BIELEFELD.- On Sunday, March 13, 2011, the Kunsthalle Bielefeld will open its newest exhibition, The 80s Revisited: The Bischofberger Collection II. This show marks the apex of our two-part presentation of works by the most important painters of the 1980s, on loan from the private collection of Swiss art dealer Bruno Bischofberger.While the first part focused mainly on works by young German and Italian artists, the second part concentrates on major figures from the New York art scene. Andy Warhol is represented by numerous works, as is Jean-Michel Basquiat, Julian Schnabel, George Condo, David Salle, Mike Bidlo, and Miquel Barceló. The “Collaborations” by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Francesco Clemente, and Andy Warhol (which Bischofberger began commissioning in 1984) will also be shown. Here, the differences and similarities among the artists are particularly obvious.

These works, many of them extremely large, document the energy and achievements of the 1980s. Warhol made a conspicuous return to painting from the Factory, which was regarded as a place for making silk screens and films. Basquiat translated the themes and symbols of street graffiti into his own, very personal paintings, while Bidlo asked, through his Appropriation Art, what was original about, say, Picasso, and what was copied. Schnabel elevated painting — long declared dead — to a hotly debated high point in history. In his paintings George Condo took a postmodern ride through art history, while David Salle played with the world of hybrid media. The works of these artists contain a mix of high culture and street art, as well as a passion for painting combined with a sense of cool distance.At the center of the show is Bischofberger’s close relationship to Warhol, whom he began representing in 1967. Besides the “Collaborations,” Bischofberger also began encouraging the American artist in the 1970s to try new forms of portrait art, which ultimately resulted in paintings of Bischofberger’s children and — in a kind of homage to the children — an exhibition in which the paintings were displayed at children’s eye level.

DuMont has published a companion volume to the show, The 80s Revisited, with around 300 color reproductions and their stories. It was released in spring 2010 and contains all of the works in both exhibitions, including pieces by John Armleder, Francesco Clemente, Enzo Cucchi, Dokoupil, Rainer Fetting, Salomé, and others.The exhibition is supported by Kulturstiftung Pro Bielefeld.