Art In The 1980s

The art world of the 1980s was a place of artistic diversity and aesthetic contention. Neo expressionists pushed for new art position with abstract painters, installation and performance artists. “Taken together, these different positions demonstrate the complete arrival of the postmodern in the art world.” Much art of the 1980s assumed the form of public address, from Jenny Holzer's use of the Times Square news ticker, to broadcast elliptical and vaguely threatening strings of text, to Krzysztof Wodiczko's night time projections of symbolicallycharged imagery onto the facades of museums, public buildings, and corporate headquarters. The melding of postmodern sentiment, varied and distinct art forms, and incredible commercial success characterized the art scene of the 1980s. 

The Graffiti Movement was the principal movement of that time, characterized by a style that is geared at graffiti in public spaces, thus attaining a completely new esthetic. Just as graffiti itself, the art of the Graffiti Movement, which had become detached from the wall as the image carrier, is also extremely multifaceted in styles, a common feature is the often used accentuation of signs and symbols.

 Much of American art in the 1980s was shaped by and responded to the consumerism and feel good conservatism of the era. In a decade of consumerism, where economy went down and up, and people were preoccupied with success and image, art got bigger, bigger in scope and ambition, as elaborate sets, large casts, and complex narratives for commercial musicals, bigger in theme like, epic visions in the works of Neo Expressionist painters, and so on. Art also became far bigger as a cultural presence. From a vast media coverage to pop art, video, and graffiti, art was more immediate, available, and accessible than ever before. The new scale and influence of art suited Americans in the 1980s. With more disposable income than in the 1970s and weary of the pervasive pessimism of that decade, they wanted to enjoy themselves again.