Around 1984:
A Look at Art in the Eighties
On view May 21, 2000 - September 24, 2000
for an interactive website with artist
statements, bios and images, click here
Long Island City, NY (May 4, 2000) —
Around 1984: A Look at Art in the Eighties highlights the work of a select group of
international artists working in the 1980’s. It is the first in a series of
‘decade’ shows that P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center will present to its audience.
Each exhibition will offer various ‘points of view’ on the decades.
Around 1984: A Look at Art in the Eighties is
curated by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Senior Curator at P.S.1, and will run from
May 21st through September, 2000. This exhibition is a snapshot in time,
reflecting many overlapping narratives of art, some in full swing by 1984, some merely
beginning.
Around 1984: A Look at Art in the Eighties
will include work by:Dennis Adams, Judith Barry, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Ashley
Bickerton, Dara Birnbaum, Sophie Calle, Clegg & Guttmann, Francesco Clemente,
Tony Cragg, Enzo Cucchi, Richard Deacon, Eugenio Dittborn, Jimmie Durham, Katharina
Fritsch, Robert Gober, Group Material, Peter Halley, Keith Haring, Mona Hatoum, Jenny
Holzer, Ilya Kabakov, Anish Kapoor, Tadashi Kawamata, Mike Kelley, Mary Kelly, William
Kentridge, Anselm Kiefer, Jeff Koons, Barbara Kruger, Wolfgang Laib, Bertrand Lavier,
Sherrie Levine, Paul McCarthy, Reinhard Mucha, Juan Muñoz, Luigi Ontani, Adrian Piper,
Richard Prince, David Salle, Julian Schnabel, Thomas Schütte, Cindy Sherman, Ettore
Spalletti, Haim Steinbach, Thomas Struth, Rosemarie Trockel, Jan Vercruysse, Jeff Wall,
and Krzysztof Wodiczko
In today’s globalized world there is a many-faceted
inter-cultural dialogue being forged. In the eighties however, European and American art
prevailed in the discourses of the West. Postmodernist artists overlapped images and
meanings, questioning the notion of originality and linear progress. In later years, this
contributed to opening art-historical thinking to perspectives from around the world.
These methods served as a path to many creative practices of the present.
"To look at art in the 1980s implies observing one of
the last periods during which the ‘center’ was both the platform for and the
object of discussion," states, Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev. "At the same time,
much of what is happening today has its roots in the work of the 1980s. Postmodernist
relativism in fact was a theoretical legitimization for opening Western art historical
narratives to other possible narratives and ‘histories.’ "
The 1980’s began with an explosive re-energized
atmosphere in the art centers of America and Europe. In that period, new painters
combined, re-used and overlapped images and styles. Other artists critically addressed
issues of contemporary life in a new, media-saturated technological environment. They
explored fiction, the cinematic gaze, pleasure, and power from the perspective of gender
difference in society, anticipating some of the most interesting art of today.
Stemming from these premises, by the mid-1980’s a
group of young artists developed ‘appropriation art’ which questioned systems of
meaning, display and commodity. Beyond these artistic practices, the mid-1980’s were
also characterized by the continuation of arte povera and other 1960’s art
practices. These works dealt with politics, metaphor, and identity through assemblage,
collage, performance activism and photo-based work as well as public art and projections.
A publication accompanies the exhibition, designed by Mary
Blackstock/Cyber Diva Media, Inc., under the creative direction of Peter Halley.
Around 1984: A Look at Art in the Eighties is
made possible thanks to the generous support of Caroline and Michel Zaleski. Additional
supporters include Etant donnés, the French-American Fund for Contemporary Art; and the
Instituto Italiano di Cultura. |
