According to this exhibition, the most prominent subculture to come out of London during the 1990's was the YBA (Young British Artist movement). The term was originally used to describe a group of young artists, including Damien Hirst, Sarah Lucas and Gary Hume, who emerged from the degree course of Goldsmiths college during the late 1980's. By the 1990's the term was being broadly applied to from other colleges such as the Glasgow School of Art and the Royal College of Art who showed similar headline grabbing tendencies such as Tracey Emin and Marc Quinn. In 1988, Damien Hirst founded the group show Freeze in 1988, which allowed YBA's to display their work to the public and propel their careers.
Work by Damien Hirst
Work by Sarah Lucas
A leaflet for the Freeze Art Exhibtion
The exhibition most notably focused on the work of Sarah Lucas, particularly her studio work. During the mid 90's, Lucas shared a studio with Angus Fairhurst in Sutton Lane just of Clerkenwell road, where together they produced some of their best works such as Sarah Lucas's infamous "Self Portrait with fried eggs" (1996) and Fairhurst's Peita (1996). The studio was also known for being home to many late night underground parties.
Peita, Angus Fairhurst, 1996
Self Portrait with Fried Eggs, Sarah Lucas, 1996
The exhibition also briefly mentioned 'The Shop', which was founded by Sarah Lucas and Tracy Emin in the 1990's. The shop was located on Brick Lane, which was then quite a dull and run down area. The fact that Lucas and Emin brought creativity to this area in the early 1990's has undoubtedly made Brick Lane and the East End the creative hot-spot that it is today. The shop sold art, knickknacks and t-shirt made by YBA's and became an internationally famous art destination.
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