Yayoi Kusama with 'Macaroni Girl' - 1964

 “I promised myself that one day I would conquer the world with my passion for Arts and mountains of creative energy stored in myself.” -  Yayoi Kusama (°1929)

Kusama with Macaroni Girl. Dressing Table and Infinity Net Painting, ca. 1964 © Yayoi Kusama Courtesy of Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo/Singapore, Victoria Miro Gallery, London, David Zwirner, New York

Grey paint strokes - Gerhard Richter 1968

"My method or my expectation which, so to speak, drives my to painting, is opposition. I expect that something will emerge that is unknown to me, which I could not plan, which is better, cleverder than I am, something which is also more universal." - On the Monochrome and Abstract Paintings - Gerhard Richter from 'Interview with Benjamin Buchloh', 1988

‘Grauschlieren’ (Grey paint strokes), 1968 – OOC 200x200cm

Private collection Gerhard Richter Archiv, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

(opposition: active resistance against the ruling majority)

“Grey is the epitome of non-statement, it does not trigger of feelings or associations. (It is) an illusion, like a photograph. And like no other colour, it is suitable for illustrating ‘nothing’. For me the grey is the only possible equivalent for indifference, for the refusal to make a statement, for lack of opinion, lack of form.” - Graue Bilder by G. Richter

Marcel Broodthaers - 'Egg shells and pin' 1965

Marcel  Broodthaers  ‘Coquilles d'oeufs et épingle’ 1965

Collection Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Bruxelles / photo : J. Geleyns / Ro scan

After the energy crisis of 1974, the flame extinguishes from the pipe. The second oil shock of 1979-1980 increases hopelessness. Mass unemployment, price increases and inflation lead to large-scale savings measures. Around 1976 the ‘punk rock’ and the ‘new wave’ stand out. The soft values of nature, peace and love make way for the hard aesthetics of the metropolis, chaos and provocation. 'Make love, not war' becomes 'No future', the long hair becomes short spines and the flower a safety pin.  Marcel Broodthaers appears to be ahead of his time!

(source: De Standaard Kunstbibliotheek; Van Marcel Broodthaers tot Guillaume Bijl)

  

https://www.fine-arts-museum.be/fr/la-collection/marcel-broodthaers-coquilles-doeufs-et-epingle

Joseph Beuys - "I Like America and America Likes Me, May 1974"

"We have to revolutionize human thought. First of all revolution takes place within man. When man is really a free, creative being who can produce something new and original, he can revolutionize time." - Joseph Beuys ('Performance Art' by R.L.Goldberg)



'This action also represented a transformation of ideology into the idea of freedom.'

-  Joseph Beuys on 'Coyote, 1974, at the René Block Gallery (NY)

https://www.wikiart.org/en/joseph-beuys/i-like-america-and-america-likes-me

"Same old sh*t (c) for the so called avant garde" - J.M. Basquiat, 1979

Photo credit: Henry Flynt, 1979

 

http://flavorwire.com/226300/vintage-shots-of-jean-michel-basquiats-samo-graffiti

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Fallen Angel), 1981

Medium: acrylic and oilstick on canvas - size: 167.6 x 198.1 cm. (66 x 78 in.)

Private collection, Courtesy Tony Shafrazi Gallery, NY.

 

http://www.jean-michel-basquiat.org/untitled-fallen-angel/

Marcel Duchamp's 'Bicycle Wheel' - 1913

 

“The Dada movement is not the voluntary work of individuals, it is the fatal product

of a state of affairs.” – Alabert Gleizes ‘The Dada Case’, Paris 1920

Photo: ‘Bicycle Wheel’ (1951), metal wheel mounted on painted wood stool, is the first of Duchamp’s ‘readymades’ – size: 129.5 x 63.5 x 41.9 cm - The original version of 1913 and the version of 1916-17 in NY were lost.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_Wheel