Yair Martin Guttmann
Born in Israel in 1957, Yair Martin Guttmann is an established contemporary artist, joining the ranks of celebrated artists such as Mel Alexenberg, Michal Heiman, Avigdor Arikha, and Sharon Balaban. He is represented by three galleries worldwide, including Georg Kargl Fine Arts in Austria, Lia Rumma | Naples in Italy, and Galerie Nagel Draxler in Germany. His most recent exhibition recorded on Artland was at Lia Rumma Gallery in Milan from July to September 2019, titled MODERNISMO ITALIANO. He has also exhibited at KOW in Berlin and Galerie Nagel Draxler in Berlin, both in 2019 and 2017 respectively.
Growing up in the 1970s, Yair Martin Guttmann was inspired by the conceptual art movement, which challenged the boundaries of art with its revolutionary features. The movement responded to Minimalism and was part of a strong desire to progress and consolidate the art world in response to the tensions of the previous decade. The 1970s also saw the emergence of process art, which featured some of the most crucial aspects of Conceptualism, and Land Art, which brought creation to the outdoors, initiating early philosophies of environmentalism.
In Germany, expressive figure painting regained its prominence through the brushstrokes of Gerhard Richter, Anselm Kiefer, and Georg Baselitz. Andy Warhol, a key figure of the 1960s and 1970s, experimented with film and magazine publishing, securing his status as a celebrity. New York City remained the artistic heart of the era, with multiple internationally renowned artists gravitating towards its galleries and downtown scene.
Towards the end of the 1970s, street art started to appear as a true and accepted form of art, with Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring as pioneers. Feminism and new radical ideologies strongly influenced the visual culture, while photorealism received critical and commercial success. The critically engaged Mono-Ha movement, comprised of Japanese and Korean artists, flourished in Tokyo in the 1970s, while the Arte Povera movement in Italy received international acknowledgement. Leading figures such as Jannis Kounnelis, Mario Merz, and Michelangelo Pistoletto were praised.