The Young British Artists, or YBAs—also referred to as Brit artists and Britart—is a loose group of visual artists who first began to exhibit together in London in 1988. Many of the YBA artists graduated from the BA Fine Art course at Goldsmiths, in the late 1980s, whereas some from the group had trained at

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...

.Blanché, Ulrich (2018). ''Damien Hirst. Gallery Art in a Material World''. Baden-Baden, Tectum Verlag, p. 69. The scene began around a series of artist-led exhibitions held in warehouses and factories, beginning in 1988 with the Damien Hirst-led '' Freeze'' and, in 1990, '' East Country Yard Show'' and ''

Modern Medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for patients, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...

''. They are noted for "shock tactics", use of throwaway materials, wild living, and an attitude "both oppositional and entrepreneurial". They achieved considerable media coverage and dominated British art during the 1990s; internationally reviewed shows in the mid-1990s included ''

Brilliant! ''Brilliant!'' was a group exhibition of contemporary art held at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA between 22 October 1995 and 7 January 1996. It traveled to the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Texas, where it was ...

'' and ''

Sensation Sensation (psychology) refers to the processing of the senses by the sensory system. Sensation or sensations may also refer to: In arts and entertainment In literature *Sensation (fiction), a fiction writing mode *Sensation novel, a British ...

''. Many of the artists were initially supported and their works collected by

Charles Saatchi Charles Saatchi ( ; ; born 9 June 1943) is an Iraqi-British businessman and the co-founder, with his brother Maurice, of advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi. The brothers led the business – the world's largest advertising agency in the 19 ...

. One notable exception is

Angus Fairhurst Angus Fairhurst (4 October 1966 – 29 March 2008) was an English artist working in installation, photography and video. He was one of the Young British Artists (YBAs). Life and work Angus Fairhurst was born in Pembury, Kent. Having attende ...

. Leading artists of the group include

Damien Hirst Damien Steven Hirst (; né Brennan; born 7 June 1965) is an English artist and art collector. He was one of the Young British Artists (YBAs) who dominated the art scene in the UK during the 1990s. He is reportedly the United Kingdom's richest ...

and

Tracey Emin Dame Tracey Karima Emin (; born 3 July 1963) is an English artist known for autobiographical and confessional artwork. She produces work in a variety of media including drawing, painting, sculpture, film, photography, Neon lighting, neon text ...

. Key works include Hirst's '' The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living'', a shark preserved in

formaldehyde Formaldehyde ( , ) (systematic name methanal) is an organic compound with the chemical formula and structure , more precisely . The compound is a pungent, colourless gas that polymerises spontaneously into paraformaldehyde. It is stored as ...

in a vitrine, and Emin's '' My Bed'', a dishevelled double bed surrounded by detritus.

Origin

There is some disagreement as to the first use of the term "young British artists." ''

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...

'' claims that it was Michael Corris in a footnote in ''

Artforum ''Artforum'' is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art. The magazine is distinguished from other magazines by its unique 10½ × 10½ inch square format, with each cover often devoted to the work of an artist. Notably ...

'', May 1992, Others claim that it was Saatchi who had already entitled his exhibition ''Young British Artists I'' in March 1992. The acronym "YBA" (or "yBa") was not coined until 1994.Blanché, Ulrich (2018). Damien Hirst. Gallery Art in a Material World. Baden-Baden, Tectum Verlag, p. 67. It has become a historic term, as most of the YBAs were born in the mid-1960s.

YBA artists

The core of the YBA group graduated from the Goldsmiths BA Fine Art degree course in the classes of 1987–90.

Liam Gillick Liam Gillick (born 1964) is a British artist. In the 1990s he was one of the informal Young British Artists group; like many of them, he took a degree in fine art from Goldsmiths' College, in London. He was among the artists included in the ...

