Summer is the art world’s sleepy season, but it’s also the most experimental as galleries give emerging artists a shot (in group-shows galore). If you’re keen to discover some new names but hesitant to head blindly into the blistering July heay, you’re in luck: We’ve parsed through a wealth of lesser-known names to pick 5 five up-and-upcoming artists worth checking out this month, at galleries from NYC to Budapest. 

1. Robert Minervini in “Reinventing the Real” at Hirschl & Adler, New York

Robert Minervini, Hermaphroditus (2018). Courtesy of Hirschl & Adler.

With works dating from the late 19th century to today, Hirschl & Adler’s group summer show brings artists who in some way depicted scenes of everyday American life. Among the present-day figures, Oakland-based artist Robert Minervini’s recent still lifes are a breath of fresh air. These box-like vignettes are full of items like plants and miniature classical sculptures (the kind picked up on various European tourist excursions), paying homage to a kind of suburban American kitsch.

Robert Minervini in “Reinventing the Real” at Hirschl & Adler is on view through August 2, 2019.  

2. Jenna Pirello in “Hi Honey, Hi” at Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York

Jenna Pirello, Ice Cold (2019). Courtesy of Jim Kempner Fine Art.

Jenna Pirello creates her colorful, layered abstract works on wood by applying pigments to a black ground and then scraping, incising, and chipping away at these surfaces. The process results in highly textured geometric works that are reminiscent of hieroglyphic slabs along with popular design patterns from the early ‘90s (think the Saved By The Bell cast wardrobe). If you sense a rhythmic quality to these works, you wouldn’t be off the mark. For her first solo exhibition, Pirello has titled each of her paintings after the tunes she listened to when she made a specific work; the exhibition title comes from the 1979 Fleetwood Mac tune “Honey Hi.”

Jenna Pirello in “Hi Honey, Hi” at Jim Kempner Fine Art is on view through July 21, 2019. 

3. Dénesh Ghyczy in “Panoramic Vision” at Faur Zsofi Gallery, Budapest

Dénesh Ghyczy, Bienale Bassin, 2018. Courtesy of Faur Zsofi Gallery.

Hungarian artist Dénesh Ghyczy’s figures wander through impressive architectural spaces, as though sightseers visiting landmarks or lost in hotel lobbies. Ghyczy’s fluid application of paints imparts a nostalgic quality to his scenes, which appear like photographs damaged by water or a world seen through tears.

Dénesh Ghyczy in “Panoramic Vision” at Faur Zsofi Gallery is on view through July 18, 2019. 

4. Julia Zastava in “Wobbling Middle Age Elf” at Galerie aKonzept, Berlin

Julia Zastava, Dizzy Existence (2018). Courtesy Galerie Akonzept.

Bringing together drawings, sculptures, videos, installations, and performances by Russian artist Julia Zastava, this kooky exhibition abounds with visions of faeries, animals, and as, the title suggests, even elves. Her work brings to mind Outsider art, feeling child-like and innocent despite occasionally alluding to violence and trauma. These fantastical scenes are a reminder that even amid our turbulent social and political reality, misfits still abound.

Julia Zastava in “Wobbling Middle Age Elf” at Galerie aKonzept through July 12, 2019. 

5. Andy Moses in “Echoes of Light” at JD Malat Gallery, London

Andy Moses, Morphology 602 (2018). Courtesy of JD Malat Gallery.

Los Angeles-based artist Andy Moses will make his London debut with a mix of his concave paintings alongside more recent circle and hexagonal works in “Echoes of Light,” an exhibition was curated by fellow Angeleno (and Light and Space art great) Larry Bell. Moses’s acrylic works are made through a process of preparing layers of floating paint before he animates them across the surface. The resulting works appear as marbleized landscapes—the desert, the coast, a sunrise—and are psychedelic in effect.

Andy Moses in “Echoes of Light” at JD Malat Gallery is on view through July 20, 2019.