10 Emerging Artists 2025

Zach Christo

Art New England’s Annual Highlight of Ten Exceptional Emerging Voices

Zach Raley, Wonder (the work is inspired by the artist’s time spent in Europe, and uses epoxy resin techniques), 2024, acrylic paint, epoxy resin, gloss varnish, 48 x 36″. Courtesy of the artist.

Zach Raley
Needham, MA
raleyart.com 
@zachraley_art

Being a part of the Newport Artists Collective, one is surrounded by extraordinary talent on any given day. Walking into the artist salon at the Brenton Hotel on the evening of Zach Raley’s salon, I instantly knew we were in the presence of a young artist who’s on his way to the top of the art world. At seventeen years old, Zach has mastered complex layering of color and texture into his pieces. Whether an inanimate object or a moody street scape that draws you in for a closer look, Zach’s work captivates the viewer, through size, scale, impeccable technique and attention to detail and emotion. — Tyler Martin, board member, Newport Artists Collective & PR director, CUSP Gallery & Lifestyle.”

To Zach Raley, making art is synonymous with eating, sleeping, and breathing. “When I think of art in relationship to myself… It’s a compulsory thing,” Raley says. “It’s not something I like to do—it is part of me.”

As a high school student, Raley’s emergence into the world of art happened at an early age. Raley picked up his first paintbrush in the fifth grade for a class assignment. “I hated everything I made. I was crying. That was the start of the whole thing,” he explains. 

From the get-go, improving his craft was central to his motivation. “When I can’t do something, I have to do it and do it and do it until I get really good at it,” Raley explains. “Painting became something I was determined to get good at. I enjoyed doing it and I knew I had to get good at it.”

His interest in the arts stemmed from Raley’s great-grandfather, renowned Armenian-American artist Ariel Agemian. Agemian’s paintings cover the walls of Raley’s grandmother’s Colorado home. “My grandma’s house is filled. It’s basically a museum,” Raley says. “I grew up going to Colorado and seeing all the work.”

After Raley’s emotional fifth-grade art project, he began teaching himself painting techniques. “I haven’t had any specific art education, but I just kept working. I started with Bob Ross paintings and then I moved more into an impressionistic style as time went on.” When Raley discovered artist Kim Rose and her technique of layering epoxy resin and ink, he knew he had to try it. First, he practiced the ink and epoxy technique. “Once I got really good at that, I then applied it to my own painting style,” he shares.

Raley feels drawn to creating not for the final product, but for the creative process itself. “For me, it’s about spending time in my studio and being able to disconnect from everything.” However, people outside Raley’s studio feel drawn to his work. Galleries like CUSP in Newport, Rhode Island, and the Jamestown Art Center’s Salon Series showcase Raley’s emotional, textured paintings of real-world scenes and objects. 

This spring, Raley has plans for a few more shows to display his art, which honors his goals of leaving a legacy—a mark on the world. “It makes me feel like I have something that I’m leaving behind, and the more I make and the bigger my work gets, the more I feel like I’m fulfilling that.”

— Maya Capasso