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Moco Museum in Amsterdam with Banksy and Warhol

AMSTERDAM, March 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — The Modern Contemporary – aka, Moco Museum will open its doors to the public at the end of March. The opening exhibition will combine works of art by Pop Art-protagonist Andy Warhol and Street Art-legend Banksy. The new museum for modern and contemporary art located on the Museum Square in Amsterdam wants… Continue reading Moco Museum in Amsterdam with Banksy and Warhol

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Lichtenstein @ Tate Modern

Whaam!

lichtenstein_web-bannerA long time personal favourite from the Pop Art world, Roy Lichtenstein, is being celebrated with the first ‘full scale retrospective’ of his work at The Tate Modern, London. It brings together 125 of his works, celebrating this striking, often monumental work created by such a quiet and unassuming man.

Whaam! 1963 by Roy Lichtenstein 1923-1997
Whaam! 1963 by Roy Lichtenstein 1923-1997

Benday dots, stripes, flat colour palate and bold linear design all contribute to his rye and witty canvases and sculptures. His break from the tortured world of the Abstract Expressionists and the intellectual weight that movement carried cannot be under estimated. Continue reading Lichtenstein @ Tate Modern

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Pop Art Tutorial

photoshop

There are many Photoshop tutorials out there with help on creating different finishes and effects. This one whizzes through one way of creating a Pop Art image.

The video

I like the way he demonstrates very quickly with no messing around. You do have to watch his cursor closely to see precisely what he’s clicking on, because he doesn’t always tell you. But I have made quick notes to support this video which you can have to one side as well, whilst you chose your own image and work your way through the process. Give it a go – if you’ve got Photoshop that is.

Continue reading Pop Art Tutorial

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Rugby as Pop Art

Pop Art by Aaron Tomlinson. Photo / Simon Baker

Pop Art by Aaron Tomlinson. Photo / Simon BakerKiwi artist Aaron Tomlinson struck upon the idea of popular rugby players – particularly Dan Carter and Richie McCraw – as icons that would benefit from a Pop Art overhaul. He talks candidly to the local New Zealand Herald about his thoughts and what was fun about this idea. There has to be fun in Pop Art doesn’t there!

I like that way he links popularist images and icons and moves the ideas on to what is important, today.

You can catch the video here.

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Roy Lichtenstein at Museum Ludwig

Conversation by Roy Lichtenstein

Conversation by Roy LichtensteinRoy Lichtenstein – Kunst als Motiv (Art as Motive) is a collection of about a hundred pieces which reflect his interpretation of other great modern pieces with a Lichtenstein twist. He uses his flat palate of bold colours and outlines and his now famous cartoon shadings with benday dots and blobs to break up the images and create his own slant on masters such as Picasso, Monet, Matisse, Mondrian and Dalí.
This exhibition at the Museum Ludwig in Cologne runs from 2nd July until 3rd October 2010.

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‘Silver Liz’ Pop Art Print goes for £6m

Silver Liz

Silver LizThe painting by Andy Warhol call ‘Silver Liz’ was recently sold for £6,762,150. The painting hasn’t been in the public eye for over 20 years and caused quite a stir at its recent auction at Christie’s in London. It probably won’t be seen for another 20 years as it was sold to an anonymous bidder.

Painted in 1963, it shows one of Warhol’s favourite female icons of that time, Elizabeth Taylor after she had suffered from a major illness. He was fascinated not only by the glamour of Taylor, Marylin Monroe and Jacky Kennedy but how that was juxtaposed with loss and death. He painted Monroe after her death and Kennedy after her husband’s assassination. There were only two paintings in the series where Warhol added violet to her eyes, a personal touch, which has no doubt added to the interest in this particular piece. She did have violet coloured eyes, something that would not have been seen in her earlier black and white films, but with colour and her recently starring in Cleopatra, this would have added to her allure and appeal.

This painting celebrates this film icon using silk screen over sprayed silver background – the shallowness of the painted image completely changed the genre of portraiture. And this series encapsulates all of Warhol’s ideas about fame and celebrity and the symbol of feminine beauty.

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Female Pop Art Artists

BlackRosy de Saint Phalle

Ampersand IV by Chryssa 1965Seductive Subversion –  the name of the exhibition at the University of the Arts earlier on this year, shows a different, less commercial side to Pop Art – mainly because it’s all produced by women. These pieces are observant, pithy and quirky, and were  overlooked at the time because of their glamorous male peacock counterparts. This exhibition wishes to redress this imbalance and celebrate a wider definition of the Pop Art Movement.

It was the first exhibition of female Pop Art and is now to be seen, I believe, at Brooklyn Museum’s Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, although I can’t see it on their web site as yet.

This Times Square inspired ‘Ampersand IV’, is a stylized neon ampersand in a Plexiglas cube by Chryssa, one of the first artists to utilize neon in her work in 1965. Continue reading Female Pop Art Artists