Saatchi Art unveils 2026 Rising Stars class

Saatchi Art named 30 emerging artists to its 2026 Rising Stars cohort, a curator-selected list that can boost visibility with collectors and exhibitions. The announcement also supports a brand shift around art as part of the home’s identity, not just decoration.

Why it matters: - Saatchi Art’s Rising Stars list is a collector signal that can help emerging artists gain attention, exhibition opportunities and sales through the company’s global network. - The 2026 class also reinforces Saatchi Art’s new brand positioning around the home as a self-portrait, with original art framed as part of lived-in spaces.

What happened: - Saatchi Art announced its 2026 Rising Stars class on September 17, 2026. - The cohort includes 30 emerging artists selected by the company’s curatorial team. - Saatchi Art connects artists with collectors in more than 150 countries. - The company said the annual Rising Stars program has been one of the art world’s closely watched indicators of who to collect next for more than a decade. - The 2026 artists span nearly 20 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Brazil, Ukraine, Iran, India, Azerbaijan and Tunisia.

The details: - Saatchi Art reviews thousands of portfolios each year from recent art-school graduates and self-trained early-career artists. - The curatorial team evaluates work across painting, sculpture, photography, textiles and mixed media. - Selection criteria include a consistent visual voice, technical command and signs of breakthrough momentum. - Honorees receive visibility with Saatchi Art’s collector network, curatorial endorsement that can support exhibition opportunities, and inclusion in the annual Rising Stars report. - The company says previous Rising Stars artists later showed at institutions including White Cube London and the Brooklyn Museum. - The 2026 class includes artists working in oil and acrylic painting, sculpture, textile art, photography and mixed media. - The full list includes Ayesha Pearce, Marko Vučković, Sandra Keja Planken, Mat Macready, Faith Couch, Ejae Park, Hye Yeon Shin, Hyunsun Yoo, Nini Sum, André Souza, Gisela A. Lazarte, Liv Ye, Jacelyn Zhen / Bbblob, Myriame Dachraoui, Giovana Töws, Yeonsoo Choi, Ana Flávia de Oliveira Garcia, Cheng Yen Yu, Zoë Wilkinson, Lydia Lott, Ngai Ning Yu, Roza Muradova, Minju Gwak, Justin Brennan, Golriz Rezvani, Tania Yakunova, Karina Danylchuk, Le Liu, Sofia Laskari and Aditi Badola. - Faith Couch centers self-depiction in photography and visual art to reshape visual histories that have often excluded or flattened Black life. - Couch’s work has shown at Aperture Foundation, Fotografiska and Les Rencontres d’Arles, and she has worked with Vogue, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. - Couch was named to Forbes 30 Under 30. - Zoë Wilkinson recently completed an MA in Painting at London’s Royal College of Art on the Sir Frank Bowling Scholarship. - Wilkinson won a Hesketh Hubbard Bursary in 2025, was shortlisted for the inaugural Jaguar x RCA prize and won the annual Artiq residency at the Pump House. - Wilkinson holds an Honorary Fellowship at the University of Guyana after a three-month residency there in 2026 supported by Arts Council England. - Ejae Park opened her solo exhibition “Blow-Up” in July at Space Willing & Dealing in Seoul, with support from the Seoul Foundation. - Sandra Keja Planken works across textile, glass and immersive installation from Amsterdam. - Marko Vučković is a sculptor based in Belgrade who works primarily in marble and wood and teaches modern sculpture at the Faculty of Applied Arts in Belgrade. - Vučković’s work has appeared in solo exhibitions at Art Gallery Kruševac and Gallery Štab, and at the 2024 World Art Expo in Seoul. - The selected works will appear in Saatchi Art’s 2026 Rising Stars report and be available for collectors to buy directly through Saatchi Art.

Between the lines: - Saatchi Art is pairing the artist announcement with a broader marketing reset that casts original art as part of a home’s emotional identity. - The mix of artists suggests collectors are still responding to highly personal, material-driven and internationally diverse practices rather than a single style trend. - The presence of artists with museum, editorial and residency credentials signals that Saatchi Art is using Rising Stars to blend discovery with early career validation.

What's next: - Saatchi Art will publish the 2026 Rising Stars report featuring the selected artists. - The artists’ works will continue to be offered for acquisition through Saatchi Art’s platform. - The company is expected to keep using Rising Stars as a discovery tool for collectors and a visibility lift for emerging artists.

The bottom line: - Saatchi Art is using its 2026 Rising Stars class to promote both emerging artists and a broader argument: original art belongs at the center of how people shape their homes.