In the 1990s, the urbanization of capital and post-Cold War
era political language forced some artists to retreat into a corner of society that was largely disregarded; Apartment Art flourished in these crevices, in these humble, laid - back spaces.
For artists who grew up with the Cultural Revolution's legacy of oppressive
political and artistic controls, the new
era demanded fresh experiments in the
language of expression.
Chapter 1: Things Must be Pulverized: Abstract Expressionism Charts the move from figurative to abstract painting as the dominant style of painting (1940s & 50s) Key artists discussed: Willem de Kooning, Barnett Newman Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko Chapter 2: Wounded Painting: Informel in Europe and Beyond Meanwhile in Europe: abstract painters immediate responses to the horrors of World War II (1940s & 50s) Key artists discussed: Jean Dubuffet, Lucio Fontana, Viennese Aktionism, Wols Chapter 3: Post-War Figurative Painting Surveys those artists who defiantly continued to make figurative work as Abstraction was rising to dominance - including Social Realists (1940s & 50s) Key artists discussed: Francis Bacon, Lucien Freud, Alice Neel, Pablo Picasso Chapter 4: Against Gesture - Geometric Abstraction The development of a rational, universal
language of art - the opposite of the highly emotional Informel or Abstract Expressionism (1950s and early 1960s) Key artists discussed: Lygia Clark, Ellsworth Kelly, Bridget Riley, Yves Klein Chapter 5: Post-Painting Part 1: After Pollock In the aftermath of Pollock's death: the early days of Pop, Minimalism and Conceptual painting in the USA (1950s and early 1960s) Key artists discussed: Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Frank Stella, Cy Twombly Chapter 5: Anti Tradition - Pop Painitng How painting survives against growth of mass visual culture: photography and television - if you can't beat them, join them (1960s and 70s) Key artists discussed: Alex Katz, Roy Lichtenstein, Gerhard Richter, Andy Warhol Chapter 6: A transcendental high art: Neo Expressionism and its Discontents The continuation of figuration and expressionism in the 1970s and 80s, including many artists who have only been appreciated in later years (1970s & 80s) Key artists discussed: Georg Baselitz, Jean - Michel Basquiat, Anselm Kiefer, Julian Schnabel, Chapter 7: Post-Painting Part II: After Pop A new
era in which figurative and abstract exist side by side rather than polar opposites plus painting expands beyond the canvas (late 1980s to 2000s) Key artists discussed: Tomma Abts, Mark Grotjahn, Chris Ofili, Christopher Wool Chapter 8: New Figures, Pop Romantics Post-cold war, artists use paint to create a new kind of «pop art» - primarily figurative - tackling cultural, social and
political issues (1990s to now) Key artists discussed: John Currin, Peter Doig, Marlene Dumas, Neo Rauch, Luc Tuymans