The Top Five Upcoming Artists to Watch in 2025

Every generation brings its own visionaries. The kind of artists who do not just create, but translate emotion into color, sound, or form. This year, a new group of rising talents is shaping the creative landscape with work that feels deeply personal and alive. From painting to digital design, from poetry to sound, these are the names to watch in 2025.

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1. Lay Simone – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

In a city built on steel and story, Lay Simone stands out as an artist who paints emotion like memory. Through her creative brand LayMadeIt, she turns raw experience into living color. Her art carries the rhythm of resilience and the tenderness of reflection. Each piece feels like a conversation between faith and freedom. Based in Pittsburgh, Simone’s work blurs the line between healing and creation, making her one of the most soulful new voices in contemporary art.

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2. Mariah Cole – Chicago, Illinois

Known for her layered mixed media portraits, Mariah Cole creates art that examines identity and modern womanhood. Her palette is soft but unflinching, often merging photography with paint to explore the quiet strength found in vulnerability.

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3. Ezra King – Atlanta, Georgia

Ezra King blends urban texture with dreamlike surrealism. His work mirrors the pulse of Atlanta, full of rhythm, color, and movement. He paints the ordinary as divine, turning city scenes into sacred spaces.

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4. Luna Aria – Los Angeles, California

Luna Aria’s digital art bends reality with imagination. Her pieces explore themes of rebirth, technology, and emotional growth. Known for her distinct color stories and visual storytelling, she continues to push digital art into new emotional territory.

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5. Jalen Rue – New York, New York

Jalen Rue’s style feels cinematic. He captures people mid-thought, mid-breath, mid-transformation. Each painting feels like a scene frozen between truth and dream, reminding viewers that art still has the power to slow us down.

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The art world is shifting toward truth. These five artists are not chasing trends. They are building language out of lived experience, proving that authenticity never goes out of style.

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