Sometimes, punk is art. And sometimes, art is punk. That is the basic premise of this exploration. The impetus is to survey how punk and art relate, in different ways. This question of how punk and art relate has been asked before, but never explored in- depth. One reason for that might be the elusiveness of both terms, “punk” and “art.” Another reason might be the unwillingness of the punk art scene to become just another avant-garde trend, resulting in a strategy of obstruction to annexation by artworld definitions. Punk as a movement was, however, not only just as visual as it was musical, but also highly concerned with art as a concept and, specifically, with art history.
Marie Arleth Skov is an active member of the Punk Scholars Network and is a collaborator to the Spunkt Art Now publication. If you don’t have time to read her thesis, you should read the RIHA Journal
The Art of the Enfants Terribles: Infantilism and Dilettantism in Punk Art