Synopsis
This work provides an exploration of the ideas current in Australian art from the 1970s onwards, providing a summary of issues that are still in flux. The broad terrain of recent visual practice is mapped and illuminated by discussion of individual artists and of the events, galleries, writers and international debates that have played a significant part in the development of recent Australian art. The progressive Australian art of the 1970s - often deliberately ephemeral and confrontational in nature, and as a result often neglected in art museums and histories - is given an appraisal, and provides the background against which subsequent developments are discussed. In the ensuing decades a diversity of styles, media and ideas have flourished, co-existing to create the art scene of today. As they did in the 1970s, theoretical writings have continued to play a large part in the raising and elaborating issues taken up by artists. The relevance of postmodernist and post-colonialist theory within an Australian context is discussed, with reference to local artists.
The work guides the reader through the field, with detailed description and analysis of exemplary works, including paintings, photography, performances and installations.
