Roy Lichtenstein. Multiple visions

I have noticed that in my previous articles I wrote about photographic exhibitions only, so for this one I decided to change things a bit and I will be talking about an exhibition (currently ongoing), dedicated to a great painter, whom iconic works are probably known by everyone.

I am indeed talking about the New York-born master Roy Fox Lichtenstein, one the of most influential artist of the 20th century and pioneer of the pop art movement.

This year, from the first of May right until the 8th of September, Mudec (Museo delle arti contemporanee) Milano, will host the exhibition “Roy Lichtenstein. Multiple visions” curated by Gianni Mercurio, collecting circa 100 pieces ranging from prints of various sizes, sculptures, paintings, photos and videos.

The exhibition offers to the viewer an overall viewpoint of the numerous phases the artist had during his life, as well as explaining the different inspiration and techniques he took in consideration to achieve the final piece of art, which nowadays, became recognizable at first glance.

Roy fox Lichetenstein (October 27, 1923) was born and raised in New York and grew his interest toward the artistic world through school, after World War II he got a master’s degree in fine arts. During his first exhibitions held in Cleveland and Ohio, the paintings had a cubist influenced impressionistic style, taking inspiration from the dominating American abstract painters of the time (50’s), such as Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, creating pieces containing images with no correlation with the material world.

Lichtenstein, shifted his style to what will be indeed be pop art, inspired by the American mass-producing market. He relied heavily on the printed form of arts, such as comics and advertisements, having the mechanic mass production as core concept: he would make a copy of the piece to then transform it into an original, trough decontextualizing the image.

His almost sarcastic way of working through making “parodies” of originals, along with other contemporary artists like Andy Warhol set the premises of the upcoming art movement.

This exhibition really focuses on communication to the viewer the consumeristic environment which Roy Lichtenstein lived in and therefore absorbed to then express them in his artworks.

"Drowning Girl", 1963

Manami Galliker