This thesis examines contemporary street art and its exhibition in galleries and museums in connection with Walter Benjamin's concepts of aura and authenticity in the postmodern period. Street art is posited as a marginal art evolving out of the tradition of 1970's New York graffiti that can be made to function as a type of anti-spectacle within the spectacle of the mainstream. Situationist theory and concepts within the agenda of Unitary Urbanism (psychogeography, the dérive, and détournement) are used to evaluate contemporary street art as anti-spectacle. Photography, as a primary method of documenting street art, is considered as a mechanically reproduced medium bringing into play discourses of repetition and originality, which are in turn related back to Benjamin's concepts of aura and authenticity. Andy Warhol, his Pop Art iconography, and practice of seriality are also considered as an influence on contemporary street art's imagery and underlying practice. Warhol's promotion of an "art star" persona is also related to such contemporary street art "stars" as Banksy and Mr. Brainwash.

Andy Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable (EPI) was a drug-fueled rock concert-cum-multimedia art event where layers of mediation mixed with immediate experience: The Velvet Underground performed their innovative music in front of films of themselves performing, Factory Superstars danced and performed poetry, various Warhol films projected on the walls, flashing lights flickered on mirrored surfaces, and a crowd of spectators – both famous and unknown – packed in to see and be seen, to dance and trip into the early hours of the morning. The experience of the EPI was a potent combination of alienation, mediation, and commercialization. The EPI was a promotional vehicle for Warhol, Warhol's Factory crew, and the Velvet Underground, but is also a complex example of spectacle that has been under-analyzed in recent scholarship. The EPI's unabashed emphasis on marketing, packaging, consumer goods, and empty celebrity are all manifestations of fears of late capitalist excess, but beneath the veneer of vapidity was an undercurrent of counterculture political activism and social awareness. Original contributions include cultural analysis, interpretation of contemporary reviews and reports, examination of the event's lack of art historical presence, and incorporation of music scholarship into the Warhol historical canon.

Much has been said about what artists experience when they make visual art individually, but less has been said about what artists experience when they make art together. The study is based on the author’s perception, elaborated below, that artistic co-creation in the visual arts seems to be regarded as less valuable than individual artistic creation. To explore and richly describe the experience of artistic co-creation from the perspective of artists themselves, I initially invited three duos of artists to create visual art together in an experimental, time-bound co creation. After the onset of COVID-19, however, I amended the study by inviting participants to co-create art by virtually passing pieces of art to one another. I then interviewed them about their experience. Guided by a phenomenological approach, I conducted semi-structured interviews using questions sourced from the study purpose and related research questions. These interviews, held periodically through the co-creative project, sought to uncover the emergent themes of the experience of artistic co-creation. After reviewing the transcripts from these interviews, I created a representative written likeness of each duo experience, called a portrait, using the qualitative modes of portraiture. Six themes emerged from these portraits in the ways the artists reflected on their experiences of creating art together, including: moments of relationship and connection in the process of co-creation, the context and structure of the experiment, seeing experiences differently in the process of co-creation, finding agreements between the perspectives of the co-creators, developing creative rhythms based on temporal parameters, and learning in the partnership of the project. I did not begin this study with a formally-articulated conceptual framework, but I was influenced in my thinking by Basquiat and Warhol’s relationship and subsequent collaborative artworks. This research contributes to the literature in key areas by examining existing assumptions about the value of artistic co-creation in the visual arts.

The purpose of this paper was to examine the concept of an individual who hangs an exhibition poster from Moderna Museet on their wall and shares it on Instagram. Questions regarding what that individual wants to tell the audience about themselves, their individuality and lifestyle, through sharing it on a public forum have been the main topic. The material was an image of a poster from Moderna Museet in Stockholm (an Andy Warhol exhibition from 1968) hanging inside someone's home. The picture was found amongst Instagram-posts that had been tagged to connect with the account @modernamuseet_butiken. At the basis of the analysis is the theoretical framework of Pierre Bourdieu concerning capital, taste, beauty and museums. The method was a qualitative social semiotic approach that began by looking at the material on a denotative and connotative level, before branching out to the social semiotic level by applying the theoretical framework. The research found that through the content it is possible to make strong connotative readings concerning the person's education, background and awareness of art and art history. A conclusion is made concerning Bourdieus work in a modern day, which says that it is possible to use it to get a fundamental understanding, but it is at the same time important to approach the theories critically, because of the fact that the lines between different social classes are getting more blurred.

I am a draftsman, painter and printmaker. This first person statement is a written extension of the art that constitutes my thesis. It discusses the links between my work and the Enlightenment, Humanism, Catholicism, ethics and the Western canon as well as my use of perspective and other classical techniques in relation to history, language, high art, popular culture, propaganda, contemporary upheavals, Christian and Islamic Fundamentalism, globalization and the digital revolution. Furthermore, the main arguments draw upon my Cuban origin and European ancestry, the Cuban Revolution, my Belgian early education and eventual American hybrid identity. The overriding theme, however, concerns the continuing relevance of drawing, high art and history. As such, it forms a personal art theory and critique of contemporary culture. Supporting sources include history, art history, art theory, philosophy, science, religion and politics.

