Erika Ranee

Artist biography

Erika Ranee is an established mid-career contemporary artist, who originates from the United States. Erika Ranee was born in 1965. Artists Kara Walker, Jason Rhoades, Ellen Gallagher, Andrea Zittel, Elizabeth Peyton, Rob Pruitt and Jean Michel Basquiat are of the same generation and same country as Erika Ranee.

About Erika Ranee's works

Erika Ranee is a notable figure within the fields of Conceptual and Abstraction. Conceptual art is arguably not as clear and easily defined as other art movements, and can often provoke intense reactions in the viewers. By nature, Conceptualism puts an emphasis on the strategies and research that go into the creation, making the concept of an artwork its most significant feature, rather than the actual finished product. Although the movement emerged in the mid 1960s, simultaneously across Europe and America, its founder Marcel Duchamp had paved the way back in 1917, with his controversial artwork Fontaine. Conceptual art denies the traditional mediums, and tries to place the artwork in the realm of ideas - rather than that of material objects. Some of the most prominent figures of Conceptualism include artists such as Sol LeWitt, Lawrence Weiner and Yoko Ono.

Abstract art does not try to represent a faithful depiction of a visual reality, or of nature itself, but instead, with the use of colours, gestural elements and shapes tries to achieve its effect. The term can be applied to art that is primarily based on an object, or figure, where the main elements have been simplified. Abstraction has been highly influential in modern art since the 1900s, with its origins grounded in Impressionism. One of the first, most influential movements related to abstraction is Cubism, with artists such as Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, who through their work laid the foundations for an important number of branches of abstract art.

Galleries and Exhibitions

Two galleries around the world represent and exhibit Erika Ranee's work. These are Freight + Volume and LMAKgallery in New York, the United States. Erika Ranee most recent exhibition recorded on Artland was at Freight + Volume in New York (13 November 2019 until 04 January 2020) with the exhibition Dear God,. Erika Ranee's other most recent exhibitions listed on Artland include the exhibitions at; Lesley Heller Gallery in New York (09 January 2019 - 17 February 2019) with the name Erika Ranee: Psychedelic Galactica and Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery in New York (13 July 2018 - 18 August 2018) with the name 💥🎢☀️🏖🌈🐳🌋.

At the moment, Erika Ranee has a total of three artworks for sale at Artland.

Historical Context of United States

The United States has been key in the development of modern and contemporary art in the twentieth century, especially in the post war period, when the cultural prominence of New York assumed primacy over Paris, formerly thought of as the most important art centre globally. Leading art movements established and cultivated in important ways throughout the United States include Abstract Expressionism in varied forms, Pop Art, including its West and East Coast variations, Minimalism, Conceptual Art, Neo-Expressionism, Graffiti and Street Art, plus a multitude of post-modern repetitions of these many movements. In the modern and contemporary era, the United States has exercised a powerful influence upon the global visual culture, due to the authority of its economic and political institutions. Key examples of world renowned U.S artists of the modern and contemporary era include Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Frank Stella, Donald Judd, Cindy Sherman, Barbara Kruger, Julian Schnabel, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring.

Further Biographical Context for Erika Ranee

Born in 1965, Erika Ranee was largely influenced by the 1980s growing up. The generation of artists that grew up in, and were inspired by, the 1980s was influenced by a period of rapidly growing global capitalism, political upheaval, notable wealth discrepancy, global mass media and distinctive music and fashion, including electronic pop music and hip hop. The nineteen eighties was the era of African famine, the height of the Cold War, and also the end of it, as marked by the fall of the Berlin Wall. Important art movements of the era include Neo Geo, The Pictures Generation and the international trend of Neo-Expressionism which manifested in Germany, the USA and Italy (where it was known as Transavanguardia). The decade was exemplified by artists like Anselm Kiefer, Jörg Immendorf, Enzo Cucchi, Francesco Clemente and Julian Schnabel. Street art and graffiti started to gain recognition, notable artists of which include Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring and Kenny Scharf.