.O.W last year—a contemplative red figure, his legs twisted like a corkscrew, hovers as if in the sky. The title, meaning “the mourning” in Spanish, illuminates the painting’s symbolism: The figure’s edges are blurred, as if he is disintegrating, representing the spiritual loss of self that can accompany grief.

Many of Mejía’s works also depict queer bodies in intimate settings, curled up nude in repose or deep in sexual communion. These couples appear unconcerned with the viewer’s gaze, creating their own, private universe of love.

P.P.O.W recently added the artist to its roster, and will present work by him at Art SG in January. His work is on view through December 7th in a solo show at Mor Charpentier in Bogotá, following a solo show with Maureen Paley in London this summer. He was also included in group shows at Galerie Judin in Berlin and Museum More in the Netherlands this year.

—Josie Thaddeus-Johns

Nastaran Shahbazi

B. 1982, Tehran. Lives and works in Paris.

Strangers come together in scenes of quiet connection—dancing, peeling fruit, playing cards, resting on hillsides—in Nastaran Shahbazi’s dreamlike tableaus. Her work, which contains echoes of Impressionist imagery and the expressive color palette of the Fauves, was the focus of a pop-up staged by The Hole during Art Basel Paris last month. One standout work, Cyprès de toi (2024), uses vibrant shades of blue, green, and purple to depict couples at café tables and a rolling, dusky landscape, nodding to the preferred subjects of masters like Renoir and Pissarro.

Originally from Tehran, where she earned a degree in graphic design from Azad University, Shahbazi moved to Paris to study printmaking and later turned to oil painting. After spending three years in Hong Kong, she returned to Paris—her current home. The artist often layers memories from her life and travels into her art historical references, resulting in work that feels nostalgic and sentimental.

The Hole’s “Open Studio” pop-up exhibition for Shahbazi followed “Wild Roses,” her solo show at the New York gallery earlier this year. Her work was recently featured in another solo exhibition at Scroll in New York and a group show at Ojiri Gallery in London.

—Maxwell Rabb

Daniel Terna

B. 1987, New York. Lives and works in New York.

Daniel Terna’s photography blends personal experience with historical narratives, documenting pivotal cultural moments alongside intimate, seemingly mundane scenes. His latest exhibition, “The Terrain,” is on view at Tribeca gallery Jack Barrett through December 14th. The solo show features photographs from the past seven years, spanning political events—such as the 2017 U.S. presidential inauguration, the Women’s March, the Global Climate Strike, and recent pro-Palestine protests—as well as quiet observations from Terna’s own day-to-day. His approach is marked by an impartial, observant lens, allowing subjects to appear in their own element.

Some of these works recall the artist’s forebears, containing echoes of Wolfgang Tillmans’s poetic still lifes and Rineke Dijkstra’s unflinching portraiture, but Terna’s work is certainly distinctive. As the son of a Holocaust survivor, he draws on his own personal history to inform his work, often examining inherited trauma and family history. For example, the photograph Monastery (2023–24)—an image of a fluffy, bright-white comforter bathed in natural light—was taken at St. Ottilien Archabbey, a Benedictine monastery near the site of the Dachau concentration camp, where his father was imprisoned. The peaceful scene is transformed by its context, invoking the weight of memory and survival.