Danielle Fretwell, a 29-year-old painter based in New Hampshire, has been named to Artsy's Vanguard 2027, the platform's annual list of ten emerging artists to watch. Her profile, published on 7 November, is the latest in a series introducing each member of the ninth Vanguard cohort.

Fretwell is known for what she calls split still lifes: opulent banquet scenes painted with Dutch Golden Age precision, then partly obscured by abstract veils made by pressing sheets and foam into wet oil paint. Fish, berries, flowers, silverware and antique linens are rendered in rich detail before being hidden again, a device she uses to probe truth and perception in an image-saturated moment.

Her rise has been quick. After an MFA at Boston University in 2021, she had her first London solo show, Shallow Invitations, with Alice Amati in 2024, followed by a solo booth at NADA New York in 2025 and a second gallery solo, Tablescapes, that autumn. This summer she made her New York solo debut with Terms of Consumption at Olney Gleason, and her work was recently shown at Artissima in Turin.

Her work also carries a quiet political charge. In a recent group show, her painting Mourning After played on the phrase morning after, a reference to the morning-after pill and to the debate over reproductive rights in the United States. The title is typical of her approach: a polished, inviting surface that rewards a second look with something more unsettled underneath.

The Vanguard list, drawn from nominations by galleries worldwide, also carries a new acquisition prize with the Brooklyn Museum this year. One of the ten artists will have a work enter the museum's permanent collection, with the winner announced on 13 November. The 2027 cohort spans New York, Los Angeles, Doha, São Paulo, Cape Town, London, Berlin, Mexico City and Paris, working across painting, ceramics, photography, sculpture and conceptual photography.