If You Like David Hockney, Here Are 8 Contemporary Artists You Should Know

In this series, Artsy’s curators profile a group of emerging and noteworthy artists whose work is similar in style and spirit to established artists.

This month, we feature artists in conversation with David Hockney. The acclaimed British artist’s paintings feature swimming pools, palm trees and characteristic interiors. With a career spanning more than seven decades, Hockney has been the subject of major retrospectives at venues such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Tate Britain, and his work has consistently fetched eight-figure sums at auction. He is considered one of the most influential British artists of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Here are eight artists that David Hockney fans should know about.

Born 1996 in London. Lives and works in Rye, UK.

Influenced by his architectural background, British artist Alfie Caine uses doors and windows to create idyllic, dreamy scenes full of subtle charm. Painted in large scale, Caine’s colorful, detailed interiors and mesmerizing landscapes embody a tranquil stillness, whether viewed from the outside or inside. From candlelit bathrooms to kitchens bathed in natural light, the artist creates delightful scenes that reflect Hockney’s tranquil surroundings.

Kane recently held a solo exhibition, “Green Stairs and Yellow Roses” at the MASSIMODECARLO Pièce Unique gallery in Paris, which featured two new paintings inspired by his hometown in East Sussex. Each painting unfolds in soft light, with long shadows and still images giving a sense of time standing still.

Kane received his Bachelor of Architecture from Cambridge University in 2018. His work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions at UNION Gallery, JARILAGER Gallery, PM/AM and Jack Siebert Projects.

Born in Dunfermline, Scotland in 1982. Lives and works in Dunfermline.

Scottish artist Caroline Walker explores the inner lives of women in her intimate paintings, revealing the often unseen labour that takes place in domestic settings. Walker’s subjects are anonymous and reflect everyday life – whether they are service workers, carers or mothers.

Walker’s Sunset series, which debuted in 2018 as part of a solo exhibition at Anat Ebgi, delves into the life of a former beauty queen living in the Hollywood Hills. By depicting warm California evenings and playful poolside moments—a common setting in Hockney’s work—the artist offers a fragmented view into the subject’s life.

Walker holds a BA in Painting from the Glasgow School of Art and an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art. She has had solo exhibitions at the Kunstmuseum The Hague, Stephen Friedman Gallery, Green, Ingleby Gallery and Midlands Arts Centre. This year she will be included in a group exhibition at the British Museum and a touring exhibition organized by the Hayward Gallery.

Born in Somerset, UK, 1990. Lives and works in Guernsey, Channel Islands.

Influenced by the paintings of Frank Lloyd Wright and R. Buckminster Fuller, as well as the architecture of the 1960s and 1970s, British artist Charlotte Keates’s paintings of interiors blur the line between reality and the grotesque. Using meticulous line work, Keates creates flat compositions that reference the sunken living rooms and split-level designs of mid-century modern. From mottled floors to tiled walls, her paintings are filled with rhythmic patterns on surfaces, all awash in bright colors.

As the title of her painting Silent spectator (2024) shows that Kitts invites the viewer to observe her imaginary scenes like a voyeur. These scenes are completely devoid of people, prompting speculation about the narrative beyond the frame.

Keates received her BA in Fine Arts from Falmouth University in 2013. She has exhibited at the Arusha Gallery and Cynthia Corbett Gallery and her work has been featured in Architectural Digest.

Born in Wakefield, Massachusetts in 1980. Lives and works in New York.

Daniel Heidkamp’s otherworldly landscapes and interiors, set against a backdrop of mountains and rolling valleys, capture the magic of fleeting moments. Inspired by his travels and art-historically significant landscapes—from the French town of Ceret, where Pablo Picasso once worked, to the artist colony of Gloucester, Massachusetts—the New York-based painter takes viewers on a journey through quaint villages and seaside towns. Heidkamp’s canvases are saturated with color, drawing on the tradition of Fauvism—an influence he shares with Hockney.

Heidkamp holds a BFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. His work has been exhibited throughout Europe and the United States, and his work has been included in solo exhibitions at Half Gallery, Loyal, Pace Prints, The Journal Gallery, and White Columns. His work is in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Born in Haifa, Israel in 1977. Lives and works in Tel Aviv and Marseille, France.

Guy Yanai’s collages are colorful and rich in texture, bringing everyday objects and spaces to life. Yanai uses basic geometric shapes in flat compositions and stripes down to minimal detail to create simple yet striking representations of contemporary leisure and domestic life. Yanai’s everyday subjects include striped sailboats, potted plants and interior decorations, creating a calm atmosphere similar to that of Hockney’s work.

Yanai studied at Parsons School of Design and the Studio School of Design in New York before earning a BFA from Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass. His solo exhibitions have been held at Harper’s, König Galerie, Miles McEnery Gallery, and Praz-Delavallade.

Born in Boston in 1977. Lives and works in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles-based artist Jonas Wood seamlessly switches between portraits, still lifes, landscapes, and domestic scenes to capture the energy of contemporary life. Embellished with vivid patterns and bright colors, Wood’s paintings and works on paper are tools for exploration that challenge perceptions of everyday life through the use of familiar imagery.

Wood has had a passion for art history since childhood and has paid homage to many influential artists, including Picasso, whose Cubist perspective he often imitates, and Henri Matisse, with whom he had a two-person show at Nahmad Contemporary in 2023. David Hockney has also been a direct influence. “Hockney leans towards extreme abstraction but remains expressionist. As a figurative painter, he’s always pushed the boundaries,” Wood says of the artist. “That’s why I’m drawn to him—because he’s constantly innovating.”

Wood received his MFA in painting and drawing from the University of Washington in Seattle. His work is included in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Broad, among others.

Born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1983. Currently lives and works in Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysian artist Justin Lim’s paintings and mixed-media installations capture vivid scenes of indoor and outdoor life. Filled with botanicals, bold patterns, and colorful décor, his work is inspired by the playful energy of cartoons and comic books. Lim’s fascination with interior design stems in part from his experience during the COVID-19 lockdown, which he says prompted him to look inward. This influence was reflected in The Hermit Years Year of Seclusion (2022) depicts a solitary figure in brightly coloured acrylics, huddled on a couch with his eyes glued to his phone – an intense image of loneliness.

Lin completed his art training in Singapore, obtaining a BA in Painting from LASALLE College of the Arts and an MFA from the Open University. His work has been exhibited extensively in Southeast Asia and he was shortlisted for the Sovereign Art Foundation’s Asian Art Prize in 2023.

Born in Warsaw in 1985. Lives and works in Poland.

Magdalena Laskowska’s picturesque poolsides embody a relaxed California cool. Featuring beach balls, lounge chairs, and cloudless blue skies, these minimalist paintings are meticulously arranged to evoke a carefully curated Instagram feed. However, like many of Hockney’s interpretations of this iconic subject, these scenes are always empty, creating a sense of loneliness that looms over the carefully curated glamour.

Laskowska studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. She is a prolific artist whose work has been exhibited both in Warsaw and internationally, including at numerous fairs organized by contemporary galleries.