ARTnews The 100 Best Artworks of the 21st Century: By The Numbers & Subjective Thoughts

ARTnews recently published a list of the 100 Best Artworks of the 21st Century that I thought was pretty solid, and that I had some hot takes on! I both love and hate these kinds of lists, and was curious to test my specific tastes and interests against what was deemed important. I started scrolling through and forming opinions, but then it occurred to me that it might be interesting to actually do a data breakdown of what’s more broadly going on in this list.

Alex Greenberger published a short article describing the methodology of the list, which acknowledges some of its biases and subjectivities. Keeping that in mind, I still thought it would be a worthwhile exercise to look objectively at some of the big picture things happening, and to offer some of my own (also highly subjective) analyses.

Where and when has the “best” work been made, and what type of work is it? I also of course have in the back of my mind recent articles and discourse lamenting the decline of art and culture, and I was curious to hold this list — with its relatively large but manageable — sample size of 100 works up to that.

The growing chasm between the institutional (broadly museums and biennials) art world and and the commercial (galleries and auctions) art world / art market is something I’ve really been feeling lately especially as someone who gets to actively traverse both, and I think there are notable biases towards the institutional side of things on this list.

A few notes on that dataset:

I inputted the work’s creation date (I went with the date the project began, even if it spans a range of years or is ongoing), medium, artist’s birth year, artist’s age, and artist’s country of birth.

I’m using some medium categorizations that are very broad and imperfect here, and am making the sort of arbitrary distinction between “installation” being a site-specific and ephemeral thing, and “sculpture” being extant works, even though there’s a good bit of crossover. I’m using “film” as the shorthand catchall for “moving image time based media” even though I’m very invested in the specifics of mediums of time-based work. I’m using “digital” as the catchall for digitally native works, even if the works have also been shown in galleries / institutions.

Finally, I’m using the extremely loose “conceptual project” for a few works that otherwise defy easy medium categorization but are conceptually driven and contain several components that include things such as performance, photography, documentation, and sometimes film. (The nice academic term coined by Claire Bishop for works like these is “multiple ontologies”). I don’t love this, but it feels more genuine to put this kind of work into its own category rather than try to wrangle it into something it’s not. A few of these could also fall into “installation” but I wanted to make them distinct from “installation” as I’m categorizing it here as singular site-specific project.

There were a couple instances where I couldn’t pull data for certain fields, like birth year, etc., of New Red Order and the Guerilla Girls since they’re collectives, so there are parts that are a little imperfect.

Linking here the dataset I built and used — I’m a human and obviously make mistakes so please point out any you find and I’m happy to amend! Also noting that I’m analyzing the list as a whole rather than getting into the nitty gritty of “this work should have ranked above that work” etc.

My initial overall, gut-feeling impressions when looking at this list for the first time, that I was curious to test against the data:

• There’s a lot of time-based media

• There’s not much painting

• This is a decent mix of works that are iconic and works that are more understated

• This feels very U.S. / Eurocentric

• A lot of these artists seem to not be represented by galleries

• A lot of this is biennial work

I was trying to collect more expansive data at first, but ultimately settled on filling our info that would answer the four following questions:

- When was the work made?
- What medium is the work?
- Where are the artists from?
- How old are the artists?

So, let’s get into it!
When was the work made?

Apparently the peak year for art so far in the 21st century was 2001, with 9 of the selected works being made that year. 2016 came in second, with 8 works. There’s at least one work from each year from 1999-2024, which does speak to the fact that there is always *some* good art being made no matter how bleak things might seem at the moment.

I also broke this down a little more broadly into 5 year increments, and the distribution was shockingly relatively even, with it skewing a bit more toward the first 5 years and a bit away from the most recent 5 years.

What medium is the work?

Like I said, I made some slightly arbitrary distinctions here — and please do feel free to fight me on them! These two charts are the same data, just visualized different ways.

My gut feeling assumption that there was an awful lot of time-based media was entirely correct, with film making up the largest percentage of works on the list. Film isn’t the only time-based media, with at least some of the works that fall into the categories of "Digital” “Conceptual Project” and “Installation” also including moving image components. The list seemed light on painting to me, which it indeed was, though I was surprised that the number of paintings and sculptures was actually the same (I would have guessed much more sculpture from browsing the list).

I think painting and sculpture making up a total of only 24% of the works is interesting particularly because painting and sculpture probably make up more than 80% of what I see in galleries in New York (that is a fully conjectural guess, but I feel confident in it). Again, I think this speaks to the continually growing divide between the commercial and institutional art world and that the vast majority of what you see in galleries at any given time isn’t significant. And I gotta say…the painting selection was a bit weak — is there no one other than Julie Mehretu and Mark Bradford making meaningful abstraction?!

