Expressive Painting of the 1980s as a Sign of Freedom
Expressive Painting of the 1980s as a Sign of Freedom

Summary/Abstract: For some, the new expressive painting of the 80s was a return to art, for others – development of new pictorial practices. In Poland, it showed up a few years after Document VII in Kassel (1982) dominated by new expression and was represented amongst others by such art groups as Koło Klipsa and Gruppa and such artists as Jerzy Kopeć, Tadeusz Sobkowiak, Piotr C. Kowalski. The painting of the 1980s was looking for new places for art and simultaneously, by introducing templates and graffiti elements, it made the painterly practice come closer to street art. In Poland, similar as in Germany, new painting was viewed as a chance to break the artistic and aesthetic impasse brought in by conceptualism. Now we see that this painting was not in conflict with conceptual practices and strategies. We see that the opposition between the new painting of the 1980s and analytical & experimental art of the previous decade was a product of the discourse accompanying the new painting.

• Details
• Contents