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1168: Made in America
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Steven Ketchum is a contemporary American artist. His artwork is a reflection of confusion seen in the world. The figures in his drawings either don't understand themselves or each other. He also reflects and meditates on how cultures / civilizations are built and, given enough time, destroyed.
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Lewis "Duke" Baltz was an American visual artist, photographer, and educator. He was an important figure in the New Topographics movement of the late 1970s. His best known work was monochrome photography of suburban landscapes and industrial parks which highlighted his commentary of void within the "American Dream". His work is focused on searching for beauty in desolation and destruction. Baltz's images describe the architecture of the human landscape: offices, factories and parking lots. His pictures are the reflection of control, power, and influenced by and over human beings. His books and exhibitions, his "topographic work", such as The New Industrial Parks, Nevada, San Quentin Point, Candlestick Point, expose the crisis of technology and define both objectivity and the role of the artist in photographs. He wrote for many journals, and contributed regularly to L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui. Baltz's work is held in the collections of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Tate Modern, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art etc.
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Nan Goldin is an acclaimed American photographer renowned for her profound visual narratives that delve into her personal world, marked by themes of addiction, sexuality, and intimate relationships. Born in Washington, D.C., in 1953, Goldin's journey into photography began in the early 1970s, capturing the lives of those around her, forming a "substitute family" amid a backdrop of drugs, sex, and violence.
One of Goldin's most celebrated works, "The Ballad of Sexual Dependency" (1986), is a raw and intimate portrayal of her "tribe," documenting their lives through the late 70s and early 80s in New York City. This work, initially presented as a slideshow, captures moments of love, sexuality, and domestic life, transcending into a poignant narrative of the era's challenges, particularly the AIDS crisis.
Throughout her career, Goldin's photography has continued to evolve, exploring various themes and mediums, including film. Her work, deeply personal and often autobiographical, challenges conventional perceptions of beauty, identity, and relationships, offering a window into the complexities of human connection and the essence of her subjects.
Goldin's influence extends beyond the art world, with her activism, particularly against the opioid crisis, marking another significant chapter in her journey. Her profound empathy and commitment to portraying the raw, unfiltered realities of life resonate through her extensive body of work, which continues to be celebrated in exhibitions and collections globally.
For art collectors and enthusiasts, Goldin's work offers not just aesthetic value but also deep emotional and historical resonance. To stay informed about Nan Goldin's works and related updates, signing up for newsletters from prominent galleries or her exhibitions could provide valuable insights and opportunities for engagement with her art.
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Kiki Smith is a West German-born American artist whose work has addressed the themes of sex, birth and regeneration. Her figurative work of the late 1980s and early 1990s confronted subjects such as AIDS, feminism and gender, while recent works have depicted the human condition in relationship to nature. Smith lives and works in the Lower East Side, New York City, and the Hudson Valley, New York State.
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Kara Elizabeth Walker is an American contemporary painter, silhouettist, print-maker, installation artist, filmmaker, and professor who explores race, gender, sexuality, violence, and identity in her work. She is best known for her room-size tableaux of black cut-paper silhouettes. Walker was awarded a MacArthur fellowship in 1997, at the age of 28, becoming one of the youngest ever recipients of the award. She has been the Tepper Chair in Visual Arts at the Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University since 2015.
Walker is regarded as among the most prominent and acclaimed Black American artists working today.
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Steve Rodney McQueen is a British film director, film producer, screenwriter, and video artist. He won the Academy Award for Best Picture at the 2014 Academy Awards for his work on 12 Years a Slave. He studied at Chelsea College of Art and Design, Goldsmiths College in London and Tisch School in New York. In 1999, he received a grant from the Berlin Artist Program of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). In 1999 he received the Turner Prize for his photography and installations. His first films are experimental, minimalist, black-and-white and silent films (Buster Keaton). In 2003, the British Imperial War Museum named McQueen the official war artist of the Iraq War. Following his time in Iraq in 2006, the Queen and Country Project was created, featuring portraits of fallen British soldiers on a sheet of stamps.