It is actually a really good thing to go and see exam shows/ art fairs. By seeing so much stuff, by so many young and promising people it is easier to discern trend from art - within the art that I see and in my own head (ie preferences).
It is a discussion I've had with myself. Sometimes I realise after a while that the piece of work that I liked half a year ago, suddenly has a reflection in the latest fashion from the big chain stores, in shoes and graphic design and design and so forth. This is annoying because it questions whether I liked the art because of the art or because Im brainwashed and trend sensitive. Obviously, what I am saying here is that for me there is a problem when an art piece is too trendy - in its aesthetic or approach.
Why?
Perhaps because it becomes design for me. It becomes designed decorative objects or images made, not by someone dwelling deep in introspection or on the matters of the world, but someone also sensitive to trends, a maker of objects that fit those trends, a designer. And I don't think design and art are the same or should be mixed up (even if there always will be a neat grey area where these two fields can conflict and question each other - and THIS is good).
So, there are a couple of trends that are very obvious through the displayed works. I hope I was more of an art or pop-culture historian because unfortunately I can't break down these styles, my analysis will be shallow. Basically I can see that a lot of people are doing quite similar stuff, using a similar aesthetics, and that this aesthetic also is represented somehow in todays fashion (and then I mean TODAY, cause now everything is supposed to change with like a 2-month interval) and design.
TREND 1:
James Turell-like light-colour-scales ie like neon pink, light neon turqoise-green, light blue, orange, yellow/ pastels/ minimal pop - Triangles, pyramids, deserts, palmtrees, Illuminati, NASA, space, stars, moons, satellites, diamonds, rainbows, unicorns, waterfalls, glitter, roadkill.
Why these belong in the same grouping I can't really explain - kitch? Its clearly a form of kitch, it is ironic.
Some examples below. Some of these I actually think superseeds the trend and feel independent. especially the video-installation by Tomas Sjögren, Deserted, (see stills below).
TREND 2:
The fragmented body, Body Parts, the body material, skin, hair, flesh, fur, teeth. Small animal-like sculptures, like roadkill (and its interesting, it seems roadkill is the common factor here... thats the sort of extremely peculiar insight that totally makes my day), fleshlike clothing, body clothing, the amorphous body-object, the body-mechanic-machine.
