Young British Artists

Young British Artists or YBAs is the name given to a group of conceptual artists, painters, sculptors and installation artists based in the United Kingdom, most (though not all) of whom attended Goldsmiths College in London. The term has dropped out of use as most of the YBAs are now in their forties. The work of the group was dubbed Britart, the phrase being attributed to a series of exhibitions organised at the Saatchi Gallery in 1990/1. The term has dated somewhat.

Related Topics:
Conceptual art - Installation art - United Kingdom - Goldsmiths College - London - Saatchi Gallery

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Formed in 1988, at a time when public funding for art was not readily available (and had been reduced by the Thatcher government), a group of 16 artists were invited by Damien Hirst to take part in an exhibition called Freeze. Most of the commercial galleries in London showed a lack of interest in Hirst's project at the time, which led to the show being held in a Docklands warehouse. The event resonated with the 'Acid House' warehouse rave scene prevalent at the time and drew significant publicity by the connection. It also gave rise to a huge interest on the part of many artists in being curators. Suddenly it seemed Hirst had single-handedly created a new career-path and possibility for unknown artists to put a 'cool'-sounding new job title on their CVs. Artist-run exhibition spaces and galleries sprang up in the mid 1990s in London based on this idea. An example of this was City Racing at the Oval in London. Another artist who picked up on this theme was Tracey Emin who started her Tracey Emin Museum in Waterloo Road in 1996.

Related Topics:
1988 - Thatcher - Damien Hirst - Freeze - Docklands - Acid House - Warehouse rave scene - City Racing - Tracey Emin - Tracey Emin Museum

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