Punk and anarchy: The art of the 80s

The 1980s were a decade of rebellion and self-discovery. It was a time in Germany when young people started turning their backs on the post-war years. A flashy punk and party scene emerged in Berlin, creating a lively aesthetic that inspired the art scene. Helmut Middendorf foresaw this dynamic spirit in 1979, transferring it onto the canvas with bright Colors in "Electric Night."

In the late 70s, Martin Kippenberger was in charge of the legendary club SO36 in Berlin's Kreuzberg district. Anarchists, however, criticize the club for being too consumerist. A violent attack occurred at the club and Kippenberger quit his job. His art is provocative; in the painting above with the long title, he grapples with German identity.

Just around the corner of the SO36, Helmut Middendorf and Rainer Fetting developed another group of artists known as the Moritz Boys. Salomé also belonged to the group, provoking society with his paintings depicting nude and veiled women representing Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini. Together with artist Luciano Castelli, Salomé played in the punk band "Geile Tiere" (horny animals).

Luciano Castelli came to Berlin from Switzerland. He enjoyed the young, wild subculture in the German capital which was protesting against the art establishment. Castelli became a star in the gay scene. The painting above is a portrait of himself and his boyfriend and colleague Salomé.

On the one hand, there was the Cold War, divided Germany and the Berlin Wall, and the peace movement with thousands of demonstrators against nuclear armament on the other. Rainer Fetting createds several paintings of the Berlin Wall, which are not particularly political. The window in his studio gave him a daily view of the hated concrete divider.

This painting depicts a common sight in Germany in the 80s: yellow public phone booths, often half-broken, dirty, disgusting and smelling of urine. As Werner Büttner depicts, they were phone booths were frequently objects of sabotage.

In Cologne, a group of artists formed that aimed to distance itself from the traditional art scene. They were inspired by the zeitgeist and by experimental music. They wanted to be spontaneous about everything and were intentionally dilettantish. Sometimes multiple artists would paint a canvas as the same time. Walter Dahn captured the birth of the group in this painting.

The Städel Museum in Frankfurt has brought together 100 works from this period for an exhibition highlighting the impressive artistic scope of the painters that were inspired by pop culture, but not defined by it. You can see the exhibition "The 80s. Figurative Art in Germany" in Frankfurt through October 18, 2015.