British Contemporary: Unlimited

The British contemporary art burst into the world scene in the late 1980s with an exhibition by Damien HIRST, who, then still a student, rented a factory to offer his meticulously planned “Freeze.” The exhibition was a turning point for British art that had largely remained stagnant after the pop art movement in the 1950s without being able to produce new trends or noteworthy artists. “Freeze” put Britain firmly back on the world map of art, whereupon it began to lead new trends in the contemporary era.

What placed the British at the forefront of international art in the late 80s and early 90s is the fact that they best captured the fin-de-siecle emotions minant at the time, while boldly and freely undertaking new experiments unfettered by restrictidoons imposed by the prevailing art world or artistic discourse. Despite the diversity of works produced at the time, similar themes consistently shone through: inner turmoil at the turn of the century, critical views on human desires and the society, and experimental spirit that rejected an artist’s individuality for new artistic possibilities within variations of traditional art.

Artists and movements that led the trends at the turn of the century have now become a chapter in our history. The British contemporary art will be forever marked in history as an international art trend that gave images to the emotional turbulence at the end of the 20th century and new visions for the 21st century. The 10 artists whose works are shown in this exhibition are some of the major artists who dominated the contemporary British art scene. By exhibiting approximately 30 pieces of their work, Arario Gallery aims to introduce to the Korean public art that is at once most contemporary and most historic.