Free Membership
Newsletter
Help
Subscribe
Sign In
Search
May 29, 2023
All times are Vienna time
Search
Subscribe
Sign In
Countries:
Africa »
Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burundi Côte d'Ivoire Ethiopia Ghana Guinea Kenya Lesotho Liberia Libya Mali Mauritius Morocco Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Rwanda South Africa Sudan Tanzania The Congo Togo Tunisia Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe
Asia-Pacific »
Afghanistan Australia Bangladesh Cambodia China Hong Kong SAR India Indonesia Japan Laos Malaysia Mongolia Myanmar Nepal New Zealand North Korea (DPRK) Pakistan Philippines Singapore South Korea Sri Lanka Taiwan Thailand Vietnam
Central- & Eastern Europe »
Albania Bosnia & Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Czech Rep. Estonia Georgia Hungary Kosovo Latvia Lithuania North Macedonia Montenegro Poland Romania Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Ukraine Western Balkans
Middle East »
Egypt Iran Iraq Israel Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Oman Palestinian Territories Qatar Saudi Arabia Syria Turkey United Arab Emirates Yemen
Russia & CIS »
Russia Armenia Azerbaijan Belarus Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Moldova Turkmenistan Uzbekistan
The Americas »
Argentina Bolivia Brazil Canada Central America Chile Colombia Cuba Ecuador Mexico Panama Paraguay Peru The Caribbean Uruguay Venezuela
United States
Western Europe »
Belgium Cyprus Denmark Finland France Germany Greece Iceland Ireland Italy Liechtenstein Luxembourg Malta Monaco Norway Portugal Scotland Spain Sweden Switzerland The Netherlands United Kingdom Vatican City
Business:
Economy
Economic Policies
Investing in Austria
Securities
Earnings
Foreign Trade
Deals
Legal Issues
More Business & Economics+
Politics:
Domestic
Brussels
International
Diplomacy
Companies:
Professional Services »
Banks Financial Services Real Estate Insurance Other Services
Energy »
Oil & Gas Utilities Renewables Mining
Industrials »
Construction Automotive Industrial Goods Basic Resources Chemicals Other Industrials
Transport »
Airlines & Airports Shipping Rail Road
Retail & Consumer
Health Care
Technology
Telecoms
Media
Tourism
Other
Organizations:
Diplomatic Missions
International Organizations
Other
People:
Executives
Politicians
Diplomats
Entrepreneurs
Other
Lifestyle & Travel:
Culture
Travel
Personal Real Estate
Health
Food & Drink
Luxury Goods
More+
More+:
Events
Photo Galleries
Videos
Classifieds
Work & Careers
More+
Home
Countries
Business
Politics
Diplomacy
Companies
Organizations
People
Lifestyle & Travel
More+
Africa
Algeria
Angola
Benin
Botswana
Burundi
Côte d'Ivoire
Ethiopia
Ghana
Guinea
Kenya
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Mali
Mauritius
Morocco
Mozambique
Namibia
Niger
Nigeria
Rwanda
South Africa
Sudan
Tanzania
The Congo
Togo
Tunisia
Uganda
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Asia-Pacific
Afghanistan
Australia
Bangladesh
Cambodia
China
Hong Kong SAR
India
Indonesia
Japan
Laos
Malaysia
Mongolia
Myanmar
Nepal
New Zealand
North Korea (DPRK)
Pakistan
Philippines
Singapore
South Korea
Sri Lanka
Taiwan
Thailand
Vietnam
Central- & Eastern Europe
Albania
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Croatia
Czech Rep.
Estonia
Georgia
Hungary
Kosovo
Latvia
Lithuania
North Macedonia
Montenegro
Poland
Romania
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Ukraine
Western Balkans
Middle East
Egypt
Iran
Iraq
Israel
Jordan
Kuwait
Lebanon
Oman
Palestinian Territories
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Syria
Turkey
United Arab Emirates
Yemen
Russia & CIS
Russia
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Belarus
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Moldova
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan
The Americas
Argentina
Bolivia
Brazil
Canada
Central America
Chile
Colombia
Cuba
Ecuador
Mexico
Panama
Paraguay
Peru
The Caribbean
Uruguay
Venezuela
United States
Western Europe
Belgium
Cyprus
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Malta
Monaco
Norway
Portugal
Scotland
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
The Netherlands
United Kingdom
Vatican City
Economy
Economic Policies
Investing in Austria
Securities
Earnings
Foreign Trade
Deals
Legal Issues
More Business & Economics+
Domestic
Brussels
International
Professional Services
Banks
Financial Services
Real Estate
Insurance
Other Services
Energy
Oil & Gas
Utilities
Renewables
Mining
Industrials
Construction
Automotive
Industrial Goods
Basic Resources
Chemicals
Other Industrials
Transport
Airlines & Airports
Shipping
Rail
Road
Retail & Consumer
Health Care
Technology
Telecoms
Media
Tourism
Other
Diplomatic Missions
International Organizations
Other
Executives
Politicians
Diplomats
Entrepreneurs
Other
Culture
Travel
Personal Real Estate
Health
Food & Drink
Luxury Goods
More+
Events
Photo Galleries
Videos
Classifieds
Work & Careers
More+
Latest News
Ukrainian War
Covid in Austria
USA in Vienna
UK in Vienna
Russia in Vienna
China in Vienna
Iran in Vienna
UN
OSCE
IAEA
OPEC
Sponsored Content
Tweet
Share

