Relational Aesthetics

Relational Aesthetics

An artistic tendency coined by Nicholas Bourriaud in the 1990s, relational aesthetics defied modernist principles without being properly postmodern – finding artistic meaning in human relations and their social contexts.


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painted bronze carrot reclining seductively on a white marble countertop

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Parra's studio, with Parra at the centre, his back to the camera as he works on the large painting takes centre stage, showing a faceless blue woman in a striped dress, painted in red, purple, blue and teal. The studio is full of brightly coloured paints, with a large window on the right and a patterned rug across the floor under the painting.