Contemporary British Art — An Introduction

The last few decades have been among the most dynamic within recent British cultural history. Artists across all genres and media have developed and re-fashioned their practice against a radically changing social and cultural landscape – both national and global.

This book takes a fresh look at some of the themes, ideas and directions which have informed British art since the later 1980s through to the first decade of the new millennium. In addition to discussing some iconic images and examples, it also looks more broadly at the contexts in which a new ‘post-conceptual’ generation of artists, those typically born since the late 1950s and 1960s have approached and developed aspects of their professional practice.
Contemporary British Art is an ideal introduction to the field. To guide the reader, the book is organised around genres or related practices – painting; sculpture and installation; and film, video and performance. The first chapter explores aspects of the contemporary art market and some of the contexts within which art is made, supported and exhibited. The chapters that discuss various genres of art practice also mention books that may be useful to support further reading.

Extensively illustrated with a wide range of work (both known, and less well-known) from artists such as Chris Ofili, Rachel Whiteread, Damien Hirst, Banksy, Anthony Gormley, Jack Vettriano, Sam Taylor-Wood, Steve McQueen and Tracey Emin, and many more.

Grant Pooke is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Arts, University of Kent. He is the author of Francis Klingender 1907-1955: A Marxist Art Historian Out of Time (2008) and co-author of Art History: The Basics (2008).

Acknowledgements

Illustrations
Figures
Plates

Introduction
Cool Britannia, Contemporary Art and the Altermodern

Chapter One: Perspectives on the Contemporary Art Market and its Institutions
Introduction
The Contemporary Art Market
Contemporary Art, Celebrity & Private Collecting
Perspectives on Contemporary Art Patronage
The Arts Council’s Per Cent for Art Scheme
Contexts for Public Art & Other Commissioning Organisations
British Art Awards and Prizes
The Creative Economy and Cultural Regeneration
Contemporary Art Fairs and Biennales

Chapter Two: Post-Conceptual British Painting
Introduction
Painting: Histories, Ideas and Contexts
British Painting: Cultural Politics, Dissent and other Narratives
Place, Entropy and the Imaginary in Contemporary Painting
Remodernism, Stuckism and Film Noir Nostalgia
Gestural and Geometric British Painting: Modernisms Revisited

Chapter Three: Installation Art and Sculpture as Institutional Paradigms
Introduction
Installations and Installation Art
Site-specific and Non Site-Specific Installations
Installation, Objecthood and Active Spectatorship
Phenomenology and Installation Art
Installation Art, Praxis and Relational Aesthetics
Installation Practice as a Dream-Like Encounter
Paradigms of Installation Art as Immersive Experience and Subjective Disintegration
Installations, Bodily Response and Experience
Installation, Politics and Activated Spectatorship
‘Sculpture in the Expanded Field’ - Traditions and Revisions
Sculpture as Commodity and Appropriation
Sculpture, Ambivalence and the Abject

Chapter Four: New Media in Transition: Photography, Video & the Performative
Introduction
Photography: Contexts & Histories
Narratives and Countercultures: Video and Performance Art
Performance, Abjection and Other Narratives
Documentary Genres: Docu-fiction and Social Reportage
Technical Interventions, De-familiarisation and Spectacle
Portraiture, Still Life and New Media Art: Objectification and Reversals

Post-Conceptual British Art: New Directions Home

Bibliography

Index