And just like that, we’re halfway through 2021. If you made a commitment to check out a new set of creative talents this year, it might be time to follow through on that resolution.
Luckily, with the Artnet Gallery Network, you don’t even have to leave the house because we make it our goal to discover new artists each and every month, searching through the thousands of talented artists on our website and selecting a few we find particularly intriguing right now.
Check out what’s in store for June.
Simon Berger
Laurent Marthaler, Montreux
Simon Berger, Untitled 8 (2021). Courtesy of Laurent Marthaler Contemporary.
Simon Berger’s energetic portraits appear—at a distance— to be drawn in ink. In fact, Berger’s works are made of protection glass, which he hammers with acute precision to create small fractures that come together to form unique faces.
Robert Burke
Winchester Galleries, Victoria
Robert Burke, Journey Begins (triptych) (2013). Courtesy of Winchester Galleries.
Canadian artist Robert Burke did not start painting until after retiring from a long career as a contractor at the age of 53. He was born in Northwest Territories in 1944 to a Métis mother of Dene descent and a Black American father who had been part of a segregated regiment that worked on the Alaska Highway during World War II. Burke’s childhood was difficult. As a young child, he was sent away to a residential school 100 away. His paintings often mine these complex memories and his experiences as a Canadian of indigenous descent, using color as a means of expressing emotion.
Jaanika Peerna
JHB Gallery, New York
Jaanika Peerna, March Solstice #23 (2020–2021). Courtesy of JHB Gallery.
Estonia-born, New York-based artist Jaanika Peerna works across drawing, performance, and installation art. Working primarily with the semi-translucent material of mylar, Peerna’s drawn lines are altered and sometimes erased by her application of water and ice in a process that involves simultaneous movements with both of the artist’s hands. In her installations, Peerna adds new dimensions to this process by cutting the mylar drawings and twisting them into arrangements that hang wing-like throughout galleries.
Stephen James Harlan
Casanova Venetian Glass & Art, Naples
Stephen James Harlan, There’s Just Something. Courtesy of Casanova Venetian Glass & Art.
Stephen James Harlan’s hyper realist paintings depict captivating waterways in luminous shades of blues and purples. These aqueous visions are void of people and possess a kind of otherworldly quality that makes these summery scenes feel as if they’re plucked from a dream.
Se Yoon Park
Carvalho Park, Brooklyn
Installation view “Se Yoon Park: Of Earth and Sky” 2021. Courtesy of Carvalho Park.
In Korean artist Se Yoon Park’s first solo New York exhibition, the artist has presented a series of contemplative, even serene sculptures that take inspiration from the shapes of trees. All created during 2020 and 2021, these sculptures range in scale from the intimate to the monumental, and form a kind of forest within the gallery space through which visitors are invited to wander, finding moments of respite and rejuvenation.