Detailed Notes on 1990s Art Movements and Key Artists

Jeff Wall and Historical Context

• Jeff Wall: Canadian artist influential in the 1990s with works like Dead Troops Talk (1992).
  • Themes: Addresses the decline of the Soviet Union and its parallels with America's Vietnam conflict; reflects new historical forces in post-Cold War Europe.
  • Cultural Commentary: Highlights Europe’s vulnerability to new ideological movements.

Eastern European Art in the 1990s

• Artists from former communist countries gained prominence after the fall of the Berlin Wall (1989).
  • Ilya Kabakov: An important Moscow Conceptualist, known for installations like The Toilet at Documenta 9 (1992).
  • Installation Concept: Replicates typical Soviet life, commenting on the shift from collectivism to privatization.
  • Zofia Kulik: Polish artist, known for photo-works critiquing masculinity while intertwining military and religious iconography.

American Art Movements

• Late 1980s Economic Shift: The stock market crash in October 1987 foreshadowed a decline in 1980s art market prosperity.
• NEA Funding Controversy: Intense debates around government funding for the arts, with conservative backlash and promoted censorship fears.
  • Instance: Torn image of Piss Christ in the US Senate highlighted the tensions between political values and artistic freedom.

British Art Revival in the 1990s

• Young British Artists (yBa): Thrived amidst public indifference thanks to entrepreneurial initiatives.
  • Damien Hirst: Organized the Freeze exhibition (1988), pioneering a new market-driven artistic landscape.
  • Commercial Influence: Hirst and contemporaries gained notoriety with support from significant patrons (e.g., Charles Saatchi).

The Nature of 1990s Art

• Responses to Historical Context: Artists like Hirst and Lucas blended the abject with contemporary social narratives.
  • Tracey Emin: Key works like Everyone I Have Ever Slept With (1995) and My Bed (1998) examined personal and feminist themes, reclaiming craft traditions.
• Cultural Reflection: Hirst's preservation of a shark (The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living) showcased a blend of morbidity and market critique.

Video as Artistic Medium

• Widespread Adoption: Artists increasingly utilized video for its narrative possibilities, revealing deeper thematic explorations.
  • Douglas Gordon: Works like 24 Hour Psycho slowed Hitchcock's film to reveal hidden narratives.
  • Gillian Wearing: Explored social identity and internal vs. external life via video installations, e.g., Dancing in Peckham (1994).

Individualism and Globalization in 1990s Art

• Emerging Trends: Individualistic approaches contrasted with globalized art practices gaining traction, emphasizing local narratives.
  • Yinka Shonibare: Crafts narratives around cultural hybridity, using fabrics with colonial histories to disrupt notions of authenticity.
• Jeremy Deller’s Work: Focused on participatory art; notable for The Battle of Orgreave (2001), re-enacting historical struggles to rewrite and memorialize class conflict.

Memory in Late 20th-Century Art

• Louise Bourgeois: Explored themes of memory, childhood, and familial relationships through installations reflecting on past traumas and unconscious desires.
  • Red Rooms (1994): Installation juxtaposes contrasting environments of child and adult, leveraging introspective and psychological themes.
• Johan Grimonprez: Created dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y (1997), combining rapid TV imagery to evoke nostalgia and critique mass media's impact on historical perception.