The Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum exhibit “Brand New: Art and Commodity in the 1980s” offers a glimpse of the rare.
Opening on Valentine’s Day and running through May 13, the “Brand New: Art and Commodity in the 1980s” exhibit at the Hirshhorn Museum is a chance for area residents and visitors to view more than 140 works of art produced in New York in the 1980s. The art pieces that will be presented have been brought in from European and domestic collections and are rarely displayed.
The artists of the displayed works “
blurred the lines between art, entertainment and commerce.... in a shift that continues to define contemporary art today.” They brought forth elements of expanding consumer culture of the Reagan-era via mediums such as products, logos, television, and advertising in a semi-Warholesque manner and style reflective of commercial and pop culture of the 1980s.
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The “Brand New” exhibit brings to light significant events and occurrences that would ultimately define the 1980s, such as the birth of MTV, the AIDS crisis, and Reaganomics. As a result, the whole of the displayed collection reflects how all that was happening in the 1980’s changed art and how society shifted during the era while also drawing attention to societal issues such as sexism and homelessness.
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Curated by Gianni Jetzer, the free exhibit opens February 14 and will be at the
Hirshhorn Museum, located on Independence Avenue and Seventh Street Southwest. The Hirschhorn Museum is open daily from 10 a.m. until 5:30 p.m., and offers several other temporary, permanent and ongoing exhibits that visitors can check out as well.
