We’re all in need of a distraction from the news cycle, and over at the Artnet Gallery Network, we’ve been channeling our anxieties into discovering new works by incredible contemporary artists from around the world.

This month, we’ve tapped into everything from electrically colorful portraits on view in Berlin, to meditative abstract woven works in Brooklyn.

If discovering new artists calms your nerves, here are five artists you may enjoy this November.

Mimi Jung, “The Subsuming Ellipse” at Carvalho Park, Brooklyn

Mimi Jung, 102417 Pale Blue and Brown Ellipses, 2020 Courtesy of Carvalho Park

Seoul-born, Los Angeles-based artist Mimi Jung’s woven works combine textiles with the crisp geometric shapes of Modernism. Taking many, many hours to create, the weavings have delicate tonal shifts that are reminiscent of Agnes Martin’s meticulously subtle grids. Meanwhile, Jung’s recurring ellipse motif calls to mind the stark shapes and contrasts of Georgia O’Keeffe’s desert scenes. 

Erdogan Zümrütoğlu, “Atonal Drift” at JD Malat Gallery, London 

Erdogan Zumrutaglu, Noone’s Dance (2020). Courtesy of JD Malat Gallery.

Turkish artist Erdogan Zümrütoğlu’s gestural and expressive paintings are currently on view in “Atonal Drift” at London’s JD Malat Gallery. These recent works take inspiration from the compositions of Austrian-born composer and painter Arnold Schoenberg, who placed emphasis on atonality in a conscious attempt to avoid traditional harmony and create outside of conventional bounds. Zümrütoğlu channels these energies into swirling strokes and splashes of thickly applied paint in his pictures and in the twisting forms of his sculptures to push renderings of the human figure to the limit.

Lyle Ashton Harris at Nancy Littlejohn Fine Art, Houston

Lyle Ashton Harris, Zamble (Provincetown). Courtesy Nancy Littlejohn Fine Art.

The Bronx-born artist Lyle Ashton Harris has said that he first learned the power of the camera from his grandfather, an amateur photographer. Harris now uses it to explore how gender, sexuality, and history are tied to Black and queer identities in his performances and self-portraits. Harris has photographed himself emulating cultural icons like Billie Holiday and Josephine Baker, as well as prizefighters and beauty pageant queens. His most recent works are set in lush outdoor settings where the artist can be seen wearing West African masks that infuse the images with a mythopoetic dimension.

Ajarb Bernard Ategwa, “Studio Ekwe’s” at Peres Projects, Berlin

Ajrab Bernard Ategwa, We are going out tonight. Courtesy of Peres Projects.

Cameroon-born artist Ajarb Bernard Ategwa blends elements of the black-and-white studio portraiture that was popular across countries in post-independence Africa with selfie culture, both of which tap into photography’s potential for self-expression. Ategwa’s boldly colorful portraits hint at the artist’s background as a billboard painter. Here, flattened fields of color prioritize the immediate legibility of the subject. Though uncompromisingly contemporary, the shape and patterns the artist creates are reminiscent of the colorful textiles associated with the African continent, as well as the traditional beading and weaving of the Bamileke kingdom from which Ategwa is descended.

Kennedi Carter at ROSEGALLERY, Santa Monica

Kennedi Carter, Sweet Lady Val from the Soloist. Courtesy of ROSEGALLERY.

Many of us are learning about the work of 21-year-old photographer Kennedi Carter this month after she became the youngest-ever cover photographer for a British Vogue shoot, this time featuring Beyoncé. And it’s easy to see why the magazine chose the North Carolina photographer for the job: Carter’s portraits center on Black subjects and are infused with a sense of sensuality through evocative juxtapositions of fabrics and skin, and are photographed in a dramatic, almost Baroque lighting.