The 25 Most Important Artists of 2012

2012 was indisputably an excellent year in art and design. Events in pop culture like the Olympics, the Presidential Election, Hurricane Sandy, and more brought many of the artists we've come to admire into the spotlight. This year, we also saw street art become more mainstream, artists continuing to align with brands and musicians, and increasingly controversial exhibitions. While it may be difficult to define what makes an artist "important" in any given year, we would argue that it's a combination of expanding one's work and influence while continuing to add to culture, especially when that reach goes beyond the art world itself.

Check out The 25 Most Important Artists of 2012 to see who killed it this year and who we'll definitely be keeping on our radar in 2013.

RELATED: The 25 Biggest Art Moments of 2012

Following the success of his King of the Wild Frontier exhibition in New York, REAS took his talents to Copenhagen's V1 Gallery for Free to Be You and Me, then doubled back to the City of Dreams for an exhibit entitled Beyond Elegance, a joint effort of fantasy and animation with Alexis Ross.

Ryan Trecartin's rise to fame in the art world was quick, but it didn't presuppose a quick fall. He has only continued to create work, mostly in video form, using discolored characters with high-pitched voices who remind us of our contemporary vices and digital dependency in hyperrealistic ways. This year, he was the youngest artist to have work in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's exhibition, Regarding Warhol: Sixty Artists, Fifty Years, with a series of films towards the end of the show. His characters muttered lines such as, "I prefer my products to define who I am," and "I'm touch-screen sensitive." At one point, a character says, "Am I over-existing or am I over-existing?" While the exhibition wasn't completely well-received, his pieces stood out, reminding us of the continual presence and adaptability of his work.

Meggs, and his Everfresh Crew, haven't sat on their laurels in 2012. Back in June, we noted an impressive showing in Hong Kong and terrific work at Pow Wow in Hawaii. Meggs has since shown at San Francisco's White Walls and rounded out the year crushing it down in Miami.

A traveling man, this Australian graffiti writer hasn't stopped pushing since January 1, 2012. Shout outs are due to Rone and Phibs too.

This year, photographer Jill Greenberg revealed her Horses series to the world through a Rizzoli book and exhibitions at Katherine Cone Gallery, Jaski Gallery, and Clamp Art. She also showed the film Entitled outside of Katherine Cone during the exhibition Legitimate Rape timed for the 2012 Presidential Election, further expanding her portfolio to reach both commercial and fine art audiences.

While most artists are preoccupied with getting their work in as many galleries as humanly possible, Space Invader is going above and beyond, literally. This year, not only did he take over the streets of Paris, Miami, Hong Kong, and the Alice Gallery in Brussels, but the mosaic artist sent one of his works into space and another to the bottom of the ocean on a sculpture by Jason deCaires Taylor. How can anyone top that?

One word to describe ROA's presence in 2012 would be global. It would almost be easier to name the places he hasn't been. Murals began popping up in places like Belgium, Stockholm, Mexico, Arizona, Australia, Johannesburg (which we proclaimed his best work ever), and the County of Kings, Brooklyn. ROA's graphic style—detailed anatomical drawings of native animals—is among the most recognizable, and we mean that in the best possible way.

With many muralists once you've seen their work...well, you've seen their work. ROA manages to make every mural fresh and unique without sacrificing the aesthetic that we all love. We hope he doesn't rest until there is a ROA mural up in every city.

Shepard Fairey is a household name at this point thanks to the global success of his brand OBEY and his now infamous Obama Hope graphic. In 2012, his deeply political and unmistakable work was seen in the form of a Trayvon Martin portrait on the cover of Ebony Magazine, a redesigned logo for The Rolling Stones, Black Keys posters, and Eazy E and MCA tributes, just to name a few. Fairey continues to push buttons with his art and the world is certainly (still) taking notice.

While he got a little less mysterious in 2012, Phlegm also became more prolific. Ireland, New York, Norway, Portugal, and his hometown of Sheffield, UK now boast new work by the steam punk influenced street artist. Some folks on the international mural scene survive on a few tricks, Phlegm manages to stay consistent in tone and varied in narrative.

This video of Phlegm's work in Bantry, Ireland remains the best street art video of 2012.

We told you that Lister was one of the 10 street artists to watch in 2012. We waited...and waited. Finally, like a hail-mary pass on 4th and long (or whatever the equivalent would be in an Australian footy match), he sprang to life and more than redeemed himself. We witnessed his power on canvas before in our Portfolio Review early in the year, but since then he has been busy cranking out large-scale wall pieces around the world. The Australian native got up alongside Phibs in his capital city Sydney and completed multiple pieces on the streets of London, Yorkshire, and Newcastle to compliment his Unslung Heroes exhibition openings in the UK. Good things come to those who wait, and Lister's work was/is well worth it.

Richard Phillips' hyperrealistic paintings of muses such as Lindsay Lohan and Sasha Grey were a hit at his Gagosian Gallery exhibition this year. He also contributed a Mitt Romney portrait to the Rauschenberg Foundation's exhibition, We Are the People and was a judge and contributor to Moving the Still, a GIF exhibition produced by Tumblr and Paddle8.

Holding down the top spot on our 50 Greatest Street Artists Right Now list, Gaia impresses as much with his community action as he does with his art. Under his guidance, Open Walls Baltimore has blossomed into one of the premier street art projects. The event inspires local rejuvenation and provides a catalyst for international conversation.

OWB's continued success and Gaia's new murals across the globe make him an obvious choice for this list.

Ron English is the master of turning popular culture iconography on its head, and 2012 has been a fruitful year for the "Popagandist". In January, English hosted An Evening with Ron English at the MoMa, an event that included the screening of the documentary "POPaganda: The life and Crimes of Ron English". This year he also had successful product releases, including a collaborative vinyl toy effort with Chris Brown (with bonus joint exhibition in New York), a Fat Tony toy that satirized the beloved cereal character, and a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles inspired line of watches with FluD. English's art continues to make us laugh and think and we can't ask for anything more.

