The 80s Wave in Art, Now

Noticing the trend the last 5 years for nostalgia of 80s design come about in web design, fashion, and graphics, inspired me to throw together a brief list of artists who are doing the same. I had asked about this phenomena and more than a few people cited Vaporwave as an inspiration or possible conduit.

So would this “New Futurism” (not to be confused with Neo-Futurism) be considered Vaporwave art? I’m not sure since Vaporwave itself relies heavily on aesthetics paired with the music.

The Dorito chip shape, swiggle line, and cube grid has made a hot comeback as well as neon colors and acid wash jeans. As a child of the 80s I thought these things were hideous, but I suppose when enough time goes by anything is bound to get recycled and reworked. It is very interesting to see it trickle into fine art. Several of these artists have been at this vibe before Vaporwave became a thing — some of whom I have exhibited with — and some it seems, are have adopted it for newer bodies of work.

Either way, it makes me think of all my old Mead notebook covers and Trapper Keeper art with fondness. Supposedly, Vaporwave is “dead” but I was told over and over that painting was “dead” in art school 20 years ago.

Jaime Treadwell

Signe Pierce

Kristen Liu-Wong

Annie Vieux

Chad Wys

Justin Mays

Brian Willmount

Scott Listfield

Ben Jones

“Beeple” Winklemann

Francesco LoCastro

Dan Perkins

Jen Mann

Lisa von Hoffner

Hilary White

Justin Friedman

Manuel Fernandez

Dirk van Lach

Dorian Legret

These are just a handful of artists working today I thought of off the top of my head. There’s so many more working in installations art, animation, GIF art, and so on. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a strange urge to go listen to saxophone solos while staring out venetian blinds.