“Sharp Sybaritic” Retrofuturistic Deco Realism: Some Preliminary Notes on the 1980s Airbrush Art

Authors

  • Ursula-Helen Kassaveti Department of Journalism & Media Studies, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17742/IMAGE.OI.10.2.4

Keywords:

airbrush art, advertising, photorealism, deco realism

Abstract

Originating in the late 19th century, the airbrush spray gun was widely used in the mid-20th century as a photo retouch tool in advertising, while it contributed to the introduction of Photorealism in the early 1970s. The “LA scene” of the same decade popularized airbrush art through masterful illustrations. Using a variety of different representations, the 1980s airbrush art became the distinctive postmodern popular style of the decade, especially through the publication and distribution of posters and postcards, as well as in advertising. Although the 1990s saw its decline, in the late 2000s the 1980s airbrush art seems to be resurgent thanks to the Internet, providing an escapist narrative for the post-2007-2008 financial crisis landscape.

Author Biography

Ursula-Helen Kassaveti, Department of Journalism & Media Studies, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Ursula-Helen Kassaveti was born in Athens. An alumnus of Athens School of Philosophy, she holds a MA in Cultural Studies (Department of Communication and Media Studies, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens) and a MA in History, Folklore & Culture (Department of Primary Education, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens). Her Ph.D. Thesis revolved around the 1980s video culture in Greece and was submitted to the Department of Communication and Media Studies (National & Kapodistrian University of Athens). Her research interests include Visual Culture, Popular Film & Video, Visual Ethnography, and Visual Folklore. She is an adjunct tutor at the Department of Journalism & Media Studies of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and a tutor at the Hellenic Open University (School of Social Sciences).

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Published

2020-03-30

How to Cite

Kassaveti, U.-H. (2020). “Sharp Sybaritic” Retrofuturistic Deco Realism: Some Preliminary Notes on the 1980s Airbrush Art. Imaginations: Journal of Cross-Cultural Image Studies, 10(2), 89–117. https://doi.org/10.17742/IMAGE.OI.10.2.4

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Section

Articles