1. Jiannan Huang
Jiannan Huang is one of the world's finest artists from China, specializing in Western oil painting and Chinese ink. He is ranked third on the 2023 Hurun China Art List and 19th on the 2020 Hurun Global List with sales of $29 million. Jiannan holds several positions - Member of the French Art Association, Researcher at the Academy of Fine Arts of Tsinghua University, Director of the Chinese Traditional Culture Promotion Association, Member of the French National Artists Committee, Art Consultant for the World Low Carbon Cities Alliance, and France Geany City Gold Medal Honorary Citizen. He was awarded the title of "Earl" by the Indonesian Royal Family. In 2021, he was given an honorary membership into the Royal Society of St. George (RSSG), California Branch, and received the RSSG "Master of Arts" Award. He was awarded first place in the LABA Top 10 Most Influential and Most Valuable Artists in 2022.
 

2. Rémy Aron

Rémy Aron is a French painter, graduate of the Beaux-Arts de Paris, research fellow of the National Academy of Painting of China and past president of the French Association of Arts. Aron is a member of the Salon d’Automne where he has exhibited on a regular basis since 1981. Aron is also a professor of Painting and Engraving at the Fine Arts Ateliers in Paris, secretary to the Federation of Historic Salons at the Grand Palais, and President of the Maison des Artistes. He is Chevalier of the French Order of Arts and Letters, and was a recipient of the Noufflard First Prize from Fondation de France in 1985. He has received many awards including the Gold Medal of French Artists and the Grand Prix Fernand Cormon of the Taylor Foundation.

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3. Marisa Caichiolo

Marisa Caichiolo is an artist and curator from Argentina who studied art history and curatorial studies, and has a Ph.D in art history and psychology. She focuses on the impact of social and political changes in society, cultural exchanges and production, fluctuating between theory and practice. She is the founder of Building Bridges Art Exchange, an international non-profit organization based in Santa Monica, Los Angeles County. The foundation is a platform for critical thinking and researching with local and international programs, art residencies, education programs, and other activities.

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4. Bobby Ruiz
Bobby Ruiz started Tribal Gear, a street wear and lifestyle brand, in 1989 with his brother Joey in California. They drew their inspiration from what surrounded them, skateboarding, car culture, tattoos, music, and Latino culture. Through the years, Ruiz has worked with hundreds of creatives and many well-known recording artists including Cypress Hill, POD, Linkin Park, Korn, Limp Bizkit, The Beastie Boys, Run DMC, and others. Tribal Gear has became popular in countries like Germany and Japan where the interest in street wear and Latino culture has paved the way for other California designers to sell street wear.

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5. Dave Tourjé
Dave Tourjé was born and raised in the culturally eclectic Northeast L.A. of the 1970s and his upbringing amongst the skaters, gangs, and the area’s tribal friction play heavily in his work. Also a musician, Tourjé was a member of the influential L.A. band the Dissidents, playing shows with Camper Van Beethoven, Saccharine Trust, The Minutemen to name a few. Tourjé’s artwork oscillates between high and low, punk and institutional hegemony and was the subject of a one-man exhibition covering 15 years of paintings on acrylic glass at the Riverside Art Museum in 2002. It has been featured at the Oceanside Museum of Art, the Orange County Museum of Art, and Laguna Art Museum. In 1998, Tourjé helped to form the Chouinard Foundation after purchasing the home of Nelbert Chouinard, in order to help restore the lost history of one of the great art schools in the world.

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6. Joe Davidson
Joe Davidson's body of work consists of sculpture and large scale installations made up of cast everyday objects.Produced in multiples with mundane materials such as scotch tape and plaster, the primarily monochromatic work is driven largely by the inherent quality and symbolism of the material used. Joe Davidson lives and works in Los Angeles. He received his MFA from The San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA and received his BFA Sculpture at The University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA.  He has exhibited throughout North America and Europe including Canada, Italy, and Great Britain.  Davidson received the C.O.L.A. Fellowship from the Department of Cultural Affairs, Los Angeles, CA., in 2009. He has been reviewed by many publications including the Los Angeles Times, Artillery Magazine, Artscene, and THE Magazine.