The 80s Are Back: Albertina Modern Shows "Art of the Eighties"

More+ › Photo Galleries ♦ Published: October 21, 2021; 17:57 ♦ (Vindobona)
Sponsored Content

The Albertina Modern has a new exhibition on display entitled "The 80s. Art of the Eighties." The exhibition has many works from some of the most notable artists of the 1980s. Read about the exhibition and view some examples of works currently on display.

Franz Gertsch: Irène, 1980, Olbricht Collection / Picture: © Albertina Modern / Franz Gertsch
Franz Gertsch: Irène, 1980, Olbricht Collection<small>© Albertina Modern / Franz Gertsch</small>Gilbert and George: We Are, 1985, Collection Thaddaeus Ropac<small>© Albertina Modern / Gilbert & George / Bildrecht, Vienna 2021</small>David Salle: Room with blue statue, 1986, ESSL Collection<small>© Albertina Modern / Bildrecht, Wien, 2021</small>Jeff Koons: Bear and Policeman, 1988<small>© Jeff Koons / Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg / Photo: Gautier Deblonde</small>Mike Kelley: Estral Star #3, 1989, Ringier Collection<small>© Albertina Modern / Bildrecht, Vienna 2021 / Photo: Gerhard Born</small>Izhar Patkin: Don Quijote Segunda Parte, 1987<small>© Albertina Modern / Izhar Patkin</small>

The Albertina Modern Art Museum in Vienna is currently displaying an exhibition entitled “The 80s. Art of the Eighties.” The exhibition will remain on display until 13 February 2022.

As can be gathered from the title, the exhibition includes a collection of artwork from noteworthy artists of the 1980s.

There are over 160 works by artists who not only defined this decade but whose work reaches far into the art of the 21st century.

Sponsored Content

The 80s are the most important decade for the art of our age.

For the first time, art was no longer determined by an all-dominant style, such as abstraction or Pop.

The 80s stand out for an unprecedented stylistic pluralism that resorted to the picture pool of past decades: the 80s were the cradle of Postmodernism.

After the years of Minimalism and Conceptual Art, the New Wild Ones satisfied the hunger for pictures with their Neo-Expressionist painting.

Jeff Koons discovered kitsch and Francesco Clemente resorted to ancient mythology, while Julian Schnabel shattered the picture proper with his material collages.

Cindy Sherman and Robert Longo sought to disappoint expectations as to permanent artistic innovation by attacking the fetish of art’s originality.

Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring became the epitome of artistic nonconformity.

The feminist art of Barbara Kruger and Jenny Holzer declared war on male dominance and the obsessed consumerism of American society.

And for the first time, Austrian art, such as that of Franz West, Brigitte Kowanz, and Erwin Wurm, seamlessly blended in with contemporary international art.

Exhibition Details

Sponsored Content

Duration: 17 October 2021 – 13 February 2022

Venue: Albertina Modern (Karlsplatz 5, 1010 Wien)

Curator: Angela Stief

Assistant Curator: Martina Denzler

Works: 165

Catalog: Available for purchase in German (€ 29,90) at the museum or online

More background on art of the eighties

The 1980s: It is the age of (neo-)liberalism, which has now finally arrived in society, politics and the economy. Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan rule the Anglo-American world with conservative forces. The advent of the first PCs, video games, globalization, the opening of national borders, and increasing mobility suggest a world in relative harmony. Cinema attendance records, technical progress, and the lure of consumption promise a rosy future. There is also talk here and there of the end of history, of a saturated, Western-dominated world view.

