Major Players in Contemporary Art Flashcards
Cindy Sherman
Her work “Untitled Film Stills” (1977-1980) is her most famous body of work. A series of self-portrait photographs of her acting out 20th-century pop culture female cliches. Her work examines women’s roles throughout history and in contemporary society.
Miquel Barcelo
His works explore decomposition, metamorphosis, and the passage of time. Youngest artist to have exhibited works in the Louvre.
Takashi Murakami
Known as the “Warhol of Japan”, he is famous for his merging of fine art and popular culture. He founded his own company Kaikai Kiki Co. which has helped to merge his art and brand into one.
Njideka Akunyili Crosby
She creates colorful collage paintings which weave together intimate moments with commercial images from Nigeria, and reference Nigeria’s history and postcolonial present.
Sean Scully
Irish artist who often works with stripes, grids, and dark tones to create his characteristic abstract works.
George Condo
In his abstract paintings of faces and bodies, George Condo plays with the human form. His paintings are graced with cut-up, carnivalesque characters. References to Picasso, Cy Twombly, and Goya are evident in his work.
John Currin
Known for his seductive yet repelling paintings of lustful women. He combines the beautiful with the grotesque.
Zhang Xiaogang
His haunting paintings engage with the notion of identity within the Chinese culture of collectivism (gains of the group ahead of the individual).
Jeff Koons
One of the most famous contemporary artists for turning banal objects into fine arts icons by utilizing concepts like celebrity, media, and commerce. In doing so he holds up a mirror to society and reveals it in all its grotesque contradictions.
Anselm Kiefer
German painter and sculptor. He believes it is important to confront your collective path in order to be able to go towards the future. His epic-scale sculptures and abstract paintings reference post-holocaust poetry, and cold war politics.
Damien Hirst
The most prominent member of a group of modern artists, the Young British Artists, which dominated the UK contemporary art scene in the ’90s. Well known for his series of famous modern art depicting dead animals preserved in formaldehyde, and for his diamond skull.
Zeng Fanzhi
His work points to his concern with modernity’s problematic history and the isolation and instability of contemporary life. His work can be recognized by his signature expressionistic style, figures with large heads, and exaggerated features.
Keith Haring
His pop art and graffiti-like work emerged from the New York City street culture of the 80s. He wanted to devote his career to creating truly public art.
Yoshitomo Nara
One of the central figures of the Japanese Neo-Pop movement, creating paintings, drawings, and sculptures of child-like characters. Inspired by popular culture such as anime, manga, Disney, and punk rock. His contemporary art concerns itself with finding identity in today’s rapidly modernizing, violent world with its constant visual inputs. The characters are sinister yet sweet.
Richard Prince
He reuses mass-media images in order to question and redefine notions of authorship and ownership. He has become occupied with Instagram, stealing Instagram posts from several young women and selling them for vast sums.
Mark Grotjahn
American artist best known for his abstract paintings of faces and geometric depictions. Often explores the vanishing point of perspective and works with bright colors.
Rudolf Stingel
An Italian artist based in New York. He is interested in engaging the audience in a dialogue about their perception of contemporary art and including them in the process. He is thought to be a conceptual artist (the idea behind the work is more important than the finished art object).
Christopher Wool
Best known for his modern art paintings of words, his trademark white canvases with large black stencilled letters.
Peter Doig
Scottish artist, contains themes of magical realism. Doig takes inspiration from photographs, newspaper clippings, scenes from movies, covers of record albums and the work of earlier artists like Edvard Munch.
Jean-Michel Basquiat
His “naif” art (created by a person who lacks formal education) skilfully merged styles and traditions, creating collage-type works of contemporary art, which often referred to his urban and African-Caribbean heritage. His modern paintings are an example of how counter-cultural art practice can become completely recognised, embraced, and celebrated by the commercial masses.
