I need to be a person from the 80's who dealt with art?

Question

for school i need to be a person from the 1980's who did something art related.

help thanks

Answer 1

Here's part of an article that lists 1980s American artists and it might give you an idea to chose from...

Schnabel's "Self-Portrait in Andy's Shadow" memorializes Andy Warhol in a "plate painting," in which a portrait has been painted onto broken dishes covering a wood panel. Koons' stainless steel busts meld high and low art, a concept that even the most clueless gallery will grasp when standing before them. The blindingly shiny bust of the otherwise distinguished Louis XIV is intentionally gaudier than classic gallery art-its purposes would be better served hanging from the neck of a Cash Money Millionaire.

1980s corporate America and new wave music come together in Robert Longo's "Untitled (White Riot Series)." Longo chose to play the irony card by dressing up fellow artists as corporate stiffs and depicting them as writhing, tortured victims of the times. The twisted bodies are somewhat ambiguous in their struggle; they could be suffering business-world sellouts or extras in a Duran Duran video.

We have all, at one time or another, seen a fire extinguisher, a light fixture, or a bench in an art gallery and wondered if it was part of an exhibit. Those who find such uncertainties appealing should pause beside Sherrie Levine's "Untitled (After Duchamp: Chessboards, #4," 1989). A painted chessboard sits atop a pedestal, touching upon the anti-art theory that ready-made objects can become art purely because an artist says so. If you'd rather play on a chessboard than stare at one through Plexiglas, keep walking.

If you sneer at the ready-made concept, you may also want to skip "Three Ball 50/50 Tank," another piece by the commercially successful but often criticized Koons. The piece consists of three basketballs floating in equilibrium in a tank of water and was intended as commentary on society's consumerism. Mass consumers may be interested to know that two of the basketballs are Spauldings, and one is a Wilson.

On a more serious note, approximately 100,000 Americans were infected with HIV annually during the mid-1980s, and Ross Bleckner's "Brother's Sword" pays tribute to friends who died of AIDS. The warm, almost radiating vertical lines are fuzzily contrasted with the stark black band across the top. The chaos of the lines, taken in with a symbolic nature Bleckner bestows upon the piece, is almost too much to look at for long.

"Untitled" by Jack Goldstein depicts natural phenomena in deep, electric colors but looks disturbingly like a Windows Media Player visualization. "Red Room" by Keith Haring has much more depth than his brightly-colored little men that currently adorn coffee mugs and beach towels. The lounging nude woman channels Matisse and Picasso, while the presence of a television and a grossly oversized Chanel necklace bring modernity and materialism to the piece. "The Evacuation of Saigon" by Eric Fischl, made up of three separate oil paintings angled to form a single piece, blends traditional painting techniques with modern, sensitive subject matter and overwhelming emotion. David Salle's "Pound Notes" melds mediums by bringing together French and American painting, black-and-white photography, and pornography, while two works by Jean-Michel Basquiat contribute a street-art-meets-art-gallery sentiment.

Answer 2

How about a photographer like Annie Leibowitz?

Or perhaps a modern artist like Ed Paschke?

Or a commercial artist like Patrick Nagel...

Answer 3

Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988), painter. There is an excellent movie about him called "Basquiat," which will help you learn about him.