deformalism

   A postmodern tradition of burlesque painting with a tendency toward bad taste and mayhem. In the United States, examples include the late works of Philip Guston (American, 1913-1980), Peter Saul (American, 1934-), Carroll Dunham (American, 1949-), Matthew Ritchie (American, born Britain, 1964-), Inka Essenhigh (American, 1969-), and Takashi Murakami (Japanese, 1962-). The name apparently comes from the works' anti-formalist content, and from its often cartoonishly surreal deformations. Also see bad art, distortion, fantastic, style, and ugly.