<p>The aim of this thesis is to study the Swedish art field during the 1980s, from the perspective of the artistic production of Lars Nilsson. During this decade he became one of the most well known young artists associated with postmodernism.</p><p>The thesis is divided into three parts, where the first part examines different influences and aspects of the art of Lars Nilsson, as well as the contexts he was a part of. This is performed through a chronological as well as a categorizing presentation, based upon different exhibitions where Nilsson participated during the 1980s.</p><p>In the second part the subject is the Swedish art field, and how Lars Nilsson came to be part of a a new established category of a young generation of artists, mostly born in the 1950s, who were associated with youth, postmodernism and contemporaneousness. This part also puts attention to the importance of Lars Nittve, then art critic and curator, in introducing postmodernism, as well as establishing this new categorization of artists in Sweden.</p><p>The last part of the thesis studies four different group exhibitions, and how they all exemplify how "a younger generation of artists" were to be connected with notions of postmodernism and contemporaneousness through curatorial practice. Lars Nilsson participated at the thirst three of these exhibitions. This is followed with a last group exhibition, where the idea of younger artists as <em>the</em> most contemporary were to be questioned. The thesis ends with a summary and a discussion.</p>

The aim of this thesis is to study the Swedish art field during the 1980s, from the perspective of the artistic production of Lars Nilsson. During this decade he became one of the most well known young artists associated with postmodernism. The thesis is divided into three parts, where the first part examines different influences and aspects of the art of Lars Nilsson, as well as the contexts he was a part of. This is performed through a chronological as well as a categorizing presentation, based upon different exhibitions where Nilsson participated during the 1980s. In the second part the subject is the Swedish art field, and how Lars Nilsson came to be part of a a new established category of a young generation of artists, mostly born in the 1950s, who were associated with youth, postmodernism and contemporaneousness. This part also puts attention to the importance of Lars Nittve, then art critic and curator, in introducing postmodernism, as well as establishing this new categorization of artists in Sweden. The last part of the thesis studies four different group exhibitions, and how they all exemplify how "a younger generation of artists" were to be connected with notions of postmodernism and contemporaneousness through curatorial practice. Lars Nilsson participated at the thirst three of these exhibitions. This is followed with a last group exhibition, where the idea of younger artists as the most contemporary were to be questioned. The thesis ends with a summary and a discussion.

Esta proposta procurou estabelecer o desenvolvimento e as obras do período pop, principalmente do artista Andy Warhol, como registros da história recente americana. Mostra também, uma correlação entre estas obras com a ideologia do consumo estabelecida nos anos seguintes a II Guerra Mundial, e que possibilitou a estabilização da hegemonia política, cultural e econômica dos Estados Unidos. Associou-se ainda a participação dos meios de comunicação de massa e da publicidade nesse processo, como divulgadores e propagadores da ideologia do consumo e, concomitantemente, fontes temáticas das obras de Warhol e outros artistas pop. Apresenta também a relação entre as mudanças geradas no pós II Guerra com elementos da atualidade, que sugerem um possível declínio desta hegemonia e, que se denominou contemporaneidade pop. Para isso realizou-se análises de algumas das obras mais características desse artista, associado a estudos bibliográficos específicos e gerais relacionados ao tema. / This essay proposes to demonstrate the development and the works of the pop art period, principally of Andy Warhol, as registered in recent American History. This essay also shows a correlation between those works and the ideology of consumerism established in the years following the Second World War, which made political, cultural and economical hegemony possible in the USA. Means of mass communication and publicity will be associated with this process as disseminators and propagators of consumerism and at the same time, thematic works of Warhol and other pop artists. The relationship between post war changes and present day elements will also be presented, which suggests a possible decline in this hegemony, which has been named contemporary pop.To this end, analyses of some of the most characteristic works of this artist will be realised, associated with specific and general bibliographic studies related to the subject.

Esta proposta procurou estabelecer o desenvolvimento e as obras do período pop, principalmente do artista Andy Warhol, como registros da história recente americana. Mostra também, uma correlação entre estas obras com a ideologia do consumo estabelecida nos anos seguintes a II Guerra Mundial, e que possibilitou a estabilização da hegemonia política, cultural e econômica dos Estados Unidos. Associou-se ainda a participação dos meios de comunicação de massa e da publicidade nesse processo, como divulgadores e propagadores da ideologia do consumo e, concomitantemente, fontes temáticas das obras de Warhol e outros artistas pop. Apresenta também a relação entre as mudanças geradas no pós II Guerra com elementos da atualidade, que sugerem um possível declínio desta hegemonia e, que se denominou contemporaneidade pop. Para isso realizou-se análises de algumas das obras mais características desse artista, associado a estudos bibliográficos específicos e gerais relacionados ao tema. / This essay proposes to demonstrate the development and the works of the pop art period, principally of Andy Warhol, as registered in recent American History. This essay also shows a correlation between those works and the ideology of consumerism established in the years following the Second World War, which made political, cultural and economical hegemony possible in the USA. Means of mass communication and publicity will be associated with this process as disseminators and propagators of consumerism and at the same time, thematic works of Warhol and other pop artists. The relationship between post war changes and present day elements will also be presented, which suggests a possible decline in this hegemony, which has been named contemporary pop.To this end, analyses of some of the most characteristic works of this artist will be realised, associated with specific and general bibliographic studies related to the subject.

En 1965, Andy Warhol, déjà célèbre pour ses tableaux, décide de s’aventurer dans le domaine de la musique pop. Il devient alors gérant du Velvet Underground, un groupe rock newyorkais. Ce mémoire vise à rendre compte de l’influence de Warhol sur l’évolution musicale de cette formation entre 1965 et 1967. Dans un premier temps, une description du contexte socio-historique de l’époque et du milieu étudié est présentée, ainsi qu’un résumé des réalisations respectives de l’artiste et du groupe. Deux chansons du Velvet Underground sont ensuite analysées, soit « I’m Waiting for the Man » et « Ail Tomorrow’s Parties », toutes deux enregistrées à deux reprises soit avant et après la collaboration du groupe avec Warhol. Les éléments nouveaux ou transformés apparus dans les secondes versions sont alors répertoriés et comparés aux procédés utilisés par Warhol, ce qui permet d’évaluer l’influence de ce dernier sur l’évolution musicale du groupe. / Québec Université Laval, Bibliothèque 2019