Jul 6, 2023

Why we’re fascinated: Because Baeza creates affecting dreamscapes that explore immigration and the struggle to survive. While some curators have tried to pigeonhole Baeza’s work as solely a reflection of his undocumented status (he was born in Mexico), they are missing out on the full scope of his talent and creativity. Prominently featured in this past year’s Venice Biennale with his large-scale, uncannily alluring paintings of foliage bursting from human heads, Baeza has also recently showed in London at the Maureen Paley gallery and is currently an invited artist-in-residence at the Getty Research Institute. Not content with taking over the art world, on August 9 he will take over bus stops too, with his new works titled “Unruly Forms” to be displayed in thousands of bus kiosks across all five boroughs, Chicago and Boston.

 — Jessica Robinson