And yet: the end of the Second World War is only a young human life away. A generation is pushing forward that has had enough of the post-war stuffiness. A generation for whom prosperity and comfort are by no means enough. Those who are not too distracted recognize a world in East-West conflict, feel the pressure of permanent nuclear armament or are shaped by the peace movement and German reunification. It is a decade of rebellion, electro music with senseless lyrics resounds from the radios, wave and punk openly show their displeasure to society. An avant-garde emerges from the underground, experimenting, questioning, and holding up a mirror. The art of the 1980s is colorful and multifaceted. It can be anything, but not one thing: boring.

In the eighties, everything suddenly became possible. The great social and political upheavals are also clearly visible in art. Groups of artists break with the entrenched art establishment, dethrone the avant-garde: the “Junge Wilden” rediscover the visual arts and exhibit - as self-confident as they are socially committed - under the term “Heftige Malerei” (fierce painting).

Sponsored Content

Celebration of diversity

Not one story, but many small narratives define the 1980s. Diversity in thought and action, knowledge, and belief are booming. Boundary expansions in many respects and networking are among the essential characteristics of this time. Like hardly any other decade, the eighties have burned themselves into the memory of those who experienced this decade. But the shrill retro visions that experience a revival at cyclical intervals continue to inspire younger generations today.

After the barren years of conceptual art and minimalism, the Neue Wilde are now expressing themselves in colorful and, above all, highly experimental ways. Discovery and the joy of the new are in the foreground. An experimental laboratory that is not afraid of kitsch and pathos. Even more: as a sure sign of self-reflection, perhaps also as a wink, the finger is put where the mass-produced society takes itself a little too seriously.

In the visual arts, the "Anything Goes" of the anarchist-minded Austrian Paul Feyerabend makes itself felt through stylistic richness. The so-called hunger for images that heralded this decade, reflected in the expressive gestures of the Junge Wilde on large-format canvases, can only be understood as a countermovement to the minimalist and conceptual currents of the 1960s and 1970s. "Art proliferates, begets shoots and filiations, forms nodes and ramifications," wrote the editor of the then hip art magazine Wolkenkratzer Wolfgang Max Faust. Now abstraction stands next to tangible figuration, emotion next to rational coolness. The new media, the dawning digital age bring forth a new art of cipher, fiction, and copy.

Cradle of today's art

The 1980s, ranging from Jeff Koons and Jenny Holzer to Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring to Cindy Sherman and Richard Prince, is the cradle of today's art. Questions of appropriation and authorship are discussed as well as criticism of consumer culture.

The oeuvre of Austrian artists such as Brigitte Kowanz and Erwin Wurm, Herbert Brandl and Maria Lassnig, Franz West, and Peter Kogler is effortlessly integrated into the canon of an international star line-up in the exhibition “The 80s.” Representatives include Jean Michel Basquiat, Jeff Koons, Keith Haring, Robert Longo, Cindy Sherman, Sherrie Levine, and Jenny Holzer. Their art marks an important turning point in recent art history.

Albertina Modern

Copyright © Vindobona. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from Vindobona and redistribute by email or post to the web.
Sponsored Content
Fast News Search
Related News
Modigliani in Vienna on the 100th Anniversary of his Death (October 5, 2021)
Fair for Art Vienna 2021: The Red Carpet for Art (September 24, 2021)
American Photography at the Albertina: Trevor Traina Back in Vienna (September 22, 2021)
Read More
Vienna, Robert Longo, Julian Schnabel, Jeff Koons, Francesco Clemente, Events, Culture, Cindy Sherman, Art, Albertina Modern, Albertina
Featured
See latest Vindobona Newsletter
Sign up now for full site access and to read a limited amount of free premium articles per month:
Sign Up
×
Sponsored Content
Sponsored Content
©1995-2023 Vindobona
Contact
Help
Imprint
Press
Careers
Partners
Terms & Conditions
Site Security
Privacy
Sitemap
Advertise
About Us