POST 5 : AN ART EXHIBITION REVIEW.
"Pop Art Myths" is essentially a break with the past reflecting the reality that was going on at that time. The viewer should first of all understand how shocking this Pop Art phenomenon was at the 60s. Ordinary people suddenly discovered that supermarket soup cans and Mickey Mouse comic strips had become pieces of art. We can take Andy Warhold's "Campbell's Soup Can"(1962) or Roy Lichtenstein's "Look Mickey". What was actually predictable was that people would be even more fascinated to see silver screen myths turned into art pieces. Venerated actors as Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando or Elizabeth Taylor had become art works that the general public would understand and appreciate even more. Pieces like "Cleopatra"(1963) by Mimmo Rotella or "Marilyn Idol"(1962) by Wolf Vostell show Liz Taylor and Marilyn Monroe as what they were at the time, two gorgeous and glamorous myths from the Hollywood Golden Era. They are aesthetically pleasing pictures but admiring them nowadays can seem vague as we are not living at that time and we can't realize how revolutionary Pop Art was.
Campbell's Soup Can, A.Warhold (1964)
Oil on canvas
Gift of Robert H. Halff through the Modern and Contemporary Art Council
Look Mickey, Roy Lichtenstein (1961)
Oil on canvas
Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art
As a 5th grade student, I am able to give an opinion and make the review of an art piece. I have chosen "Cleopatra", made by Mimmo Rotella in 1963. During its Golden Era, Hollywood was a myth-machine and actresses like Elizabeth Taylor were seen as goddesses for the general public. Everybody would run to the cinema to watch their favorite actors and to admire them as silver screen heroes. "Cleopatra" is a décollage, an artistic technique where instead of adding elements of the work, it starts from an artistic object from which the parts are detached. This picture is actually the film poster in which the viewer can see Liz Taylor majestically dressed up as the queen of the Nile. The actress would perfectly fit into a extremely attractive and powerful queen and the public would look up at her. In the picture she is lying comfortably while Mark Anthony (Richard Burton) and Julius Caesar (Rex Harrison) are around worriedly talking to her and protecting her. We must realize how impressing and exciting it was for people from the 60s, to see three Hollywood myths in a same film poster. There is also a bit of eroticism in the décollage, as Elizabeth Taylor is wearing a really light dress, her breast can almost be seen and one of the actor is holding her bare arm. Even if this artwork can seem old fashioned, it keeps a pretty colorful retro vibe that represents the influence of Hollywood in Pop Art, even if currently most people don't know who were Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton or Rex Harrison.
In my opinion, Thyssen Museum's had a good investment by displaying such a complete Pop Art exhibition, which by the way is very recommendable. Every room of the exhibition has got a name and putting together pieces of art that follow the same topic. Here is shown the greatness of myths and heroes from popular culture in the 60s, however public from nowadays wouldn't be that impressed by those idols, as they have almost become cult figures. These Hollywood and modern culture myths have also become historical and timeless heroes through art.
Cleopatra, Mimmo Rotella (1963)
Paper collage
In 2014, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum released an exhibition entitled "Pop Art Myths". The exhibition went on from June 10th to September 14th at Paseo del Prado 8, in Madrid. The museum's website is https://www.museothyssen.org/
The artists were Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Wolf Vostell, Tom Wesselmann and the show went on for about four months. Those artists were involved in the "Pop Art" artistic movement that took place in the USA during the late 50s and early 60s. This was one of the most liberating movements in the History of art as it emerged with the evolution of a new technologycal and consumerist culture. The Thyssen Museum curator decided to approach the "Pop Art" movement by a mythical point of view, that is why the exhibition was entitled "POP ART MYTHS". In this exhibition the viewer will have the chance to admire collage pieces inspired on Dadaism and Cubism created by R. Hamilton and E. Paolozzi, who were members of the Independent Group in London. We will also be able to admire comic strips turned into large-format paintings, reinterpretations of classic paintings, flashy colors and a new emergent culture from the 60s.
"Pop Art Myths" is essentially a break with the past reflecting the reality that was going on at that time. The viewer should first of all understand how shocking this Pop Art phenomenon was at the 60s. Ordinary people suddenly discovered that supermarket soup cans and Mickey Mouse comic strips had become pieces of art. We can take Andy Warhold's "Campbell's Soup Can"(1962) or Roy Lichtenstein's "Look Mickey". What was actually predictable was that people would be even more fascinated to see silver screen myths turned into art pieces. Venerated actors as Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando or Elizabeth Taylor had become art works that the general public would understand and appreciate even more. Pieces like "Cleopatra"(1963) by Mimmo Rotella or "Marilyn Idol"(1962) by Wolf Vostell show Liz Taylor and Marilyn Monroe as what they were at the time, two gorgeous and glamorous myths from the Hollywood Golden Era. They are aesthetically pleasing pictures but admiring them nowadays can seem vague as we are not living at that time and we can't realize how revolutionary Pop Art was.
Campbell's Soup Can, A.Warhold (1964)Oil on canvas
Gift of Robert H. Halff through the Modern and Contemporary Art Council
Look Mickey, Roy Lichtenstein (1961)
Oil on canvas
Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art
As a 5th grade student, I am able to give an opinion and make the review of an art piece. I have chosen "Cleopatra", made by Mimmo Rotella in 1963. During its Golden Era, Hollywood was a myth-machine and actresses like Elizabeth Taylor were seen as goddesses for the general public. Everybody would run to the cinema to watch their favorite actors and to admire them as silver screen heroes. "Cleopatra" is a décollage, an artistic technique where instead of adding elements of the work, it starts from an artistic object from which the parts are detached. This picture is actually the film poster in which the viewer can see Liz Taylor majestically dressed up as the queen of the Nile. The actress would perfectly fit into a extremely attractive and powerful queen and the public would look up at her. In the picture she is lying comfortably while Mark Anthony (Richard Burton) and Julius Caesar (Rex Harrison) are around worriedly talking to her and protecting her. We must realize how impressing and exciting it was for people from the 60s, to see three Hollywood myths in a same film poster. There is also a bit of eroticism in the décollage, as Elizabeth Taylor is wearing a really light dress, her breast can almost be seen and one of the actor is holding her bare arm. Even if this artwork can seem old fashioned, it keeps a pretty colorful retro vibe that represents the influence of Hollywood in Pop Art, even if currently most people don't know who were Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton or Rex Harrison.
In my opinion, Thyssen Museum's had a good investment by displaying such a complete Pop Art exhibition, which by the way is very recommendable. Every room of the exhibition has got a name and putting together pieces of art that follow the same topic. Here is shown the greatness of myths and heroes from popular culture in the 60s, however public from nowadays wouldn't be that impressed by those idols, as they have almost become cult figures. These Hollywood and modern culture myths have also become historical and timeless heroes through art.
Cleopatra, Mimmo Rotella (1963)Paper collage
OK Alejandra.
ReplyDelete