Exploration Of The Social Psychological Causes Of The "Self-expression" Artistic Characteristics Of The 80s Generation Fine Arts

In recent years, a number of artists who were born in 1980s are drawing increasing attention nationwide. The problems arose from that have lead to deep concern and wide discussion. As Professor Qiu Zhenglun from Southwest University said, half-jokingly, people always referred to Freud in 1980s, and now people always refer to people born in 1980s. New expressions like "a generation of cartoons", "a generation of jelly", and "new human beings", etc. are used to describe the emerging artists born in 1980s. In addition, the overwhelming publicity by the media and market also contributes to the confusing position of such artists.The thesis firstly analyzes the artistic characteristics of the fine arts of the generation born in 80s, unveils the superficial and deceptive description of "de-cartoonization", "de-politicization", and "de-magnificence" by the public. In the analysis of the works of such artists, the author found out that, though there are differences in the forms, visual signs, and emotions, all their works demonstrate some similar artistic characteristics like self-narrating, self-releasing, self-confusing, etc. And in the comparison between works of 80s generation and older generations, it shows that the older generation artists attach more importance to social awareness while the 80s to self-awareness. Generally speaking, the fine arts of the generation born in 80s indicate a strong characteristic of self-expression. In the following part, the thesis analyzes, from the perspective of social psychology, the social psychological changes of the 80s generation of self-awareness, social awareness and group awareness against the backdrop like family planning policy and reform and opening-up, etc., and induction and promotion of such changes to the formation of the artistic characteristics of the 80s artists. Then the author, from the misunderstanding of such characteristics, broke the bubble given by the market to the fine arts of the 80s generation, affirms the substantial value of the popularization of the works of 80s generation, and criticizes the unlimited "cartoonization" phenomenon. The author also points out that, facing with so many misunderstandings of the fine arts of this generation, we need some criticism which with self-examination and self-inspection as its core.In the concluding part, the author of this thesis pointed out that the artistic characteristics of the fine arts of the generation born in 80s are actually a reflection of the impact of times on them. In other words, such fine arts serve as a mirror of the times. But the artists born in 80s should clearly realize that it's not they who choose the artistic characteristics but the times. The mission of art is much more than to be a mirror of the times but a microscope. For such purpose, there is still a long way to go.