The Return of Rococo in Contemporary Culture

The pretty, ornate style is everywhere – from art fairs to the 'avant basic' aesthetic |

View this email in your browser Pain and Pleasure Europe reels from a series of financial shocks; a controversial form of inoculation keeps disease at bay; Russia invades a neighbouring nation. Some, looking to escape the unrelenting grimness, indulge in pretty pastel maximalism. 'This is not 2022,' writes Danielle Thom – 'it's 1722, and the elegant whimsy of rococo art and architecture offers some respite from smallpox and stock market bubbles.' Three centuries later, it seems we are ripe for a return to rococo: its charming, grotesque forms can be seen in everything from the high camp of art fair booths and beribboned gowns on the catwalk to the 'avant basic' aesthetic of Instagram influencers. 'Perhaps it's the conscious artificiality of rococo that makes it so apposite for the present moment,' writes Thom, 'a firmly tongue-in-cheek aesthetic that offers us a way to navigate our desire for pleasure in a painful world.' Read now © 2022 ArtReview Ltd. All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in at www.artreview.com or the previous digital magazine website Our mailing address is: ArtReview Ltd. 1 Honduras Street London, England EC1Y 0TH United Kingdom Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.