, Fiona Rae,

Steve Park Stephen Brian Park (born August 23, 1967) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He won races in NASCAR's two top Northeast touring series ( Modified and K&N East) and all three national divisions (Truck, Busch, Cup Series ...

and Sarah Lucas, were graduates in the class of 1987. Ian Davenport,

Michael Landy Michael Landy (born 1963) is one of the Young British Artists (YBAs). He is best known for the performance piece installation '' Break Down'' (2001), in which he destroyed all his possessions, and for the ''Art Bin'' project (2010) at the ...

, Gary Hume,

Anya Gallaccio Anya Gallaccio (born 1963) is a Scottish artist, who creates site-specific, minimalist installations and often works with organic matter (including chocolate, sugar, flowers and ice). Her use of organic materials results in natural processe ...

Lala Meredith-Vula Lala Meredith-Vula (born 1966) is an English and Albanian artist and photographer. In 1988 she was included in the Damien Hirst-led Freeze (art exhibition), Freeze exhibition. Lala is a professor at De Montfort University, Leicester. Life and wor ...

Henry Bond Henry Bond, FHEA (born 13 June 1966) is an English writer, photographer, and visual artist. In his ''Lacan at the Scene'' (2009), Bond made contributions to theoretical psychoanalysis and forensics. In 1990, with Sarah Lucas, Bond organise ...

Angela Bulloch Angela Bulloch (born 1966 in Rainy River, Ontario, Canada), is a Canadian artist who often works with sound and installation; she is recognised as one of the Young British Artists. Bulloch lives and works in Berlin. Life and career Bulloch stud ...

, were graduates in the class of 1988;

Mat Collishaw Matthew "Mat" Collishaw Royal Photographic Society#Distinctions and qualifications, Hon. FRPS (born 6 January 1966) is a contemporary British artist based in London. Work Collishaw's work uses photography and video. With an early foundati ...

, Simon Patterson, and Abigail Lane, were graduates from the class of 1989; whilst Gillian Wearing, and

Sam Taylor-Wood Samantha Louise Taylor-Johnson ( Taylor-Wood; born 1967) is a British filmmaker. Her directorial feature film debut was 2009's '' Nowhere Boy'', a film based on the childhood experiences of the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock ...

, were graduates from the class of 1990, and Jason Martin was graduated with the class of 1993. During the years 1987–1990, the teaching staff on the Goldsmiths BA Fine Art included Jon Thompson, Richard Wentworth,

Michael Craig-Martin Sir Michael Craig-Martin (born 28 August 1941) is an Irish-born contemporary conceptual artist and painter. He is known for fostering and adopting the Young British Artists, many of whom he taught, and for his conceptual artwork, '' An Oak ...

, Ian Jeffrey, Helen Chadwick,

Mark Wallinger Mark Wallinger (born 25 May 1959) is an English artist. Having previously been nominated for the Turner Prize in 1995, he won in 2007 for his installation '' State Britain''. His work ''Ecce Homo'' (1999–2000) was the first piece to occupy th ...

, Judith Cowan and Glen Baxter.

Gavin Turk Gavin Turk (born 1967) is a British artist from Guildford in Surrey, and was considered to be one of the Young British Artists. Turk's oeuvre deals with issues of authenticity and identity, engaged with modernist and avant-garde debates surround ...

and Mark Francis are also part of the YBA group of artists. Turk and Francis studied at

Chelsea School of Art Chelsea College of Arts is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, a public art and design university in London, England. It offers further and higher education courses in fine art, graphic design, interior design, produ ...

from 1986 to 1989, and at the

from 1989 to 1991. Turk and Francis exhibited work in the Saatchi ''Sensation'' exhibition at the Royal Academy.

Freeze

A group of sixteen Goldsmiths students took part in a group exhibition of art, called '' Freeze'', of which

became the main organiser; he was still in the second year of a BA in Fine Art. Commercial galleries had shown a lack of interest in the project, and it was held in a cheap non-art space, a

London Docklands London Docklands is an area of London encompassing the city’s former docks. It is located in inner east and southeast London, in the boroughs of London Borough of Southwark, Southwark, London Borough of Tower Hamlets, Tower Hamlets, London ...

admin block (usually referred to as a warehouse). The event resonated with the '

Acid house Acid house (also simply known as just " acid") is a subgenre of house music developed around the mid-1980s by DJs from Chicago. The style is defined primarily by the squelching sounds and basslines of the Roland TB-303 electronic bass synt ...

