Anti-Aesthetics

So, i guess the moral of the story here is that we should accept that their is no originality in the world of fine arts. That being said, i think it is really interesting how, through the progression of art history to this point, the photograph and its use has evolved. The photograph's impact on art (especially painting) can be seen as early as the impressionist movement. I thought it was insightful to see how, even recently, the art world is struggling to rectify the existence of photography. Instead of changing how painting were approached (as in the time of impressionism) the anti-aesthetic movement seeks to redefine how we approach the photograph. Artists like Richard Prince and John Baldessari even push the limits of artistic ownership in their blatant appropriations and reproductions of established pieces.
So, reading this chapter about anti-aesthetics made me realize how impactful the development of photography was (and is) in the world of art history. I would be interested in reading other people's opinions on how the camera has affected the last two centuries of art.

Neo-Expressionism

So what i take from the Neo-Expressionism movement is that the artist is attempting the same thing as the German Expressionists, but instead of being mocked and ridiculed (as in the Degenerate Art Show) they are making quite a bit of money off of their work. I guess this just shows how the 1980's contrasted post world war I Germany. The economy was beginning to boom again after a major recession and the middle class was making the "good" art. Some similiarities i draw when i compare these two time periods are the fact that the US and parts of Europe were recovering from the Vietnam War and America was under the leadership of a more socialy restrictive administration (not comparing Regaen to Hitler).

I would have to say that my favorite artist from this period would be Carlo Maria Mariani and his "regression" to a classical picture making approach. I beleive he is one of the few artists from this movement that successfully took what the German Expressionists did and adapted it into a style that was true to himself. As the German Expressionists took everyday situations, people and observations and depicted them in an almost ugly and curious way (in comparison to their reality), Mariani does the opposite and takes these everyday situations, people and observations and turns them into something that is more beautiful than their reality.