I actually think it’s correct that film dominates the list, even if it’s not what dominates the commercial art world — several of the film works included make it onto my own mental list of the most significant works of contemporary art. I’ve had brain chemistry altering experiences with at least a couple of these, which is more than I can say for an encounter with any painting. I also want to note that 6 of the top 10 works are film, and I think they mostly chose the right ones.

I’m also surprised and impressed by how many natively digital works made it onto the list, and think that they mostly made pretty good picks!

Where are the artists from?
As above, same data just visualized two different ways.

Holy American Exceptionalism! The list seemed American and European centric upon my glance through, but I didn’t realize the level, with artists from the U.S. making up almost half of it. Following the United States, the next largest numbers of artists were born in Germany (5), France (4), and the U.K. (4). Yes, of course ARTnews is a U.S. based publication, and I think that they did do a decent job of including some of the most significant works by non-Western artists, but I still have a hard time believe that significant a percentage of the best work is being made in the U.S., and I’d love to see a similar list from a more decentralized perspective.

How old are the artists?

It felt like it made more sense to break this down by decade rather than year. Artists born in the 1960s and 1970s — essentially, Gen X — making up more than half the list. There are only 4 artists born in the 1990s, with the youngest born in 1993 — so no one is younger than 30! The average current age of living artists included on the list is 54, with the average birth year of all artists (living and dead) being 1969. (Again, I didn’t include birth year and age data for the collectives and duos).

Other observations:

About a quarter of the way through, I realized that a lot of these works were either commissioned by or first debuted at a biennale, and that tracked. My count is that there were 10 works that debuted at a biennial, with 5 of those at the Venice Biennale.

I’m actually probably missing some and I didn’t do a super deep dive, but rather went with the info presented in the article when something was indicated as having first been presented at the Venice Biennale, etc, as well as some of the random knowledge I have. There are some that are a bit misleading and where I double checked — 20. Bouchra Khalili, The Mapping Journey Project, 2008–11 actually seems to have not premiered at a biennale, though it was shown at the most recent edition of Venice (where the chosen image is from). Same with 83. Precious Okoyomon, Resistance is an atmospheric condition, 2020, an iteration of which was show at the 2022 Venice biennale but which debuted at the MMK Frankfurt. (Again, gut feelings and vibes here. I’m sure there are things I missed but I think even by my likely underestimation, the number of biennial works is significant).

I have some mixed feelings about this — I’ve disparagingly characterized work with high production value and seemingly little to say as “biennale art” a couple of times recently in conversations with friends, but I also don’t deny that it’s where a lot of major art history gets written, and that it’s where I’ve seen some of the most significant work for the first time. (Schlepping to SculptureProjects to the Pierre Huyghe’s After ALife Ahead is one of the best encounters with art I’ve ever had, and I will probably feel that way for the rest of my life).

I gave up about halfway through trying to figure out what galleries artists showed with as it required too much rabbit hole research, and was not info that I could reliably verify.

Some more nitty gritty observations / notes after finishing this:

96. Dana Schutz, Frank as a Proboscis Monkey, 2002
The text refers to the painting first being seen at the “now-defunct Zach Feuer gallery in New York” which isn’t *entirely* true — Zach Feuer gallery went through a couple of iterations before evolving into Marinaro, and there is still some holdover from the original program.

94. Shana Moulton, Whispering Pines, 2002–10
I went back and forth a couple of times on whether this should count as “Digital” or “Film” but settled on “Digital” since it is a natively digital project.

90. Urs Fischer, Nach Jugendstiel kam Roccoko, 2006
Gavin Brown’s Enterprise being listed in a courtesy line for an image when it hasn’t existed for almost half a decade now is a bit wild to me.

85. Santiago Yahuarcani, El mundo del agua, 2024
This was the only work from 2024 on the list. Was this artist actually a standout in the Venice Biennale? If so, I think it’s very symptomatic of some of the frustrations that people have felt with the identity art discourse…

80. Tishan Hsu, data-screen-skin.blue, 2023
I called this sculpture. It’s not really sculpture, but that felt like it fit the best.

78. Hamishi Farah, Representation of Arlo, 2018
Dana Schutz’s Open Caskett gets mentioned not only in her entry, but also in this one, which I suppose is ARTnews’ attempt to remind us of what an important cultural touchstone of a moment that was, without actually including it on the list.

74. Christopher Williams, Kodak Three Point Reflection Guide © 1968 Eastman Kodak Company, 1968 (Meiko laughing), Vancouver, B.C., April 6, 2005, 2005 “Conceptual artist Christopher Williams’s work, usually produced by professional studios, often mimics 20th-century commercial, ethnographic, or architectural photographs” ← I’m not sure if it’s true that his work is usually produced by professional studios?

