Who are the emerging artists to know in the UK now?

In an exhibition schedule defined by star names and career retrospectives, emerging artists can find it hard to get a foothold in the industry.

It is something that art organisation New Contemporaries has tackled since its inception in 1949, with annual exhibitions spotlighting artists either on the cusp of or in their early careers (featured artists in the past include David Hockney, Paula Rego, Chris Ofili, Tacita Dean and Jake Grewal).

‘New Contemporaries has long been a barometer of contemporary artistic practice, and after 75 years, the annual exhibition remains a rare space [in which] to encounter the breadth of work and lived concerns shaping artists across the UK,’ says Kiera Blakey, director of New Contemporaries. ‘The 2026 exhibition feels particularly urgent in the context of growing precarity for early-career artists, not only as a platform for visibility, but as a form of sustained support rooted in time, attention and care, foregrounding practices that are still in motion rather than fixed or resolved.’

An eclectic mix of mediums is equally celebrated, with featured artists working in photography, painting, sculpture, moving image and installation. Crucially, the geographic spread is just as diverse. ‘For the first time, half of the artists are based outside London,’ Blakey adds. ‘This reflects a deliberate shift in how we think about representation and responsibility, recognising that some of the most compelling ideas and practices are emerging across the UK, in many different contexts and ways of working, well beyond the capital.’

The 26 emerging and early-career artists included in the 2026 exhibition are Viviana Almas, Kat Anderson, Hadas Auerbach, Timon Benson, Lakshya Bhargava, William Braithwaite, River Yuhao Cao, Ali Cook, Shaun Doyle, Ally Fallon, Samantha Fellows, Alia Gargum, Oliver Getley, Makiko Harris, Manuel, Alejandro Hernandez Rivera, Deborah Lerner, Gregor Petrikovič , Will Pham, Isobel Shore, Maya Silverberg, Aaron Alexander Smyth, Christopher Steenson, Varvara Uhlik, Eliza Wagener, Benjamin Waters, and Yimin Xiang.

New Contemporaries is at the South London Gallery until 12 April 2026, and MIMA, Middlesbrough from 8 May – 16 August 2026

newcontemporaries.org.uk