' warehouse

rave A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mus ...

scene prevalent at the time, but did not achieve any major press exposure. One of its effects was to set an example of artist-as-curator—in the mid-1990s artist-run exhibition spaces and galleries became a feature of the London arts scene.

Other shows

There was a less prominent predecessor organized by artist

, featuring himself,

, Abigail Lane, and

in a small show called ''Progress by Degree'' at the Bloomsbury Gallery of the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

(Institute of Education) shortly before Freeze. In liaison with Hirst, Carl Freedman (who had been friends with him in

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

before Hirst moved to London and was helping to make Hirst's vitrines) and Billee Sellman then curated two influential "warehouse" shows in 1990, ''

'' and ''Gambler'', in a Bermondsey former factory they designated Building One. To stage ''Modern Medicine'' they raised £1,000 sponsorships from artworld figures including

. Freedman has spoken openly about the self-fulfilling prophecy these sponsors helped to create, and also commented that not many people attended these early shows, including ''Freeze''. In 1990, Henry Bond and Sarah Lucas organised the '' East Country Yard Show'' in a disused warehouse in

which was installed over four floors and 16,000m² of exhibition space. Writing in

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

, art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon said:

"Goldsmiths graduates are unembarrassed about promoting themselves and their work: some of the most striking exhibitions in London over the past few months—"The East Country Yard Show", or "Gambler", both staged in docklands—have been independently organized and funded by Goldsmiths graduates as showcases for their work. This has given them a reputation for pushiness, yet it should also be said that in terms of ambition, attention to display and sheer bravado there has been little to match such shows in the country's established contemporary art institutions. They were far superior, for instance, to any of the contemporary art shows that have been staged by the Liverpool Tate in its own multi-million-pound dockland site."

Established alternative spaces such as City Racing at the Oval in London and Milch gave many artists their first exposure. There was much embryonic activity in the

Hoxton Hoxton is an area in the London Borough of Hackney, England. It was Historic counties of England, historically in the county of Middlesex until 1889. Hoxton lies north-east of the City of London, is considered to be a part of London's East End ...

Shoreditch Shoreditch is an area in London, England and is located in the London Borough of Hackney alongside neighbouring parts of Tower Hamlets, which are also perceived as part of the area due to historic ecclesiastical links. Shoreditch lies just north ...

area of East London focused on Joshua Compston's gallery. In 1991, the

Serpentine Gallery The Serpentine Galleries are two contemporary art galleries in Kensington Gardens, Westminster, Greater London. Recently rebranded to just Serpentine, the organisation is split across Serpentine South, previously known as the Serpentine Galler ...

presented a survey of this group of artists with the exhibition ''Broken English''. In 1992, Charles Saatchi staged a series of exhibitions of ''Young British Art'', the first show included works by Sarah Lucas,

Rachel Whiteread Dame Rachel Whiteread (born 20 April 1963) is an English artist who primarily produces sculptures, which typically take the form of casts. She was the first woman to win the annual Turner Prize in 1993. Whiteread was one of the Young British ...

and

. A second wave of Young British Artists appeared in 1992–1993 through exhibitions such as ''New Contemporaries'', ''New British Summertime'' and ''Minky Manky'' (curated by Carl Freedman). This included

Douglas Gordon Douglas Gordon (born 20 September 1966) is a Scottish artist. He won the Turner Prize in 1996, the Premio 2000 at the 47th Venice Biennale in 1997 and the Hugo Boss Prize in 1998. He lives and works in Berlin, Germany. Work Much of Gordon's ...

, Christine Borland, Fiona Banner,

Tacita Dean Tacita Charlotte Dean CBE, RA (born 1965) is a British visual artist who works primarily in film. She was a nominee for the Turner Prize in 1998, won the Hugo Boss Prize in 2006, and was elected to the Royal Academy of Arts in 2008. She lives ...

