Erika Rothenberg on Freedom of Expression Products Inc. - Hirshhorn Museum
Description:
Erika Rothenberg describes her “Freedom of Expression Drugs” (1989), on view in "Brand New: Art and Commodity of the 1980s." “Brand New” offers a fascinating alternative history of art in the 1980s by tracing how a pioneering group of young downtown artists appropriated the tools and psychology of growing consumer culture—advertising, logos, products, even cable TV—to change the landscape of the art world. Manufactured objects, such as vacuum cleaners and clocks, became vessels with complex meanings. Advertising and television emerged as rich new mediums for expression, and artworks themselves became branded products. FEB 14- MAY 13, 2018