Art Movement: Young British Artists

I remember learning about this during my survey of contemporary art but I felt the need to refresh my memory a bit. This movement, which dominated the 9o's, seemed to spring out of the lack of public funding for art the artist's need and desire to shock audiences. Most of the artists of the movement graduated from Goldsmith's college in London and although uniform technique wasn't really a prerequisite, an openness of mind seemed most necessary in that any kind of material could be used and a satisfactory shock factor produced. I guess the movement is criticized as gimmicky by some although I doubt anyone could say that the works produced aren't incredibly interesting and visually stimulating, even if they do make use of shock value to earn merit. the biggest proponent of the movement was Charles Saatachi who bought up pieces for his own collection which he began showing. The movement culminated in the show "sensations," which was put on by the Royal Academy but was really Charles Saatachi's on personal collection. Of course, nothing solidifies an artist's importance like controversy and there was tons around this exhibit, even more when the show moved to New York.

The most famous piece of the movement:

"The physical impossibility of death in the mind of someone living."
Damien Hirst