YBAs = provocative. The collective of artists who came up in London in the late 1980s and early ’90s — commonly referred to as the Young British Artists (YBAs) — have made their indelible mark on the art world and continue to produce work that both challenges the viewer and seduces collectors the world over.
Damien Hirst played the role of pioneer in 1988 by organizing “Freeze,” the first of several artist-curated group shows held in abandoned warehouses across London. Most of the artists participating in these early exhibitions — among them Sarah Lucas, Gary Hume, Liam Gillick, Mat Collishaw, Sam Taylor-Wood (now generating more buzz for her directorial work on the film 50 Shades of Grey), and Hirst himself — were graduates of Goldsmiths, University of London. The group’s sophisticated maturity and confidence in presenting Conceptual art with shock appeal, such as Collishaw’s Bullet Hole, a photograph that offers a disturbingly gruesome close-up of a man’s fatal wound, left a lasting impression with Charles Saatchi and other art world stalwarts.
From the beginning, Hirst was fascinated by such epic themes as death and immortality and sought to express them through unconventional, powerful gestures; his early works include A Thousand Years, 1990, in which flies feed on a bloody cow head, breed and die by electrocution within a large glass vitrine, and The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, 1991, his Jaws-inspired suspension of a great white shark in formaldehyde. Following in the footsteps of artists ranging from Marcel Duchamp, Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons, Hirst was inspired by mundane objects from daily life, incorporating them into his works, most famously his "Medicine Cabinets" filled with brightly packaged pills.
Notoriously dubbed an “enfant terrible” of the art world, Tracey Emin once printed a photo of Damien Hirst, stuck it on the bottom of an ashtray, and sold it as a piece of art. Represented by 1stDibs’ Lehmann Maupin Gallery since the late 1990s, Emin was a Turner Prize finalist in 1998 for My Bed, an installation showcasing her disheveled bed covered in underwear, used condoms and other debris. Overt sexuality and the emotional dynamics of love and sex have persisted as themes throughout her career, seen across the neon artworks for which she is most famous.
YBAs have never shied from using non-traditional materials or tackling controversial subject matter. Chris Ofili, a racially charged painter who re-appropriates biblical and mythological iconography, found the spotlight in 1999 when then-New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani publicly criticized the artist’s monumental depiction of an eroticized black Madonna, entitled The Holy Virgin Mary, baring a breast composed of elephant dung and surrounded by images of female genitalia. Marc Quinn reimagined the self-portrait in 1991 by casting a frozen sculpture of his head with his own blood and maintaining it in a refrigerated vitrine as if on life-support. More recently, Quinn has elicited strong reactions from a series of studies and sculptures of supermodel Kate Moss in a contorted, god-like pose.
Below, we invite you to browse our collection of original works by Hirst, Emin, Quinn, Collishaw and other YBAs — a group that knew not only how to provoke and self-promote but to create works that continue to resonate today.
Find original Young British Artists sculptures, photography, prints and other art on 1stDibs.
Tilda Swinton (Limited Edition of 25) - Celebrity Photography
Located in New York, NY
This 1986 black and white photograph was shot by British celebrity and fashion photographer, John Stoddart, captures Oscar-winning actress Tilda Swinton,...
Silver Gelatin
$6,537Sale Price|20% Off
Tilda Swinton (Limited Edition of 25), 30x40 In - Celebrity Photography
Located in New York, NY
This 1986 black and white photograph was shot by British celebrity and fashion photographer, John Stoddart, captures Oscar-winning actress Tilda Swinton,...
Silver Gelatin
"Nettle leaf", Kirlean Photograph, electrophotography, unique piece, Botany
Located in Carballo, ES
A unique piece by renowned Irish photographer, Fred Langford Edwards, his documentary photography acts as a kind of super detailed scientist in the field of arts. His work takes plac...
Photographic Paper
Marilyn Monroe on the Set of The Misfits, Nevada
By Eve Arnold
Located in Santa Monica, CA
going over her lines for a difficult scene she is about to play with Clark Gable signed by artist in pencil on verso
Silver Gelatin
Bea with a whip at The Other Side
By Nan Goldin
Located in New York, NY
Nan Goldin Bea with a whip at The Other Side 1973 Gelatin silver print 14 x 11 inches; 36 x 28 cm Edition of 100 Signed, titled, dated, and numbered in graphite (lower right verso) ...
Silver Gelatin
$7,500
H 14 in W 11 in D 0.1 in
Mother with Sons, 3rd Ward, Houston, TX - Vintage Print, Neighborhood
Located in Denton, TX
Signed, titled, dated and print type in pencil on print verso Vintage gelatin silver print Earlie Hudnall, who is one of the most notable African American photographers living today, has extensively documented the African American neighborhoods in Houston, Texas. After serving as a Marine in Vietnam, he enrolled at Texas Southern University, where he studied art under the direction of John Biggers, who became a great friend and mentor. During his time at TSU, he was hired to be a photographer for the Model Cities Program, part of Lyndon Johnson...
Silver Gelatin
La Sorbonne Librairie
By Ludwig Favre
Located in New York, NY
ABOUT THIS PIECE :French photographer Ludwig Favre continues his series on empty architectural spaces at La Sorbonne. Our curators recommend the work large...
