Polka dots will never look the same...
As I mentioned in my last post, Chicago's Art Institute is hosting an unbelievable exhibit this summer of the art of Roy Lichtenstein. Gathering paintings from New York's Modern, London's Tate, and many other collectors the Museum is displaying the largest exhibit of Lichtenstein ever. What else is there to say but "Whaam!!." Many of the famous paintings you might recognize are not allowed to be photographed, but plenty of others are. The museum was packed yesterday with visitors and locals escaping the oppressive 100 degree heat in the cool air-conditioned halls that boast a crisp clean coolness only museums can achieve.
The following explanation in italics below is posted on the wall of the museum. It explains a little what Lichtenstein was doing in taking mass produced images and applying traditional painting techniques to their Pop culture style (the emphasis in bold has been added because I like that part!).
"In the early 1960s, Lichtenstein began the series of paintings for which he remains best known: large-scale appropriations of distressed young women and daring young men featured in war and romance comics. Of course, love and battle are enduring art-historical subjects. Lichtenstein was particularly fascinated by the contrast between the emotional intensity of the stories found in comics and the highly formulaic style used to illustrate them. He hoped to heighten this dichotomy in his own paintings..."
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| Torpedo!...LOS!, 1963 |
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| Oh Jeff...I Love You, Too...But..., 1964 |
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| Takka Takka, 1962. |
Don't miss the details in the above painting. I mean, who would want to be hungry for decent chow while also fighting tropical fungus infections!
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| Bratatat!, 1962. |
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| Artist's Studio "Look Mickey". 1973 |
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| Two Nudes. 1995 |
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| Drowning Girl. 1963. |
Part of the wonder of Lichtenstein is how he can take simple colors- often only red, blue, and yellow- and combine them with black lines to produce an image that has such a powerful emotional connection with people. He uses a form of art such as the comic book, one that was mass produced and widely marketed, to fuel the imagination of people to enter into a story. And stories condition our emotional response to the world. Who could imagine this could be done with primary colors and polka dots?
