Justin Cole (b.1995) is a Brooklyn-based visual artist working primarily in painting and drawing. Moving fluidly between figuration and abstraction, his practice investigates the shifting boundary between inner experience and material reality, exploring the deep complexities of perception, consciousness, the human condition, and mortality.

Cole’s compositions operate at the threshold between the physical and the psychological, bringing together moments of clarity and dissolution. Rather than pushing a stringently narrative agenda, his emotionally stimulating paintings allow figures and environments to emerge and recede, evoking profound states of introspection and psychological transformation. He masterfully illustrates these themes through a unique combination of classical academic realism and the visceral, emotional charge of abstract expressionism.

Cole received his BFA in Illustration from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit. He has presented his work internationally, holding solo exhibitions such as Sébastien Bertrand in Geneva and Lyles & King in New York City. Additionally, his paintings have been featured in notable group exhibitions at Blumka Contemporary, Shoreditch Modern, Monti8, Alica Amati, and IRL Gallery.