1980s Art: Top Artists, Styles And Trends

Neo-expressionism, street art and the arrival of design on a computer.

Below: the artists of the 1980s, the styles and movements, what was changing in art and design, and the pictures that were actually up in British homes.

Useful for a themed party, a quiz round, a reminiscence session or working out what someone grew up looking at.

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Shop prints and posters Look back to 1980 Look back to 1981 Look back to 1982

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Artists of the 1980s

  • Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring, taking street work into galleries.
  • Julian Schnabel and the neo-expressionist revival of painting.
  • Cindy Sherman, photographing herself as everybody else.
  • Neville Brody, whose work for The Face changed magazine design.
  • Peter Saville, designing the Factory Records sleeves.
  • Barbara Kruger, using advertising's own language against it.

Styles and movements

  • Neo-expressionism - big, fast, figurative painting, and very saleable.
  • Memphis design: clashing colour, squiggles and laminate, from Milan in 1981.
  • Postmodern architecture, quoting the past with a straight face.
  • Street art and graffiti moving from New York subway to London wall.
  • Early digital design, pixellated because there was no alternative.

Art and design trends

  • The Apple Macintosh (1984) and desktop publishing put typesetting on a desk.
  • The art market booms, and the artist becomes a brand.
  • Music video becomes a design discipline of its own.
  • Corporate identity work explodes as privatised industries rebrand.
  • The Saatchi collection starts shaping what British galleries show.

On the walls at home

  • Athena's Man and Baby poster (1987) in a great many flats.
  • Laura Ashley florals at one end of the taste range, black ash and chrome at the other.
  • Ragging, sponging and stencilled borders, courtesy of daytime television.
  • Framed film posters, and a Ferrari on a teenager's wall.

Years covered in the 1980s

  • 1980 - The decade opened with the SAS on live television and John Lennon's death in December. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1980
  • 1981 - A royal wedding, riots in several cities and the first London Marathon. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1981
  • 1982 - The Falklands, the launch of Channel 4 and the arrival of the Spectrum. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1982
  • 1983 - Breakfast television, the pound coin and a general election landslide. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1983
  • 1984 - The miners' strike, the Brighton bombing and Band Aid at Christmas. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1984
  • 1985 - Live Aid, the first EastEnders and a very bad year in football. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1985
  • 1986 - The Hand of God, Chernobyl and Neighbours arriving on daytime television. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1986
  • 1987 - The great storm, Black Monday and a third election win. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1987
  • 1988 - Acid house, Kylie's first number one and a grim run of disasters. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1988
  • 1989 - Hillsborough, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the decade. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1989
  • That is every 1980s year we have written up so far: 1980 to 1989.

How to use this

  • Themed party: pick one style from the list and let it decide the colours, the lettering and the invitations.
  • Quiz round: read an artist and ask for the decade, or read a style and ask for one artist who worked in it.
  • Reminiscence: ask what picture hung over the fireplace when they were young. Nearly everybody remembers.
  • Anyone born in 1980 turns 50 in 2030, 60 in 2040 and 70 in 2050.

Shop prints and posters

Found your words? Now find the card

Shop prints and posters Look back to 1980 Look back to 1981 Look back to 1982

How to write it so it lands

  • What hung in galleries and what hung at home were two different decades. Both are on this page.
  • For a themed party, take the colour palette from the decade's design rather than its paintings.
  • Charity shops are still the best place to find genuine prints and frames from any era.

Where to shop next

Frequently asked questions

Who were the most important artists of the 1980s?

Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring, taking street work into galleries. The full list above names the artists worth knowing from the decade.

What art styles were popular in the 1980s?

Neo-expressionism - big, fast, figurative painting, and very saleable. The styles section above covers the rest of the movements.

What art did people have in their homes in the 1980s?

Athena's Man and Baby poster (1987) in a great many flats. The section above lists what was actually on British walls, which is rarely the same as what was in the galleries.

Do you sell fine art?

No. We make our own art prints, greeting cards and pin badges in the UK - original work, printed here. This page is free to read and free to copy.

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