The Wild 80s
04 Sep 2010 - 30 Jan 2011
THE WILD 80s
4 september 2010 - 30 january 2011
In the early 1980s, a whole new generation of artists broke through on the Danish art scene simply by painting paintings. Painting was “hot” again. Figurative or abstract, both kinds were possible. What mattered was the format – large – and the content – sincere in some artists, ironic in others.
ARKEN’s exhibition The Wild 80s gathers the best works by these artists from the wild, savage years of the eighties, while painting a portrait of the artists and their environment.
Dismissing authority, throwing caution to the wind, these artists both reflected and shaped the zeitgeist of a decade marked by the Cold War and the punk movement’s no-future creed. Artistically, the period was also distinguished by interchange among different art forms – music, poetry readings and performances were frequent ingredients of art openings.
The Wild 80s exhibition includes archival material from the 1980s – photographs, film and sound are a backdrop for the artists’ paintings, recreating the 1980s as a moment in history.
4 september 2010 - 30 january 2011
In the early 1980s, a whole new generation of artists broke through on the Danish art scene simply by painting paintings. Painting was “hot” again. Figurative or abstract, both kinds were possible. What mattered was the format – large – and the content – sincere in some artists, ironic in others.
ARKEN’s exhibition The Wild 80s gathers the best works by these artists from the wild, savage years of the eighties, while painting a portrait of the artists and their environment.
Dismissing authority, throwing caution to the wind, these artists both reflected and shaped the zeitgeist of a decade marked by the Cold War and the punk movement’s no-future creed. Artistically, the period was also distinguished by interchange among different art forms – music, poetry readings and performances were frequent ingredients of art openings.
The Wild 80s exhibition includes archival material from the 1980s – photographs, film and sound are a backdrop for the artists’ paintings, recreating the 1980s as a moment in history.