were in flux: Enlightenment thinkers began challenging the hereditaryrule and economic disparities under Louis XV. Rococo came under firefor its depiction of the glittering worlds of urban court life. Neoclassicism better suited the order, logic, and reason of the Enlightenment andbecame the art of the revolution, while rococo was reduced to an emblem of aristocratic vanity. Rococo may have been dethroned during thetumult of the French Revolution and replaced by a classical revival, yetthe energy and attitude of the artistic movement, with its emphasis oninnovation and novelty, continues. The nine artists showcased here workin different media, but they all revel in the wit, pleasure, and opulenceof elements of rococo while also making the style distinctly their own.
Rob Prince’s Urban Rococo No 1 and No 5 mash up English rococowith urban street art in portraits of aristocratic ladies set against a riotof neon graffiti. Through this juxtaposition, Prince explores the notionRob Prince, Urban Rococo No 5, 2016