Cover image: Erik Mark Sandberg, Youth With Zebra Tank | Oil, enamel, & silk-screen on panel, 48" x 36"

For this year's Pacific Coast edition of the New American Paintings, we’re including perspectives from some of the Bay Area’s finest, including selections by guest juror Lawrence R. Rinder, Director of the Berkeley Arts Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA. Check out the complete list of selected artists here.

The Spotlight feature for this edition focuses on the incredible work of Bulgarian-born artist Iva Gueorguieva, whose large-scale paintings are making big waves not only on the West Coast but across the world. Previously included in New American Paintings and based in L.A., Gueorguieva’s work reveals the collage-making of her youth, the political turmoil she faced in Eastern Europe, and the importance of movement. (We recently teamed up with Graham Kolbeins at Future Shipwreck to produce a video about her work!)

Iva Gueorguieva, Swing Over a Fire, 2010 | Acrylic, oil and collage on canvas, 96 x 74 inches, Courtesy Ameringer | McEnery | Yohe Gallery, New York and Angles Gallery, Los Angeles

We are thrilled to include a Q&A with San Francisco dealer (and artist) Andres Guerrero, who speaks to us about the challenges in opening up his new space, Guerrero Gallery, in the Mission, his thoughts on the influence of street art, and his fondness for West Coast multidisciplinary artists like Andrew Schoultz and Allison Schulnik, both previously included in the magazine.

New American Paintings is only as good as the perspectives included within it, and we're fortunate not only to include the voices of talented art professionals, but to publish and promote the work of the artists they see as integral to the discussion of painting in the first place.  —Evan J. Garza, Editor-at-Large

(Don't forget: Today is the last day to vote in the Reader's Choice Poll! CAST YOUR VOTE for your favorite Noteworthy artist of 2010!)