, Georgina Starr and Jane and Louise Wilson. One exhibition which included several of the YBA artists was the 1995 quin-annual

British Art Show The British Art Show (BAS) is a major survey exhibition organised every five years to showcase contemporary British Art. Each time it is organised, the show tours to four UK cities. It usually requires a number of venues in each city to accommo ...

Revitalization of British art scene

The Young British Artists revitalised (and in some cases spawned) a whole new generation of contemporary commercial galleries such as Karsten Schubert, Sadie Coles,

Victoria Miro Victoria Marion Miro (born 1 July 1945) is a British art dealer, "one of the grandes dames of the Young British Artists, Britart scene"Husband, Stuart"Go see... the Victoria Miro gallery" ''The Observer'', 3 December 2000. Retrieved 27 September 2 ...

, Maureen Paley's Interim Art, and

Jay Jopling Jeremy Michael "Jay" Jopling (born June 1963) is an English art dealer and gallerist. He is the founder of White Cube. Early life Jeremy Michael Jopling is the son of Michael Jopling, Michael Jopling, Baron Jopling, a Conservative Party (UK), ...

White Cube White Cube is a contemporary art gallery founded by Jay Jopling in London in 1993. The gallery has two branches in London: White Cube Mason's Yard in central London and White Cube Bermondsey in South East London; White Cube Hong Kong, in Centra ...

. The spread of interest improved the market for contemporary British art magazines through increased advertising and circulation. ''

Frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...

'' launched in 1991 embraced the YBAs from the start while established publications such as ''Art Monthly'', ''Art Review'', ''Modern Painters'' and ''Contemporary Art'' were all re-launched with more focus on emerging British artists.

Charles Saatchi's involvement

One of the visitors to '' Freeze'' was

, a major contemporary art collector and co-founder of Saatchi and Saatchi, the London advertising agency. Saatchi then visited ''Gambler'' in a green Rolls-Royce and, according to Freedman, stood open-mouthed with astonishment in front of (and then bought) Hirst's first major "animal" installation, ''A Thousand Years'', consisting of a large glass case containing maggots and flies feeding off a rotting cow's head. (The installation was later a notable feature of the ''

'' exhibition.) Saatchi became not only Hirst's main collector, but also the main sponsor for other YBAs–a fact openly acknowledged by Gavin Turk. The contemporary art market in London had dramatically collapsed in mid-1990 due to a major economic recession, and many commercial contemporary galleries had gone out of business. Saatchi had until this time collected mostly American and German contemporary art, some by young artists, but most by already established ones. His collection was publicly exhibited in a series of shows in a large converted paint factory building in St John's Wood, north London. Saatchi's Gallery inspired young artists to produce large concept artworks that would not fit in the usually small galleries in London at that time. Previous Saatchi Gallery shows had included such major figures as

Warhol Andy Warhol (;''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''"Warhol" born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol ...

, Guston,

Alex Katz Alex Katz (born July 24, 1927) is an American figurative artist known for his paintings, sculptures, and printmaking, prints. Since 1951, Katz's work has been the subject of more than 200 solo exhibitions and nearly 500 group exhibitions through ...

, Serra, Kiefer, Polke, Richter and many more. In the early-1990s, Saatchi altered his focus to emerging British art. Saatchi put on a series of shows called ''Young British Artists'' starting in 1992, when a noted exhibit was Damien Hirst's "shark" ('' The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living''), which became the iconic work of British art in the 1990s,Brooks, Richard
"Hirst's shark is sold to America"
''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'', 16 January 2005. Retrieved 14 October 2008. and the symbol of Britart worldwide.Davies, Serena
"Why painting is back in the frame"
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'', 8 January 2005. Retrieved 15 October 2008. In addition to (and as a direct result of) Saatchi's patronage, the Young British Artists benefited from intense media coverage. This was augmented by controversy surrounding the annual

Turner Prize The Turner Prize, named after the English painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist. Between 1991 and 2016, only artists under the age of 50 were eligible (this restriction was removed for the 2017 award). ...