34. Tania Bruguera, Untitled (Havana, 2000), 2000
I called this “installation” even though it was staged at MoMA years after its debut at the Havana Biennial.

Notably missing to me based on my specific experiences, tastes, and biases, with some notes:

• Theaster Gates. You could choose any number of works, but I’d probably go with the 2012 Documenta project, Huegenot house.
  Theaster Gates has the fascinating and unintentional distinction of being the artist who I’ve seen the most solo museum shows by — in Toronto, Washington D.C., Paris, Basel, London, and New York. I have to think he’s really up there in terms of being the living artist who’s had the most solo museum shows in general? Not that that’s necessarily or specifically criteria for being important / “the best,” but I think he’s significant and influential enough that a serious list of works from the last 25 years should probably include something by him.

• Thomas Hirschhorn. Probably one from the monument series, though last year’s spectacle at Gladstone would have also been a good inclusion.

• Cyprien Gaillard, Nightlife, 2015

  It’s kind of perpetually surprising to me what a niche European artist he is that most of my artist friends here have not heard of! Nightlife *might* have the distinction of being the time-based media work that I’ve watched through the most times in museums, owing at least somewhat to the fact that it is short. I’ve seen it in New York, Cleveland, and Pairs! Ocean II Ocean is also very good, and I’m still waiting for it to make it to New York…

• Alex DaCorte, Rubber Pencil Devil, 2018 though ROY G BIV would have also been acceptable
  I’m lucky to have seen Rubber Pencil Devil when it first premiered at the Carnegie International in 2018, again at the Venice Biennale in 2019, and in its entirety when the Whitney streamed it online in 2020 during Covid. In some ways I like ROY G BIV better, but Rubber Pencil Devil is probably the more significant work.
  (I have a conspiracy theory that he’s going to have his first big show with Matthew Marks in New York to coincide with the upcoming Lichtenstein retrospective that he’s co-curating at the Whitney with Scott Rothkopf and Meg Onli).

• Lauren Halsey Met rooftop commission, 2023
  We got a bunch of other monumental site-specific things on this list, and I’m really surprised this one didn’t make it!

• Sara Cwynar, Glass Life, 2021
  A niche one here, but there are few works that capture for me what being a person living in an image saturated and perpetually mediated world feels like in the way that this did.

• Sun & Sea opera, 2019
  Sorry to add *yet another* Venice Biennale work, but this is a special one, and one of the few times I have truly enjoyed performance art. Furthermore, it’s a rare work about climate change that managed to actually feel urgent and not overwrought.

• Charles Ray, Everyone takes off their pants at least once a day, 2024
  If I was picking *one* work from last year that really captured the mood, I kind of think it’s really got to be a monumental sculpture made of paper of a figure taking its pants off.

• Amie Siegel, Provenance, 2015
  Can’t strongly enough recommend checking out her current film on panoramic wallpapers that’s on view through the summer at the Cooper-Hewitt’s design triennial — it’s worth watching all the way through!

• Ian Cheng, BOB
  For a surprisingly digital heavy list, this project felt like a notable absence. In recent conversations with friends where people try to tell me that “A.I. is doing all the things and it’s all new!!!” I encourage them to look at the artists like Cheng that have been using algorithms, machine, learning, and digital technologies for decades. I also really have a soft spot for this work because observing the behavior of crowds at Whole Foods was a the spark of inspiration for it. No, really.

• James Turrell, Aten Reign, 2013
  I think about this moment as the absolute last gasp before social media took over how we experience art. Sure, images of art circulated on Instagram, but just imagine how different an experience this would be now with everyone clamoring to take their selfies. The Guggenheim still didn’t allow photography at the time and was pretty diligent about policing it.

• Olafur Eliasson, The Weather Project, 2002
  I’m surprised that not even ONE turbine hall project made this list, and if I was picking one, this is the one.

• Philippe Parreno, Marilyn, 2012
  Parreno functions better in larger bodies of work, and if I were cheating and including entire exhibitions I probably would have added his 2015 Park Ave Armory show on here, but if I had to pick just one work by him, this is the one, and feels ever more relevant with the recent proliferation of A.I. generated video content.
  
