Social Strategies: Redefining Social Realism

Softcover | 20.96 x 0.64 x 29.21 cm | 72 pp

University of Washington Press | 2003 | 9780295983257

Social Realism was first labeled as a definable art movement in the 1920s, when art and propaganda merged during the Russian Revolution. Much of today's social art is beyond mere "social realism," following a path from realism to abstraction and transcendence, initially trod by artists such as Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman, an abstraction encoded with utopian ideology.

In the late twentieth century, a strikingly different kind of social realism emerged. Though propaganda plays heavily into the mix, so does a darker reality borne out on the streets of urban centres and in rural backyards, languishing in a post-industrial depression. Since the 1980s, socially conscious artists have increasingly addressed issues of narcissism/vanity, consumption, commerce, sex, drugs, and AIDS.

Featured Artists
Edgar Arceneaux
Richard Billingham
Jeremy Blake
Tracy Emin
Rainer Ganahl
Gilbert & George
Nan Goldin
Felix Gonzalez-Torres
Jenny Holzer
Mary Kelly
Barbara Kruger
Wolfgang Laib
Ken Lum
Julie Mehretu
Glexis Novoa
Paul Pfeiffer
Jack Pierson
Neo Rauch
Thomas Ruff
Paul Shambroom
Kim So0ja
Beat Streuli
Sam Taylor-Wood
Sue Williams