, (one of Britain's few major awards for contemporary artists), which had several of the artists as nominees or winners.

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

had become a sponsor of the competition, leading to television profiles of the artists in prime-time slots.

Becoming the establishment

The consolidation of the artists' status began in 1995 with a large-scale group exhibition ''

'' held at the

Walker Art Center The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill, Minneapolis, Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is one of the most-visited modern and contemporary art museums in ...

a respected

art museum An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own Collection (artwork), collection. It might be in public or private ownership, be accessible to all, or have restrictions in place. Although ...

in Minneapolis, USA. The term "yBa" was already used in 1994 and later used by Simon Ford in a feature "Myth Making" in March 1996 in ''

Art Monthly ''Art Monthly'' is a magazine of contemporary art founded in 1976 by Jack Wendler and Peter Townsend. It is based in London and has an international scope, although its main focus is on British art. The magazine is published ten times a year ( ...

'' magazine. Art dealer

began to represent YBAs Jake & Dinos Chapman, Tracey Emin, Marcus Harvey, Damien Hirst, Gary Hume,

Marc Quinn Marc Quinn (born 8 January 1964) is a British contemporary visual artist whose work includes sculpture, installation, and painting. Quinn explores "what it is to be human in the world today" through subjects including the body, genetics, ident ...

and Sam Taylor-Wood, whom he married in 1998. Before Jopling, Karsten Schubert was the most important dealer of artists that were later called YBAs. Shortly after Freeze he exhibited Ian Davenport, Gary Hume, and

in November 1988, who all exhibited in Freeze, in his gallery. In 1997, the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

staged an exhibition of the private art collection of

titled ''

'', which included many works by YBA artists. The exhibition was actually a showing of

's private collection of their work, and he owned the major pieces. The liaison was effected by the Academy's

Norman Rosenthal Sir Norman Rosenthal (born 8 November 1944) is a British independent curator and art historian. From 1970 to 1974 he was Exhibitions Officer at Brighton Museum and Art Gallery. In 1974 he became a curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art ...

, even though there was strong opposition from some of the Academicians, three of whom resigned. Controversy engendered in the media about the show, particularly over Marcus Harvey's work ''

Myra Myra (; , ''Mýra'') was a city in Lycia. The city was probably founded by Lycians on the river Myros (; Turkish: ''Demre Çay''), in the fertile alluvial plain between, the Massikytos range (Turkish: ''Alaca Dağ'') and the Aegean Sea. By the ...

'', served to reinforce the YBAs' importance.Blanché, Ulrich (2018). Damien Hirst. Gallery Art in a Material World. Baden-Baden, Tectum Verlag, p. 69. When the show toured to New York there was further controversy caused by the inclusion of Chris Ofili's work ''The Holy Virgin Mary'' (1996).

The YBAs since 1992

In 1997, Gillian Wearing won the annual

. In 1998, Chris Ofili won the annual Turner Prize. In 1999, Tracey Emin was nominated for the

. Her main exhibit, '' My Bed'', consisting literally of her dishevelled, stained bed, surrounded by detritus including condoms, slippers and soiled underwear, created an immediate and lasting media impact and further heightened her prominence. The emergence at the same time of an anti-YBA group, The Stuckists, co-founded by her ex boyfriend,

Billy Childish Billy Childish (born Steven John Hamper; 1 December 1959) is an English painter, author, poet, photographer, film maker, singer, and guitarist. Since the late 1970s, Childish has been prolific in creating music, writing, and visual art. He has ...

, gave another angle to media coverage. In 2003, YBAs Jake and Dinos Chapman and

were nominated for the annual Turner Prize. On 24 May 2004, a fire in a storage warehouse destroyed some works from the Saatchi collection, including the Chapman Brothers' ''Hell'' and Tracey Emin's "tent", ''

Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963–1995 ''Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963–1995'' (1995), also known as ''The Tent'',Brown, p.83. was an artwork by Tracey Emin. The work was a tent with the appliquéd names of, literally, everyone she had ever slept with (not necessarily had s ...

