Finish Fetish

Finish Fetish denotes a style of art related to the LA Look,^[1] pop art, minimalism, and light and space originating in southern California in the 1960s. Artwork of this type often has a glossy and slick finish and features an abstract design on a two-or three-dimensional surface made from fiberglass or resins.^[2] The style is similar to the simplicity and abstraction of minimalism and the bright colors and reference to commercial products found in pop art. To the world of postwar art it was a substantive addition.

Artists

Artists associated with the Finish Fetish style include Peter Alexander, Larry Bell, Billy Al Bengston, Judy Chicago, Joe Goode, Robert Irwin, Craig Kauffman, John McCracken, Kenneth Price, DeWain Valentine, and Don Dudley. Contemporary artists influenced by this movement include Nellie King Solomon (daughter of Barbara Stauffacher Solomon).

Themes

Works are often reminiscent of automobiles and surfboards. Artists have "used new resins, paints and plastics, and adopted highly innovative fabrication processes from the industrial world to create seamless, bright, and pristine-looking objects directly inspired by California culture. In doing so, they often blurred the boundaries between painting and sculpture, 2D and 3D, handcrafted and industrially-produced objects."^[3]

Exhibitions

SOCAL: Southern California Art of the 1960s and '70s From LACMA's Collcection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, October 2007 - March 2008

References

^ Barron, Stephanie; Bernstein, Sheri; Fort, Ilene Susan (2000). Reading California: Art, Image, and Identity, 1900-2000. University of California Press. pp. 295–. ISBN 9780520227675. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
^ Atkins, Robert (2013-11-26). ArtSpeak: A Guide to Contemporary Ideas, Movements, and Buzzwords, 1945 to the Present (3rd ed.). Abbeville Press. ISBN 9780789211514.
^ Rivenc, Rachel; Richardson, Emma; Learner, Tom (19–23 September 2011). "The LA Look from start to finish: materials, processes and conservation of works by the finish fetish artists" (PDF). Preprints of ICOM-CC 16th Triennial Conference. Retrieved November 21, 2016.

[BarronBernstein2000-1] Barron, Stephanie; Bernstein, Sheri; Fort, Ilene Susan (2000). Reading California: Art, Image, and Identity, 1900-2000. University of California Press. pp. 295–. ISBN 9780520227675. Retrieved 14 October 2017.

[2] Atkins, Robert (2013-11-26). ArtSpeak: A Guide to Contemporary Ideas, Movements, and Buzzwords, 1945 to the Present (3rd ed.). Abbeville Press. ISBN 9780789211514.

[3] Rivenc, Rachel; Richardson, Emma; Learner, Tom (19–23 September 2011). "The LA Look from start to finish: materials, processes and conservation of works by the finish fetish artists" (PDF). Preprints of ICOM-CC 16th Triennial Conference. Retrieved November 21, 2016.

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