The 25 Most Important Artists Of 2012 (So Far)

Artists from all genres who've been making big moves this year.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Art in 2012 so far has been nothing short of fantastic. Artists from all parts of the world in all genres are using their work to beautify and make a difference in their local communities and greater society. 

A ton of them, like Ai Weiwei and David Choe, have mastered what it means to make a real statement on and offline. Both artists have been jailed and censored, and both have used their art and the power of social media to tell their stories.

Others, like Terry Richardson, Shepard Fairey, and Ellen Von Unwerth, continue to do what they do best, in their own styles, and they still progress. They impressively balance commercial and fine art careers and could easily make every (so far) list that we do.

And others, like ROA, Kid Zoom, and the Seventh Letter crew have refined what they do on the streets in a way that so brilliantly enters the gallery, the blogs, and our social and political consciousnesses. They are the trailblazers, despite often choosing anonymity and subtlety in their approach to great art.

It's not always easy, but this time it wasn't that hard. Take a journey with us through The 25 Most Important Artists Of 2012 (So Far).

Meggs

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El Anatsui

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Kid Zoom

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Hedi Slimane

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Poesia

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EVOL

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ROA

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Seventh Letter

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David Hockney

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Ellen Von Unwerth

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Eric Yanker

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Dabs and Myla

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Sheone

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Patrick Martinez

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Ron English

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Ryan McGinley

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Todd James

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Shepard Fairey

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Terry Richardson

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Keith Haring

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Tom Sachs

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David Choe

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Marina Abramovic

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KAWS

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Ai Weiwei

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