Takashi Murakami had a big year with the release of his Rizzoli book Ego and his latest exhibition Flowers & Skulls at Gagosian Gallery in Hong Kong. His collaborative sculpture with Pharrell Williams and Jacob & Co. jewelry traveled to Art Basel Miami this year, as well.

If you've been paying attention you may have noticed that Retna has been a favorite of ours for a while now, including his ranking in the Top 25 Artists lists of 2010 and 2011. In 2012 he shifted into auto-pilot and reminded us just how amazing he is, from the Vegas Metropolitan Hotel and the gallery walls of Known Gallery in LA in February, to the Bowery Mural Wall and walls in the Bronx in March, down to Mexico's Art Careyes Gallery for the Time Travelers exhibit in April, and rounding out the year with work at Michael Kohn Gallery and a collaboration with Louis Vuitton for good measure.

Oh yeah, we can't forget the artist's recognition by MoCa making the list of The 10 Biggest Graffiti Moments of November 2012. We gave Retna a nod for Complex's Man of Next Year in Art & Design for a reason.

Back in June, we listed the entire MSK/Seventh Letter camp in our 25 Most Important Artists of 2012 (So Far) list. As the year progressed, our decision rang true. SABER lit the skies up, ROID killed it in the U.K., and the guys all came together for a group show at Known Gallery last week. In the end, we decided to honor two individuals from the camp: RETNA (at 12) and REVOK.

This year, REVOK has redefined his style and pushed the potential of graffiti in ways we hadn't imagined. His recent work, incorporating found materials and re-conceptualizing the essence of street art, is nothing short of thrilling. From the Detroit Beautification Project in April to his Known Gallery showing in July, REVOK proved he's equally relevant on the streets and in the galleries. The year ended with a tremendous installation, Ordinary Things, at Detroit's Library Street Collective and we expect much more in 2013.

Innovative Dutch portrait photographer Rineke Dijkstra had a huge year due to a retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum that opened in June. It featured 70 photographs and 5 video installations, making her first major exhibition in the U.S nothing short of a blockbuster.

Terry Richardson continues to reign as the badass king of photographing celebrities and models in 2012. He just released his new book Terrywood with a party at Art Basel Miami following his first solo exhibition at OHWOW Gallery in Los Angeles earlier in the year.

Winner of our Man of Next Year in Art & Design, the reasons for Martinez landing on this list are well documented. Should you need any more evidence, his work at Circuit12 Contemporary's booth at Scope Art Fair during Art Basel Miami was one of the firm highlights of the whole event.

Erik Parker's slow ascension in the art world accelerated in 2012. A brilliant show at New York's Paul Kasmin, Bye, Bye, Babylon, of new works was complemented by a tremendous retrospective of his earlier map paintings, Erik Parker: Too Young to Be Scared, at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum (which runts to February 24, 2013).

For those of us without deep pockets, Parker and Norse Projects offered a collaborative 5-panel cap. And, of course, we can't forget the beautiful Colorful Resistance book from Skira/Rizzoli.

In short, a varied year pushed Parker forward.

Maybe more than anyone on this list, Futura's career speaks for itself. Four decades in, and he is still at it. In 2012, we witnessed one of his biggest ventures yet, a collaboration with Hennessy that placed his design on 360,000 bottle labels to be sold around the world. Read more about his work this year in our in-depth online cover story, Futura: The Art of Reinvention.

“There is a whole new crew, this Graffuturism crew. I love that." - Futura.

If Futura is the pioneer of abstract graffiti, the Graffuturism crew is the contemporary standard bearer. Augustine Kofie, Poesia, and SheOne (plus all the other associated artists) crushed it in 2012. SheOne went to Gambia and turned 14 villages into living arts projects. Poesia pushed forward the academic discussion of progressive graffiti with a brilliant show in San Jose. And Augustine Kofie proved murals could blend with contemporary architecture and showed at Known Gallery.

The entire crew are ending the year with a group show at Soze Gallery.

Cindy Sherman's self-titled retrospective went from the MoMA in New York City to SFMOMA in San Francisco, receiving fantastic reviews in both museums. It features over 170 photographs from the mid 1970s to the present, focusing on her past work as much as her present and future self-portraiture aesthetic.

Friend of Pharrell and architect of many of the year's best buildings, Zaha Hadid exploded in 2012. When we thought things wouldn't get better than 2011—when she worked on the Olympic Aquatic Center and won a Stirling Prize for Evelyn Grace Academy—Hadid wowed us at the Venice Biennale and thrilled us with her design for the Eli Broad museum at Michigan State.

Hadid continues to change the world, one building at a time.

Since his inclusion in our 25 Most Important Artist of 2012 (So Far) list, KAWS has definitely not slowed down. His artwork was seen underground on a New York City subway train, his "Companion" balloon was featured in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, he opened an exhibition in Paris, and somehow found the time to release another Companion vinyl toy as well as a Halloween themed ceramic Snoopy figure. We can only imagine what KAWS has up his sleeve for 2013.

Despite being unable to leave China, facing tax debt, and being closely watched by the Chinese government, Ai Weiwei's star has risen in 2012. The brilliant Never Sorry documentary—covering the artist's life and social activism—was shortlisted for an Oscar nomination, a phenomenal exhibition is currently on view at the Hirshhorn Museum, and the release a viral video parodying Psy's "Gangnam Style" took the Internet by storm. Rounding out the year in style, he's releasing a book titled Weiwei-isms—reminding us all of his unfailing wit and wisdom.