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Young British Artists (YBA)

YOUNG BRITISH ARTISTS

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.

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Style: Young British Artists (YBA)
Artist: Marc Quinn
Untitled 07
Located in Boston, MA
Artist: Quinn, Marc Title: Untitled 07 Series: Eye of History Date: 2013 Medium: Color Etching on 350gsm paper Unframed Dimensions: 35.9375" x 35.5625" Framed Dimensions: 4...
Category

2010s Young British Artists (YBA)

Materials

Etching

Untitled 06
Located in Boston, MA
Artist: Quinn, Marc Title: Untitled 06 Series: Eye of History Date: 2013 Medium: Color Etching on 350gsm paper Unframed Dimensions: 35.9375" x 35.5625" Framed Dimensions: 44...
Category

2010s Young British Artists (YBA)

Materials

Etching

Untitled 03
Located in Boston, MA
Artist: Quinn, Marc Title: Untitled 03 Series: Eye of History Date: 2013 Medium: Colour Etching on 350gsm paper Unframed Dimensions: 35.9375" x 35.5625" Framed Dimensions: ...
Category

2010s Young British Artists (YBA)

Materials

Etching

Untitled 05
Located in Boston, MA
Artist: Quinn, Marc Title: Untitled 05 Series: Eye of History Date: 2013 Medium: Color Etching on 350gsm paper Unframed Dimensions: 35.9375" x 35.5625" Signature: Signed by...
Category

2010s Young British Artists (YBA)

Materials

Etching

Untitled 08
Located in Boston, MA
Artist: Quinn, Marc Title: Untitled 08 Series: Eye of History Date: 2013 Medium: Color Etching on 350gsm paper Unframed Dimensions: 35.9375" x 35.5625" Signature: Signed by...
Category

2010s Young British Artists (YBA)

Materials

Etching

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Fruitful (small) - Damien Hirst, Contemporary Art, 21st Century, YBAs, Colorful, Giclée Print, Brush Stokes, Paint, Glossy, Limited Edition Laminated Giclée print on aluminium composite panel Edition of 3308 39 x 39 cm (15.4 x 15.4 in.) Signed and numbered on label on the verso In mint condition, as acquired from the publisher and in the original packaging With Certificate of Authenticity PLEASE NOTE: Edition numbers could vary from the one shown in the images. This edition of Forever features bright, abstract details from Damien Hirst’s new series of paintings titled Cherry Blossoms. Here, Hirst reinterprets the traditional subject of landscape painting on a monumental scale, entirely covering the surface of the works with bright colours that stretch the boundaries between figuration and abstraction. The vibrant works pay homage to the Pointillism and Impressionism art movements. With the Cherry Blossoms series Hirst bridges his explorations and examination of colour as well as its effect on the eye, where movement and dynamicity of colour have been composed freely and joyously by the British artist. “The Cherry Blossoms are about beauty and life and death. They’re garish and messy and fragile and about me moving away from Minimalism and the idea of an imaginary mechanical painter and that’s so exciting to me.” —Damien Hirst This limited fine art edition is technically created by a bright Laminated Giclée print on aluminium composite panel, comes in two sizes and was realized in collaboration with Fondazione Prada to support Save the Children Italia. Hirst has taken existing imagery from his Cherry Blossoms and transposed it into a print, depicting a close up of the densely layered impasto structure, as well as colourful dabs of paint from sections of the large-scale canvases, one can see Hirst's thick brushstrokes and trace the movement of his gestural action painting through the surface. DAMIEN HIRST The Turner prize winner and epicenter of the YBA movement. Hirst's emblematic art of our era revolutionizes the art market. Hirst is widely regarded as one of the most important artists working today, creating truly iconic artworks. A genuine star of the Young British Artists (YBA) movement, Damien Hirst has always made a point of mixing up different media. Whether as a sculptor, an installation artist, a painter, or a printmaker, Hirst has produced many of the most spectacular and widely discussed works in recent years and helped to revolutionize the art market. Damien Hirst’s, For the Love of God, the diamond-encrusted replica of the skull of a thirty-five-year-old man from the thirteenth century, broke all records to become the most expensive contemporary artwork in the world. Damien Hirst´s artworks are truly emblematic icons of our era, with their recurring motives such as dots, butterflies, cows, sharks, skulls, pills, and pharmacy cabinets. “I do believe art is more powerful than money, though. I still believe that. And if I ever find out money's more important, I'll knock it on the head.”—Damien Hirst His works, captivating and intense as they are, challenge our stereotyped concepts and beliefs. Damien Hirst’s shark...
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Myra
Located in London, GB
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 Myra
 Myra
H 19.69 in W 25.01 in
Previously Available Items
Untitled 07
Located in Boston, MA
Artist: Quinn, Marc Title: Untitled 07 Series: Eye of History Date: 2013 Medium: Colour Etching on 350gsm paper Unframed Dimensions: 35.9375" x 35.5625" Framed Dimensions: ...
Category

2010s Young British Artists (YBA)

Materials

Etching

Untitled 01
Located in Boston, MA
Artist: Quinn, Marc Title: Untitled 01 Series: Eye of History Date: 2013 Medium: Color Etching on 350gsm paper Unframed Dimensions: 35.9375" x 35.5625" Signature: Signed by...
Category

2010s Young British Artists (YBA)

Materials

Etching

Untitled 02
Located in Boston, MA
Artist: Quinn, Marc Title: Untitled 02 Series: Eye of History Date: 2013 Medium: Color Etching on 350gsm paper Unframed Dimensions: 35.9375" x 35.5625" Signature: Signed by...
Category

2010s Young British Artists (YBA)

Materials

Etching

Young British Artists (yba) art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Young British Artists (YBA) available for sale on 1stDibs. Works in this style were very popular during the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artists have continued to produce works inspired by this movement. If you’re looking to add art created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of red, blue, purple, green and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, Gary Hume, and Marc Quinn. Frequently made by artists working with Digital Print, and Inkjet Print and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large Young British Artists (YBA), so small editions measuring 3.6 inches across are also available. Prices for art made by famous or emerging artists can differ depending on medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $750 and tops out at $214,080, while the average work sells for $8,194.

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