  (Wow ok, I do really love film; oops did not pick even one painting)
  
  Other artists who I think could have been strong contenders for the list: Trevor Paglen, Walead Beshty, Laura Owens, Jacqueline Humphries, Wael Shawky

Picks that I emphatically agree with: (Criteria that I was previously familiar with these works)
88. David L. Johnson, “Loiter,” 2020
80. Tishan Hsu, data-screen-skin.blue, 2023
87. Tino Sehgal, This Is So Contemporary!, 2004–05
74. Christopher Williams, Kodak Three Point Reflection Guide © 1968 Eastman Kodak Company, 1968 (Meiko laughing), Vancouver, B.C., April 6, 2005, 2005
73. Mika Rottenberg, NoNoseKnows, 2015
72. Pierre Huyghe, After ALife Ahead, 2017
63. Paul Chan, 1st Light, 2005
61. Louise Lawler, Big, 2002/03
54. Cory Arcangel, Super Mario Clouds, 2002
52. Michael Rakowitz, The invisible enemy should not exist, 2007–
51. Ragnar Kjartansson, The Visitors, 2012
49. Paul Pfeiffer, John 3:16, 2000
46. Steve McQueen, Static, 2009
41. Meriem Bennani and Orian Barki, 2 Lizards, 2020
40. Pope.L, The Great White Way: 22 Miles, 9 Years, 1 Street, 2001–09
34. Tania Bruguera, Untitled (Havana, 2000), 2000
33. Matthew Barney, Cremaster 3, 2002
28. Park McArthur, Ramps, 2010–14
23. Ryan Trecartin, CENTER JENNY, 2013
20. Bouchra Khalili, The Mapping Journey Project, 2008–11
15. Walid Raad, The Atlas Group, 1999–
12. Kara Walker, A Subtlety, or the Marvelous Sugar Baby, 2014
9. Harun Farocki, Eye/Machine I, 2001
7. Camille Henrot, Grosse Fatigue, 2013
6. Christian Marclay, The Clock, 2010
4. Hito Steyerl, How Not to Be Seen: A Fucking Didactic .MOV File, 2013
1. Arthur Jafa, Love Is the Message, The Message Is Death, 2016

Right artist, wrong work:
60. Danh Vo, We the People, 2011–16 — Danh Vo is a great artist, and while this is one of his most iconic works, it’s one that I find really easy and unambiguous in the context of his larger body of work. (And if we were going to allocate slot for a Statue of Liberty work on this list, Steven McQueen’s Static is definitively the better work)
58. Cao Fei, RMB City, 2009 — I would have picked Asia One, though this is not a terrible pick
53. Maurizio Cattelan, Him, 2001 — I know this list is supposed to be “best” rather than “most significant” but the golden toilet and the banana both penetrated mainstream discourse in a way that few works do
25. Nicole Eisenman, Beer Garden with Ash/AK, 2009
This is not a bad Nicole Eisenman painting, it’s also not the best Nicole Eisenman painting. If we had to pick a painting, I think The Abolitionists in the Park, 2020 probably would have been the one. I would have probably gone with one of her sculptures instead if we’re actually talking “best works” — probably the 2019 Whitney Biennale terrace work, or Maker’s Muck, 2022.

Picks that made me roll my eyes:
85. Santiago Yahuarcani, El mundo del agua, 2024
68. Luc Tuymans, The Secretary of State, 2005
45. Jana Euler, GWF 1, 2019
42. Josh Kline, Cost of Living (Aleyda), 2014
13. Simone Leigh, Brick House, 2019

Picks that I am eager to dig into more:
94. Shana Moulton, Whispering Pines, 2002–10
86. Aziz Hazara, “Coming Home,” 2020–
50. Jill Magid, “The Barragán Archives,” 2013–
44. Daniel Joseph Martinez, The House America Built, 2004
31. Asad Raza, Diversion, 2022
11. David Hammons, Concerto in Black and Blue, 2002
8. Teresa Margolles, What Else Could We Talk About?, 2009

I did a quick tally and I’ve seen 39 of the 100 works in person, including 6 of the top 10 — this was a conservative estimate and there a few I didn’t verify (probably have seen that Isa Genzken sculpture, and probably have seen that Mark Bradford painting).

If I’m going to pick out some big through lines of the list in terms of what the work is speaking to, I’d say migration, precariousness, and the digital world are it.

I think an interesting *broad strokes* thing that happens in the list is trying to stick close to the work rather than to context and discourses around it, and the attempt of this list to sort of both be politically correct while also not actually taking a political stance (I’m borrowing this line of thinking form the podcast episode where Ben Davis and Danielle Jackson discuss the ethos of the 2024 Whitney Biennial).

“There are many art worlds” is a phrase I’ve heard a few friends use lately, and I think that’s true — the art world represented in this list is very much not the art world that receives attention in the mainstream reporting on auction prices, art fair sales, and gallery expansions and closures.

Thanks to all who made it to the end, and please do reach out of if you have questions, comments, or feedback!