Definition: An emerging artist is someone who's in the early stage of their career, someone who's caught the eye of a label, distribution company, or gallery, but hasn't yet established a solid reputation as an artist amongst critics and buyers.

The term emerging artist is often used for young and recently graduated from a prestigious art college, but can also apply to someone who's made a career change or recently decided to prioritize their art above everything else.

You could say it's a label the industry uses because it sounds better than "new artist" or "unknown artist".