Phillips, Natalie E., The Radiant (Christ) Child: Keith Haring and the Jesus Movement

American Art, Vol. 21, No. 3 (Fall 2007), pp. 54-73

Haring was highly involved with the church as a child, so much so that he became obsessed and joined the “Jesus Movement” where a group of so-called “Jesus Freaks” tried to convert tons of people, using colloquial terms in order to relate to the populace, and try to save their souls from the approaching nuclear apocalypse. As he grew older, Haring did deviate from the church, but his art, more importantly his “Radiant Child” all related back to that movement, showing that his developing years were highly influenced by those texts and scriptures, and then making his art a commentary to the church that condemned his gay life stlye.

 

 

Varnedoe, Kirk. 2000. “Innocence and Experience”. Moma 3 (7).

The Museum of Modern Art: 2–5.

Koons' “Rabbit” is a paradigm that has been explored by many artists like Charles Ray. The innocence and childlike quality of the work coupled with the harsh metallic surface gives the work a juxtaposed feeling of softness and nostalgia with the strangeness of the shiny, hard surface. This is an escape or a means of dealing with aging or a sign that we are not aging well, looking to the past for comfort.

 

 

 

Marley, Adele. 2005. Art Documentation: Journal of the Art Libraries Society of North America 24 (2).

The University of Chicago Press: 60–61

“Little Boy: The Art of Japan's Exploding Subculture” was edited by Takashi Murakami which examines the anime influence on art in Japan post WW2. The artist looks at these early arts and how they've evolved over time to become a major part of the pop culture, and how the otaku phenomenon has become such a large part of Japan's culture today. His own art is highly influenced by the style, making him one of the most marketble artists in Japan.

 

 

Darling, Michael. 2001. “Plumbing the Depths of Superflatness”. Art Journal 60 (3).

College Art Association: 77–89. doi:10.2307/778139.

Murakami has lead the way into the Superflat genre. Superflat is his way of describing the 2D art that has risen out of Japan due to initial Disney cartoon and comic influence in 1950 and 1951. The exaggerated eyes and features of the characters, and the sexualization of youthful looking girls painted in bright, happy colors. This art is something that is revolved around the otaku culture and is Japan's way of reflecting on the Americanization of their country and the guilt and loss brought on by the second World War.

 

 

Keller, Alexandra, and Frazer Ward. 2006. “Matthew Barney and the Paradox of the Neo-avant-garde Blockbuster”. Cinema Journal 45 (2).

University of Texas Press: 3–16

Barney insists that his work with “Cremaster” is a sculpture. Sculpture has had rather loose terms in which to make it's definition, but the reality of the work is that it is something that exists through history. Other neo-avant-garde artists, like Burden, take this definition of sculpture and use it to its limit. Warhol even filmed the Empire State Building for eight hours. The performance and the recording of the performance itself is the sculpture. It has it's mark on time and it has it's place in history. It is something that can be revisited and seen and experienced, giving those moments a life “forever.” The performances and the traces of the performances live on, making them a permanent fixture.

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LAMARRE, THOMAS. 2006. “The Multiplanar Image”. Mechademia 1.

University of Minnesota Press: 120–43.

The multiplanar image is something that has been an issue in animation since its introductionin 1933 by Joseph Bray. Disney adapted the technology and patented it to make “Snow White” and attempt at creating a sense of depth and motion in a 2D motion picture. Although Miyazaki has employed this technique for his manga films, he still let's there be a degree of two dimensionality because he hates the idea of keeping children occupied on his films and wants to break away from TV anime that is set on making things immersive and distracting the masses. Murakami praises this technique, quoting anime like “Evangelion” that use this superflatness to bring everything to the viewer and create intense action sequences. This is something that Murakami sees are a historical reflection of Japanese art and helps to make the otaku culture so appealing.

 

 

Zimmermann, Mark. 1996. “No Sense of Absolute Rebellion”. Review of No Sense of Absolute Corruption. Performing Arts Journal 18 (3).

Performing Arts Journal, Inc.: 48–52.

Damien Hirst is a highly confrontational artist. His works are both performance and sculpture, having them confront the viewer with it's gore, like a separated cow, cut into multiple pieces, side by side like an accordion of death, or a pig split directly in half, or an entire shark, baring all its teeth, staring you in the face. The work itself is appealing, but each make you conquer death and face it, with each work suspended in formaldehyde solution, keeping the work itself between life and death. The preservation of these animals, their angelic quality of floating, give the works a surreal quality that teeter between real and unreal.

 

 

Godfrey, Tony. 1987. “New York Art Now and Other Exhibitions. London”. The Burlington Magazine 129 (1017).

The Burlington Magazine Publications Ltd.: 822–24.

Artists like Koons and Halley debuted some of their art in a show called simply and broadly New York Now which sought to encompass the new neo art taking front and center stage in 1980's. The art challenged the concept of what is art, like Duchamp with his ready-mades, and made relics and sculptures that showed a lack of hope or want for the future. Works that fought against elitism and pretentious views. “Neo-Geo” seeks to dismiss the cliché and bring about a revolution where the art and the medium are intellectually intertwined.

 

 

Westfall, Stephen. 1985. “Surrealist Modes Among Contemporary New York Painters”. Art Journal 45 (4).

College Art Association: 315–18. doi:10.2307/776805.

A Neo-Surrealist movement that contained heavy Pop influences blossomed in New York with artists like Kenny Scharf, who used Keith Haring's vibrancy and movement as inspiration for his own melting figures. Haring used his ambiguous figures to create a common language that helped translate the meanings of his works across cultural boundaries. Gary Stephen, as early as the 1970's began using this style of art with molten figures and strange foregrounds, and mentored the scene as it arose in the 80's. These abstract forms helped to bring expressionist art from it's lack-laster elegance, and bring it toward the future of color and movement. Surrealism is hard to pin-point as far as who is and who isn't. It's had many of it's influences in many other movements, but should not be confused with that of Neo-Dada and others, though they were influential on the young artists that brought this style to its height.

 

 

 

 

 

Whitfield, Sarah. 2006. “Bacon; Hirst. London”. The Burlington Magazine 148 (1242).

The Burlington Magazine Publications Ltd.: 643–45. 

Death is a subject that is always explored by artists, but notably by Hirst, Bacon, and Hodgkin, all of which sought to show an inner turmoil and speak out against cruelty of humanity. Bacon was known for his tryptichs, something that dominated religious views, but he painted instead the body of a nude man, not of religious intent, but of romantic love, being more anti-religious and more humanistic. This was an homage to George Dyer, something that Hirst re-interpreted with sheep in formaldehyde. This sense of loss and reality of death caused the artists, especially Bacon, to create their most wonderful pieces, and give death the drama it deserves.