Pluralism.

The artistic movements that had flourished in the 1960s and unified the art community — Pop art, op art, and minimalism — were all but exhausted as the new decade began. Art had entered a postmodern, chaotic phase, fragmenting into many styles that often incorporated elements from other arts in an effort to create new forms. Gradually the decade saw abstractionist art, and geometric minimalism give way to new forms that were more narrative in function. The sense that art was played out commercially and aesthetically worked to the advantage of artists who just wanted to "do their own thing." Freed from the constraints of a single style or movement, some artists used their work autobiographically; others, including some minority artists, used their work to make political statements. Many simply felt that the idea of art expressing any statement, personal or...