21 Over 31: Southwest Art Magazine Names Talented Artists You Need to Know

Two Academy of Art University alumni and one current student topped the list of Southwest Art Magazine's annual "21 Over 31" contest. For many years, the magazine has introduced talented artists who are just beginning their careers in the "21 Under 31" feature. But, as the publication points out, emerging artists clearly aren't always under 31 years old.
Third-place winner and Academy alum Juntae Kim moved to San Francisco just two years ago, and is already a master at capturing the sights, sounds, and rhythms of the City by the Bay, according to Southwest Art. "Beautiful scenery and city streets inspire me," Kim tells the magazine.
Kim moved to the United States from Korea to work on feature films as a matte, background painter. "I chose fine art as a major because I felt it was important to understand traditional art theory and teachings," he tells Southwest Art. But Kim notes that he fell in love with fine-art painting while a graduate student at Academy of Art University. Southwest Art reports that Kim is currently working on a series of works portraying the streets of New York City.
Academy student and Ohio-based painter Diane Farr is inspired by calming and beautiful things, says the article. Her featured painting, "Arrangement with Fortune Cookies" happens to be one of her personal favorites, perhaps for sentimental reasons, she tells Southwest Art. "I love Chinese food," she tells the magazine. "This piece reminds me of when I lived in Boston because I lived on Chinese food," she says.
While she is currently working on her masters of fine arts degree at Academy of Art University, Farr tells Southwest Art that she always thinks about the shapes as well as the emotions she wishes to convey. "I am not trying to replicate exactly what I am looking at, so maybe you could call me a contemporary realist," she says in the article.
Southwest Art's first-place winner Joshua Flint received his bachelors degree in fine arts from Academy of Art University. According to the article, Flint wasn't quite sure what direction he was headed when he graduated from the Academy–commercial art or fine art. He took workshops with Carolyn Anderson and Jove Wang and eventually realized that many of the professional avenues opening up to him were in the fine-art world.
"The main focus in my work is always the human element," Flint says in the article. It goes on to describe how he manages to tell a story as people go about everyday rituals. For the past year, the North Carolina artist has been working on a series of paintings depicting Grand Central Station in New York, reports the magazine.