The F-List 
Artists
Street culture collided with ornamentation this year, generating sprawling, sensual exhibitions across the globe. Among the rising stars were wacky eroticist Raqib Shaw and portraitist of teenage angst Lise Safarti. In the world of design, nArchitects infiltrated New York with their eccentric interiors, and the Design Can invented furniture that makes you think. -Bryony Roberts
Using Eisenstein-like montage,
Aïda Ruilova creates rhythmic videos that explore the gap between the audio and the visual. Ruilova's pacing reveals her musical background, as does her subject matter: people rubbing up against musical instruments or flailing to rock music. The acting is B-movie campy, but the sum total is eerie, verging on existential. -
Bryony Roberts
The brainchild of recent Pratt grads
Jeannie Choe and Steven Tomlinson, Design Can creates thought-provoking household items. Their Self-Portrait Mirrors superimpose stylish accessories onto your reflection and their sleek Achoo tables come with built-in Kleenexes — perfect for those flu days when all you can do is contemplate your coffee table. -
Bryony Roberts
Hailing from Saigon and Montreal, respectively, Mimi Hoang and Eric Bunge of
nArchitects twist materials into previously unseen forms. Their
Canopy transformed the P.S.1 courtyard with undulating mesh, and their
Party Wall charmed viewers at
Artists Space with its touch-sensitive shelves. Watch out for their first Manhattan building, the Switch Building, and its zigzag metal façade. -
Bryony Roberts
Coming from a family of carpet makers and shawl traders in Kashmir, London-based
Raqib Shaw makes ornately erotic paintings. With jewel-toned car enamel and glitter, Shaw spins underwater scenes of animal-people copulating. Like the Bosch original, the paintings in Shaw's recent
Garden of Earthly Delights exhibition at Deitch Projects were lushly detailed and full of surprising mutations. -
Bryony Roberts
Formerly a Russian scholar,
Lise Safarti spent the '90s photographing the gritty fringes of post-communist society in Russia. Now she's aiming her lens at the youth of America, catching alienated teens in moments of contemplation. Her recent solo show at Yossi Milo gallery was the product of cross-country travels and moments of bonding with brooding adolescents. -
Bryony Roberts