''. In 2008, YBA

died by suicide. In the

2011 Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours 2011 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 11 June 2011 in the United Kingdom,United Kingdom: New Zealand,Sam Taylor-Wood Samantha Louise Taylor-Johnson ( Taylor-Wood; born 1967) is a British filmmaker. Her directorial feature film debut was 2009's '' Nowhere Boy'', a film based on the childhood experiences of the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock ...

and Gillian Wearing were appointed to the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

by Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

Elected Royal Academicians

Several of the YBAs have been elected as lifetime members of the

Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

in London (founded by George III in 1768); hence they are "Royal Academicians," and may use the letters "RA" after their name to indicate this. * Gary Hume elected 24 May 2001 * Fiona Rae elected 28 May 2002 *

elected 27 March 2007 * Jenny Saville elected July 2007 * Gillian Wearing elected 11 December 2007 *

elected 29 May 2008 *

elected 9 December 2008

Doctorates

* 2004: Gillian Wearing - Honorary Doctorate from the

University for the Creative Arts The University for the Creative Arts is a specialist art and design university in Southern England. It was formed in 2005 as University College for the Creative Arts at Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone and Rochester when the Kent Institu ...

* 2007:

- Doctorate from the

University of Gloucestershire The University of Gloucestershire is a public university based in Gloucestershire, England. It is located over five campuses, three in Cheltenham and two in Gloucester. The university is the successor of a large number of merged, name-changed ...

* 2007:

- Honorary Doctorates from the

and

London Metropolitan University London Metropolitan University, commonly known as London Met, is a public university, public research university in London, England. The University of North London and London Guildhall University merged in 2002 to create the university. The Un ...

* 2010: Fiona Banner - Honorary Doctorate from

Kingston University Kingston University London is a Public university, public research university located within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, in South London, South West London, England. Its roots go back to the Kingston Technical Institute, founded ...

Reaction

Positive

Richard Cork (at one time art critic of ''The Times'') has been a staunch advocate of the artists, as has art writer Louisa Buck, and former ''Time Out'' art editor, Sarah Kent. Sir Nicholas Serota has validated the artists by the nomination of several of them for the

and their inclusion in the

collection. Maureen Paley said, "The thing that came out of the YBA generation was boldness, a belief that you can get away with anything." Speaking in 2009, Iwona Blazwick, the director of the

Whitechapel Art Gallery The Whitechapel Gallery is a public art gallery in Whitechapel on the north side of Whitechapel High Street, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The original building, designed by Charles Harrison Townsend, opened in 1901 as one of the fir ...

, said, "The YBA moment is definitely now dead, but anyone who thinks they were a cut-off point is wrong. They began something which has continued to grow ever since. It's not over."

Negative

In 1998, John Windsor in ''

'' said that the work of the YBAs seemed tame compared with that of the "

shock art Shock art is contemporary art that incorporates disturbing imagery, sound or scents to create a shocking experience. It is a way to disturb "smug, complacent and hypocritical" people. While the art form's proponents argue that it is "imbedded with ...

" of the 1970s, including "kinky outrages" at the

Nicholas Treadwell Nicholas Treadwell (born 1937) owns the Nicholas Treadwell Gallery, which started in 1963 in touring vehicles, after which it was run in buildings in London, Bradford and finally Austria. Treadwell has promoted the Superhumanism art movement, whi ...

Gallery, amongst which were a "hanging, anatomically detailed leather straitjacket, complete with genitals", titled ''Pink Crucifixion'', by Mandy Havers.Windsor, John
"Art 98: Collecting—Let the love affair begin"
''

'', 17 January 1998. Retrieved 14 August 2010. In 1999 the Stuckists art group was founded with an overt anti-YBA agenda. In 2002 Britart was heavily criticised by the leading conductor Sir

Simon Rattle Sir Simon Denis Rattle (born 19 January 1955) is a British conductor with German citizenship. He rose to international prominence during the 1980s and 1990s, while music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (1980–1998). Rat ...

