Neo – Expressionism
“Neo-Expressionism is characterized by intense subjectivity of feeling and aggressively raw handling of materials.” Neo-Expressionism seems to be a reactionary movement because it tends to rebel against ideas from the 1970s and flourished in the 1980s. Instead neo-expressionism fostered the idea of vivid colors, very figurative, and also completed rapidly. Neo-Expressionism was popular in the United States and Europe.
Keith Haring - Untitled - 1981
In 1981 Untitled was created by Keith Haring on sumi ink and acrylic on paper. This piece incorporates line, point, color, and movement. There are a lot of lines and lines are created from points. In fact there are definite two points that make a line. There are also curved lines, such as with people in the piece. The red and green give the piece some change. However the red could illustrate anger because the dogs appear to be barking. The majorities of humans are green and could mean a positive mode. Of course there is no actual movement, but the way the dogs and people are positioned give the effect that there are indeed moving whether it is simply walking or dancing. There were also principles of design met; unity, emphasis, and balance. The emphasis is on the two giant dogs who also give balance because there are so many humans around them. The unity is the piece coming together, which it does predominantly with the pattern of humans surrounding the two dogs.
www.haring.com
In 1980 Carlos Almaraz created the neo-expression piece Girl on Blue Horse with pastel on paper. Elements of design within the piece are line, color, form, shape and space, movement, and texture. In addition are the principles of design that include proportion, emphasis, rhythm, and unity. Lines are very distinctive in this piece the horse, girl, and moon have the most curvatures in lines. This piece is two dimensional with the illusion of three dimensional objects such as with the horse and possible hills in the background. The color in this piece is very beautiful and very varying from blue, green, red, black, and even white. The colors also set the mode for a smooth texture ideal; for example with the horse. Most of the principles of design are included. The picture is indeed proportionate, especially with the moon in the sky being small to the girl and horse that are on Earth. The emphasis is on the girl and horse not only because they are in the center, but also because of their vivid colors. The rhythm is with the clouds. They progressively grow as the go towards land. Also the “hills” are the same colors as the clouds and perhaps are the last growth of the clouds. Lastly is the unity of the piece. The color really helps achieves the unity in the piece. Still, nothing seems out of place and everything is working cohesively.
http://www.joseveragallery.com/paintings/almaraz.htm
Feminism
Feminism in art had occurred prior to 1980’s, but not in the same sense as it did in the 80s. Before the 1980s women artists were few in number. However, during the 80s many women artists began to include women and their inequalities within their work. Feminism occurred not only in the United States but the world too.
http://www.niagara.edu/CAM/special/Art_of_80s/Styles/feminism.html
- Barbara Kruger – Untitled (Your Body is a Battleground) – 1989
In 1989 Barbara Kruger created Untitled (Your Body Is a Battleground) by photographic silkscreen on vinyl. Color, texture, and line are elements of design illustrated. In addition unity, balance and proportion can also be seen. Color has a black and white theme with the red bordering the piece. It is also important that the background of the font is red. With the two sides of the face one can see that there may be a “dark” side and “bright” side, perhaps this woman is happy, but is constantly battling herself because of her body. Also the line and texture coincide. Her face is curved and her skin appears to be smooth. With the principles of design it appears that her face is proportionate in this piece. In addition the piece looks unified, that is the two sides of the face are equal in their differences as well as text, which shows the balance in Kruger’s piece.
www.barbarakruger.com/index.php
In 1983 artist Nancy Spero created Artemis, Goddess and Centaur with handprinting and paper. Visual elements of design that were included in this piece were line, movement, pattern, point, and color. The lines and points combine to actually create the picture from Artemis just standing to her almost preparing to stab the Centaur. It’s an extremely ironic because there is woman with dominant curves that give a sense of comfort, yet she is preparing to stab the centaur. Also in this particular picture the lines and points help show a pattern and movement as seen with Artemis in the lower half of the piece. Also the lines vary in the lower half; some are darker than others. Color is also vital because its predominantly black and white, when one see’s the red it is stressed and gives an ironic feel because the red could illustrate romance or anger. In addition the principles of design that were included proportion, emphasis, and unity. All the objects within Artemis, Goddess, and Centaur are proportionate with each other. The emphasis within the piece is the red Artemis on the lower half. Lastly is unity which is shown because the piece gives a sense of cohesiveness. Nothing seems out of place or like it should be finished.
http://www.artnet.com/awc/nancy-spero.html
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