Art
Artsy Editorial
“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.
B. 1995, London. Lives and works in London.
Jesse Akele’s peripatetic upbringing shaped her sense of place as something fleeting. This worldview is palpable in her hazy, figurative paintings, where details feel just out of reach. In Boneyard (2025), featured in WORKPLACE’s current group show “Cold Enough for Snow” (on view through August 30th), three figures gather around a table, their bodies emerging through a radiant wash of reds and yellows. The central figure appears contemplative, and Akele’s loose brushwork and diffused light conjure a nostalgic atmosphere. The scene could be a memory, fuzzy at the edges, or a vignette glimpsed by someone moving too quickly to take in all the details.
“Moving frequently as a child intensified my joy for people-watching and understanding how the absorption of shared psychology, culture, rhythm, and even architecture creates patterns of identity,” Akele wrote in her artist statement.
Akele received her MA in painting from the Royal College of Art in 2023, and her work is part of the Royal College of Art Collection. She has recently been featured in group shows at PM/AM and DADA Gallery in London.
—Maxwell Rabb, Staff Writer
Ryan Bush, B. 1990, Denver. Lives and works in New York.
Raphael Martinez Cohen, B. 1989, New York. Lives and works in New York.
Modern terrazzo—a composite material made of stone chips set in a binder—was invented by Venetian artisans in the 15th century. By the 1920s, it was a widely favored flooring material in the United States and, a century later, it inspired a ubiquitous pattern slapped on everything from suitcases to notebooks. But in the hands of Ficus Interfaith, terrazzo is something else altogether. The Queens-based duo of Raphael Martinez Cohen and Ryan Bush employs the material to make curious sculptural objects that playfully disregard distinctions between fine art, design, and craft.
Such works include the cement piece Infinite Jest Doorstop (2024), a fake version of David Foster Wallace’s famously hefty tome, and Stop (2021), an octagonal work that mimics a stop sign with fragments of deer bones spelling out the titular directive. These works are cheeky, but the duo can be cerebral, too: “Furniture Music,” their solo exhibition on view at P.P.O.W in New York through August 14th, is inspired by the work of French composer Erik Satie. The low tables and wall vases featured in the show emphasize both form and function—echoing ideas about passive and active viewership found in Satie’s musique d’ameublement compositions, which were meant to be experienced as background music.
Bush and Cohen met while studying painting at the Rhode Island School of Design and began collaborating in 2014. Together, they have had solo exhibitions at Nina Johnson in Miami and Deli Gallery in New York, among others.
—Olivia Horn, Managing Editor
B. 1986, Guangdong Province, China. Lives and works in Philadelphia.
Shuling Guo’s transcendental works are shimmering and symbolic. Often executed in color pencil and as oil paint, they use soft colors to create ambient sensory impressions while alluding to Guo’s life experiences. For example, works featured in her recent solo show “Temple” at the Miami space of Mindy Solomon—which just announced representation of the artist—referenced the emotional and physical changes that accompany childbirth and motherhood. Some works contain clear references to the human form—such as Body Middle (2024), a minimal pink and lavender representation of a torso’s curves. Others evoke spiritual moments of intensity, pride, and calm—such as Temple (2025), a triptych of glowing red abstract forms set against a yellow sky.
Guo graduated with a BFA in oil painting from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, in 2010. She exhibited work in group shows at Latitude in 2023 and 2024. Mindy Solomon will represent Guo in cooperation with Hollis Taggart, which will present Guo’s work in a group show this fall and a solo show in 2026.
—Josie Thaddeus-Johns, Senior Editor
B. 1985, Mexico City. Lives and works in Queretaro, Mexico.
Ileana Magoda’s works invite viewers into a world where the natural and uncanny coincide. In a series of paintings from “Agua de vida,” her recent solo show at Anat Ebgi in Los Angeles, the artist depicts lush proliferations of flora—petals, leaves, fronds, and abstracted botanical motifs. Her approach is not representational but evocative, conjuring an immersive, almost dreamlike garden. In El arroyo en un sueño (2025), for instance, Magoda takes a loose, impressionistic approach to plant forms, with layered brush marks and unexpected juxtapositions of color. The result resembles a time-lapse view of a blooming landscape.
Magoda graduated with a BA in graphic design from the National Autonomous University of Mexico in 2008. After a career as a graphic designer and art director, health complications prompted the artist to dedicate her life to painting in 2020. Following Magoda’ solo show at Anat Ebgi, the gallery featured her work at Aspen Art Fair last month. She has also mounted solo shows at galleries including EDJI Gallery in Brussels and Bernheim in Zurich.
—Arun Kakar, Senior Art Market Editor
B. 1997, Cannes, France. Lives and works in London.
In Amélie Peace’s enigmatic paintings, touch is a central focus. Entwined figures hold one another, their hands wrapping around legs and torsos in compositions that explore human connection, emotion, and sexuality. Peace’s works were recently featured in “Figurative Impressions: In Plain Sight,” a group exhibition at Hurst Contemporary in London, as well as in a group show at Fredericks & Freiser in New York.
Among the works on view at Hurst Contemporary was Le Flou à l’interieure de toi (Your Insides Are A Blur) (2025), a warped, uncanny scene in which the artist uses dark imagery to explore the inner self, literally: One subject reaches into another’s body to grasp their organs. Despite the graphic nature of the scene, Peace conveys a sense of tactility and intimacy through warm, vibrant colors and rich textures. Her subjects appear as if seen through a fisheye lens, creating a dreamlike atmosphere.
Peace holds a BFA from the City & Guilds of London Art School. Earlier this year, the artist was selected for a residency with Palazzo Monti, widely regarded as an incubator for emerging talent. Her work has also been included in solo and group exhibitions at Better Go South, JD Malat Gallery, and C+N CANEPANERI, among others.
—Adeola Gay, Senior Curatorial Manager
