Four Post-War Artists to Know

Having just returned from a short trip to New York City I was inspired to post some videos and images related to the work of artists whose work I was able to see in person while visiting. There is no place like the Big Apple for art! After a few days of museum and gallery hopping one can become a little overwhelmed... and then it is time to come back to sleepy San Francisco.

Since we're talking about the European sphere post-1945, I've chosen four artists who were born just before, during or slightly after the war. Their work has often been classified as "post-modern" by scholars, critics and observers. Names below are linked to biographical info.

1.) Anselm Kiefer (German, 1945)
2.) Gerhardt Richter (German, born 1932)
3.) Kiki Smith (American, born 1954)
4.) Marina Abramović (Serbian, born 1946)

All of these artists deal with memory and also with mythology- that is both the fairy tales and fantastic stories of long ago, as well as the political fictions that fill every nation-state as it seeks to perpetuate its image on the world stage. Nature and culture also become intertwined, as does the issue of identity (that buzz word again).

On Wednesday night (May 5th) I'll be giving a lecture on one of these four: Anselm Kiefer, probably the most famous contemporary German artist in the world. In my opinion a label rightly deserved. Take a quick peek at his work as well as the other three- I think there's much here to enjoy, ponder and stretch the visual sense and historical imagination.

Below are some videos that briefly introduce the work of these four. If you interested in seeing still images of their work just click on their names below as I have linked them to google.image.search.

I hope you enjoy these spectacular masters of late 20th C. art... all of them are deeply thoughtful, deeply passionate image makers.

ANSELM KIEFER (images)



GERHARD RICHTER (images)



KIKI SMITH (images)





MARINA ABRAMOVIC (images)