Art for the Pop of It: The LLR

Showing posts with label The LLR. Show all posts

Guess what Andy bought.............

A piece from Andy Warhol's "Ladies and Gentlemen," foreground, is on display in the exhibit "American POP!" at the Figge Art Museum in Davenport.
IF YOU GO
What: "American POP!"
When: Today through Sept. 8; hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and noon to 5 p.m. Sundays; there is free admission for nonmembers from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursdays
Where: Figge Art Museum, 225 W. 2nd St., Davenport
How much: $7 for adults, $6 for senior citizens (60 years and older) and students with an ID, $4 for those 3-12 years old
Information: 563-326-7804 or FiggeArtMuseum.org
Among the various colorful pieces in the gallery at the Figge Art Museum's new pop art exhibit are three large blueprints.
Most of us see blueprints as more practical than artistic, but these bear a second look when you see the locations depicted:
• Wayne Manor, the home of Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson, the alter egos, respectively, of Batman and Robin.
• The home of Mike and Carol Brady of Los Angeles, which housed their bunch of kids and a maid. (For the record, it has three bathrooms.)
• A plat of the "city" of Mayberry, N.C., where Sheriff Andy Taylor kept the peace.
Is it art? It's seen as that in "American POP!" opening this weekend at the Figge in downtown Davenport.
Curated by the CU Art Museum at the University of Colorado in Boulder, "American POP!" has its Andy Warhol representation (a pair of 1974 silkscreens from his "Ladies and Gentlemen" series), a pair of Roy Lichtensteins (including one of a pointing finger titled "Untitled (Finger Pointing)" and some works by Robert Rauschenberg, with three rather one in various styles.
But there's also a re-creation of a Brillo pad label; works by artist John Baeder, who has three portraits of classic old diners, and linocut artist Wayne Theibaud's delicious "Boston Cremes," which shows 10 desserts ready for the taking.
"Some of the art exhibited here is not traditionally seen as pop art," Figge associate curator Rima Girnius said.
The works, she added, are reactions to both the modern expressionist era and the consumer-driven culture that drove America after World War II.
"Pop artists really abandoned expressionist and embraced a more external environment," she said. "They tried to reverse the elitism of abstract expressionism."
The end of the war brought a continuous set of changes, she said.
"Life was completely transformed by the presence of ovens and washing machines and supermarkets that provided massive amounts of cheaply packaged foods," she said.
"Pop art was kind of a response to this consumer-driven society because they appropriated sort of simple, everyday materials and imagery that was taken from the mass media world," she added.
That includes seeing the homes of the Bradys, Batman and Barney Fife.
"The homes that we see on television seem nearer and dearer to us than the homes of our neighbors," Girnius said. "We know more about these fictional families than our neighbors."
"American POP!" she added, "sort of reflects a media-obsessed culture."

Lyman Allyn Art Museum opens Pop Art exhibition

Lyman Allyn Art Museum announces the exhibition, "Pop Goes the Easel: Pop Art and its Progeny", opening March 3 and on view through Aug. 10. The exhibition is guest curated by Barbara Zabel, Ph.D. professor emeritus at Connecticut College.

By exploring traditional modes of easel painting, Pop artists of the 1960s radically expanded the possibilities of how art is made and how it is viewed; thus they opened up multiple pathways for artists coming to maturity in later decades of the twentieth century.

Pop Goes the Easel includes works by male pop stars like Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, as well as works by women artists like Idelle Weber and Marjorie Strider, who were marginalized in the male-dominated decade of the 60s. The exhibition also explores the myriad avenues opened up by Pop in the more politically engaged decades that followed.

Exhibition programs and events:

Gallery Talk

March 6: Pop Goes the Easel! with Barbara Zabel and Devon Elovitz, at 4 p.m. Admission for members is $5, for non-members it is$10. To make reservations, call (860) 443-2545, Ext. 129.

Artist Talk

March 28: Let ‘er Buck, artist Nancy Davidson; Reception at 5 p.m., presentation at 6 p.m. Admission for members is $5, for non-members it is $10. Call (860) 443-2545, Ext. 129 to make reservations.

Lecture

April 4: "Pop on the Dark Side: Performance Art and Pop Art" by Karen Gonzalez Rice, Connecticut College Art History Professor; Reception at 5 p.m., lecture at 6 p.m. Admission for members is $5, for non-members it is $10. For reservations, call (860) 443-2545, Ext. 129.

Film Screening

April 11: "The Films of Andy Warhol," with Ross Morin, Connecticut College Film Studies Professor, at 4:30 p.m. Admission for members is $5, for non-members it is $10. Call (860) 443-2545, Ext. 129 to make reservations.

Lecture

May 16: "Lichtenstein Revisited" with Janis Hendrickson Mink, Reception at 5 p.m., lecture at 6 p.m. Admission is $5 for members, $10 for non-members. To make reservations, call (860) 443-2545, Ext. 129.

Free First Saturdays

Join us each month for a fun family day with free admission from 10 a.m. to noon.

Art activities and snacks for ages 5 – 12 are available on First Saturdays from 1 to 3 p.m., free with Museum admission.

Check www.lymanallyn.org for updates and additional programming. Tours of the exhibition will be available for groups. Lyman Allyn Art Museum is located at 625 Williams Street in New London.

Pop goes the art classes at the Campbell River gallery

Are you ready to get Poptastic? Join instructor Shannon McKirgan for a fun and educational kids’ class all about Pop Art at the Campbell River Art Gallery in May.
The class, for children aged seven to 12, takes place over three sessions, Wednesdays, May 8, 15 and 22, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Kids will be inspired by Pop Art geniuses like Andy Warhol, Wayne Thiebaud, David Hockney and Claes Oldenburg, as they create a range of pop art pieces, including photo collage, portraits and soft sculpture. Pop art saw imagery from popular culture infilltrate fine art and it was pop-a-rific!
Instructor Shannon McKirgan is a painter and recent Emily Carr University graduate. Her work has been exhibited locally - most recently at the CR Art Gallery’s 31st Annual Members’ Exhibition, where she won an Award of Excellence, and the Muir Gallery in Courtenay. She has an upcoming solo show at the George Sawchuk Gallery.
The cost for Pop Art Pandemonium is $43 for CR Art Gallery members and $53 for non-members. All supplies are included. Winter/Spring Children’s Classes are sponsored by the Friends of CR Art Gallery.
Stop by the Campbell River Art Gallery Tuesday to Saturday from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., call 250-287-2261, or email programs@crartgallery.ca to find out more about this great kids’ class.