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7. Philippe De Kraan (tied for 7th)/Meeson Pae Yang (tied for 7th)

Philippe de Kraan was born in Born in Amsterdam, Holland, and is controversial, yet intriguing, an enigma to many insisting his diverse art works speak a unique language of their own to anyone with insight to appreciate them on their own merit and individuality. His sought after character studies in brush and ink have always been a conversation piece, simply because they are unique and the arduous journey to produce them is obvious to all. Over the years, expressionism has taken precedence over his brush and ink art works, giving de Kraan NOW the freedom to explore a different dimension in art and to express a free will to exaggerate realism using oils or water colors in an array of stimulating shapes and styles, always involving the human form.

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Meeson Jessica Pae was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, and currently lives and works in Los Angeles. She received her fine art degree from University of California Los Angeles. Her solo exhibitions and group exhibitions have been shown internationally throughout Asia and Europe as well as nationally. She is a recipient of the James Irvine Foundation’s California New Visions Award, the Durfee Foundation’s ARC award, the Hans G. and Lordis W. Burkhardt Foundation Award, AHL Foundation Award, and the Beverly Alpay Award. Her public art projects include Le Meridien Hotel (Zhengzhou, China), Royal Caribbean International Ltd (Papenburg, Germany), Internet Brands (El Segundo, CA), WebMD (Newark, NJ), Phoenix Biomedical University Campus (Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture), and many others.

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8. Rosana Largo Rodríguez
Rosana Largo Rodríguez is a Spanish artist who creates contemporary surrealist paintings inspired by classical techniques. She incorporates a variety of techniques and materials to create engaging visual elements and chromatic softness. Largo is the Director of the Museum of Science and Children's Literature in Spain and has exhibited her works in galleries throughout the world. She has received many awards including the Michelangelo International Prize in Rome in 2019, one of the most prestigious art awards to be received, as well as the Top 10 LABA Most Influential and Most Valueable (MIMV) Artist Award in 2022.

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9. Devon Tsuno (tied for 9th)/Macha Suzuki (tied for 9th)
Devon Tsuno was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. The city’s vegetation – both invasive and naturally occurring - and water usage - are the primary subjects of his technicolor, lushly layered paintings, prints, and artist books. 
Tsuno received an MFA from Claremont Graduate University in 2005 and a BFA from California State University, Long Beach in 2003. He is an Assistant Professor of Art and Design at California State University, Dominguez Hills where he directs the painting and drawing program. Tsuno’s work is collected and exhibited the world over, including shows at the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art, the Hammer Museum Venice Beach Biennial, the Roppongi 65 in Tokyo, the Flower Pepper Gallery in LA.

 

Macha Suzuki was born in Tokyo Japan in 1979, and he immigrated to Los Angeles in 1988. He has an MFA from Claremont Graduate University in sculpture and a BA in studio art with emphases in painting and photography from Azusa Pacific University. Suzuki has exhibited his work regularly for the past two decades in museums and galleries, nationally and internationally. He was represented by  Sam Lee Gallery, Los Angeles, for 7 years, where he had two solo shows and a two-person show until it closed its doors in 2013. His other solo exhibitions include Wignall Museum, Vincent Price Art Museum, Laguna Art Museum, Gallery Lara Tokyo, Kravets/Wehby Gallery in NYC, Cypress College, and Biola University. Suzuki is currently a Clinical Assistant Professor at Loyola Marymount University. He lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.

10. Joshua Elias

Abstract artist Joshua Elias is known for heroic colorful narrative works. Elias utilizes jocular abstraction in painting as a vessel to hold an interior landscape of a higher world. Thematically his interests lay in the interstitial, the tone of the atmosphere, and the mythology of story. The artist grew up in Chicago in an artistic family, where he was weaned on Museum outings at the Art Institute as well as the Field Museum. He received a BFA from San Diego State University studying film and theater and then continued his studies leading into oil painting at Otis Parsons in Los Angeles. The artist incorporates humor as a stint and abstraction as a vessel to hold an interior landscape of a higher world.