Photographic Paper
Peek-A-Boo Beatles (1965) - Silver Gelatin Print
Located in London, GB
Peek-A-Boo Beatles (1937) - Silver Gelatin Print (Photo by R. McPhedran/Express/Getty Images) 14th June 1965: The British rock group The Beatles stand in a window at Twickenham Fil...
Black and White, Silver Gelatin
$7,000
H 20 in W 16 in
David Bowie by Terry O'Neill - signed lifetime edition print
Located in Austin, TX
Profile image of David Bowie from the ‘Yellow Mustard Suit’ series, in Los Angeles, 1974, taken by Terry O'Neill Signed limited edition, hand printed silver gelatin print. Paper s...
Silver Gelatin
Joan Crawford - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print
Located in London, GB
Joan Crawford - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print - Oversized (Photo by Pictorial Press / Alamy Archives) Joan Crawford (1905-1977) US film actress. Additional Information: Unframed Pa...
Black and White, Silver Gelatin
Going Home
Located in Denton, TX
Gelatin silver print Paper size: 20 x 16 in., Image size: 18 3/4 x 15 in. Signed, titled, and dated by Earlie Hudnall, Jr. Earlie Hudnall, who is one of the most notable African Ame...
Silver Gelatin
TV II. From the series Ser Cosa, Color Photograph
By RODRIGO ETEM
Located in Miami Beach, FL
This series of portraits that at first glance appear to us as extraterrestrial beings, once we understand the images they become more familiar than they appear, “humans too human” perhaps more human than they appear. And for Adorno's negative dialectic, the problem was given as a human being in a world hostile to humans, the characters of Etem seem so natural to us to the extent that their presence is outside the pose of the portraits of the kings of the past, rather resemble the workers, peasants, common people in general, portrayed by Gustave Courbet or the realists of the mid-19th century, these new realists are captured by the camera in the usual development of their daily lives, in the hostile world of the desert or the swamp or the storm…” In recent years -through the use, production, and appropriation of content hosted on the net- The artist has been developing a body of work that aims to resignify narratives from the files. The series "All the faults of the world", 2021/23 are digital prints printed on Hahnemuhle smooth canvas. The Images are taken by Google Street View (GSV) users that cover a 360º viewing angle and are captured to show everything that is around the subject taking the photograph. These images, uploaded to the application (GSV) are geolocated at the precise point where they were taken so that other users can access them. Due to involuntary human errors in the capture, a small percentage of these images present anomalies because some fragment does not have a record, and a void is produced in the image and an opaque figure without representation. The entry of these anomalies into the system interferes with any attempt to full representation of the world. Motivated by this, the artist in the game "travels the world" from the app, looking to build my collection of failures from around the world. Rodrigo Etem...
Photographic Paper, Archival Pigment
$1,750
H 20 in W 16 in
Steven Tyler of Aerosmith vintage 16x20" photo signed by Norman Seeff
By Norman Seeff
Located in Austin, TX
Original darkroom print, made at the time of the photoshoot. In excellent condition, stored flat in a climate controlled atmosphere. Print in excellent vintage condition, signed by N...
Silver Gelatin
$1,499
H 14 in W 11 in
Masked Ball, France, Black and White Photograph, Signed Silver Gelatin Print
Located in New york, NY
A black and white photograph, Masked Ball, France, 1989 by Roberta Fineberg, is a 14 x 11 signed gelatin silver print in an edition of 5. A young French couple poses in costume at a masked ball in France of the 1980s . The image was shot in a garden and estate of a local aristocrat in the countryside -- the small chateau (castle) once hosted the infamous 18th Century French writer Marquis de Sade. Provenance: RF Studio *** Artist's Bio: Roberta Fineberg (RF) is a New York-based visual artist whose multidisciplinary practice explores serendipity, experimentation, and the evolution of ideas through color, material, and process. Working across photography, drawing, installation, video, and abstraction, she investigates themes of impermanence, play, memory, and transformation. Embracing chance as an essential creative force, her work invites viewers to reconsider the relationships between observation, experience, and the physical world. Fineberg’s exhibitions include Women of Spirit at Zurcher Gallery, New York (2025); Gallery128, New York (2025); Collecting: An Art Fair at Westbeth Gallery, New York (2024); Sojourner Gallery, New York (2022); Phyllis Harriman Gallery (2020, 2022); CADAF Online Art...
Silver Gelatin, Photographic Film, Photographic Paper
Creature from the Black Lagoon
Located in Cambridge, GB
Richard captured the movie icon 'Creature from the Black Lagoon' when he was commissioned to document Preston Hall Museum in 2009 before...
Photographic Paper, C Print, Color, Silver Gelatin
BB #3 #4 Contemporary Mixed Media
By Ant Pearce
Located in Brecon, Powys
From the artist's Brigitte Bardot series Hand and machine sewn thread on paper
Cotton, Thread, Photographic Paper
The Fag Show
By Sarah Lucas
Located in New York, NY
R-type print Signed and numbered on certificate, verso This artwork is offered by ClampArt, located in New York City. A Young British Artist (YBA), Sarah Lucas...
Color