, who was, in return, accused of having a poor understanding of conceptual and

visual The visual system is the physiological basis of visual perception (the ability to detect and process light). The system detects, transduces and interprets information concerning light within the visible range to construct an image and buil ...

art. Playwright

Tom Stoppard Sir Tom Stoppard (; born , 3 July 1937) is a Czech-born British playwright and screenwriter. He has written for film, radio, stage, and television, finding prominence with plays. His work covers the themes of human rights, censorship, and politi ...

made a public denunciation, and Brian Sewell (art critic of the ''Evening Standard'') was consistently hostile, as was David Lee, the editor of ''Jackdaw''.

Rolf Harris Rolf Harris (30 March 1930 – 10 May 2023) was an Australian musician, television personality, painter, and actor. He used a variety of instruments in his performances, notably the didgeridoo and the Stylophone, and is credited with the inventi ...

, the television presenter and artist, singled out Tracey Emin's ''My Bed'' as the kind of installation that put people off art. "I don't see how getting out of bed and leaving the bed unmade and putting it on show and saying that's worth, I don't know £31,000 ... I don't believe it, I think it's a con." For James Heartfield, "The 1990s art boom encouraged sloppiness. The Young British Artists preferred the inspired gesture to patient work. They added public outrage to their palettes, only to find that it faded very quickly." Members of the group are parodied in a regular cartoon strip by Birch, titled "Young British Artists", in the British satirical magazine ''

Private Eye ''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satirical and current affairs (news format), current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely recognised ...

''. The scene is also parodied in

Jilly Cooper Dame Jilly Cooper, (born Jill Sallitt; 21 February 1937) is an English author. She began her career as a journalist and wrote numerous works of non-fiction before writing several romance novels, the first of which appeared in 1975. Cooper is ...

's 2002 bonkbuster ''

Pandora In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first human woman created by Hephaestus on the instructions of Zeus. As Hesiod related it, each god cooperated by giving her unique gifts. Her other name—inscribed against her figure on a white-ground '' ky ...

''.

Feminism within the YBAs

Female artists were distinctly a minority amongst the male dominated environment of the Young British Artists. Individuals such as Sarah Lucas, Jenny Saville and

have varied levels of neglect within their media portrayals, as well as incomparable in notoriety to male YBA peers such as Hirst. The University of Sussex's Art Society Journal describes how feminists in the 1980s influenced the female members of the Young British Artists' artwork through the strategy of subverting feminine stereotypes. Other discourse around female YBA work include a discussion of

's sculpture practice. Whiteread has been said to disrupt the 'clear' concept of women making 'female work'. Her work ''Nine Tables'' attempts to exist within a third space, where the forms can't be physically gendered, but still viewed as a feminine objects. Daniel Ogilivie has expressed how Judith Butler's concept of which "…the mere act of 'doing', of casting the object, that expresses the gender and it is not any anthropomorphic association in the artwork itself," creates the feminine within Whiteread's work. With the prevalence of feminist ideology in society and the contemporary art, critics have argued that female artists like Jenny Saville in the 1990s investigated the contrived idea of 'feminity' made by the Patriarchal Structure. While attending art school in Cincinnati, Saville's feminist passion was conceived through a realisation of gender within art history. In her own words, she discovered that, "I'd always wondered why there had been no women artists in history. I found there had been – but not reported. I realized I'd been affected by male ideas, going through a male-dominated art college". Now consciously aware of institutional patriarchy, Saville began to paint female nudes that were not idealised. Rather than continue the recognised historical male view of female bodies, Saville created depictions of natural women with genuine flaws. Pubic hair trailing up stomachs and around thighs, discoloured skin and areas of excess flesh. Deconstructing the feminine body, Saville has stated that, "I'm not trying to teach, just make people discuss, look at how women have been made by man. What is beauty? Beauty is usually the male image of the female body. My women are beautiful in their individuality."