This paper will be concerned with modern sculpture in the 1980s. It will analyze the styles and trends that predominated during that decade. In addition, it will discuss the major artists involved in sculpture in the 1980s, their influences, and their major works. Sculpture in the 1980s differed from that of earlier periods in that there was a wider diversity of styles than ever before. In fact, many art critics resorted to using the label "postmodern" to express the fact that there had been no new organized movements in art since the early 1970s. In this regard, it has been noted that the American art scene in the 1980s was characterized by "the proliferation of sculpture in seemingly limitless stylistic approaches, techniques, and materials" (Friedman 7). One of the few things that most sculptors in the 1980s had in common was the tendency to create works which were personal and expressive, in contrast to the stark minimalism which was popular among the sculptors of the 1960s. Some sculptors in the 1980s, such as Richard Serra and Steven Woodward, persisted in working in a minimalist style. However, for the most part, the sculpture of the 1980s demonstrated "a strongly individualistic, 'hands-on' character that is different from the cool, seemingly depersonalized quality that emanated from the pristine cubes of Minimalism" (7).
Despite the diversity in individual style and technique among the various sculptors of the 1980s, certain basic influences could be seen as well. One very strong influence in modern sculpture during the 1980s was that of conceptual art. It has been noted that sculptors in the 1980s could be contrasted with those of the 1970s in "their preference for metaphor over symbol, and for poetic ellipsis rather than literary and discursive content, together with their methods of entwining visual and verbal allusions into a densely impacted image" (Cooke 50). One American sculptor who exhibited this partic...