Pop Art in Consumer Culture: Roy Lichtenstein

Roy Lichtenstein’s images may be some of the most recognized apart from Andy Warhol’s in the pop art movement. In 1961 Lichtenstein began his first Pop paintings using cartoon images and techniques derived from the appearance of commercial printing. This phase would continue to 1965 and included the use of advertising imagery suggesting consumerism and homemaking. Rather than attempt to reproduce his subjects, his work tackled the way mass media portrays them. Lichtenstein would never take himself too seriously however: "I think my work is different from comic strips- but I wouldn't call it transformation; I don't think that whatever is meant by it is important to art". (From Wikipedia)

Kiehl’s

I was in Los Angeles a couple weeks ago and I noticed this window display (and took a picture with my handy iphone) at the Kiehl’s store and thought, Lichtenstein (like Warhol) might actually not mind this. I saw that the same display at the store in Georgetown, so it is clearly a campaign they are doing. This prompted me to check out their website where they have set up the entire Lichtenstein branding experience, complete with an interactive comic strip that you can create!

The Sneaker

The Nike Vandal: Lichtenstein edition. The Vandal is part of a Pop Art Pack made by Nike. They feature benday dots and comic-like “Pop Art” illustrations on the back panel that are used throughout the work of legendary pop artist Roy Lichtenstein. Even the famous shoe brand has gotten in on the action, which seems one of the more unlikely pairings, but actually works out very nicely.

School Supplies?

The Homey Lichtenstein pen commemorates an American icon, Homer Simpson, in the Ben-Day dot style of Pop Art icon, Roy Lichtenstein. The Simpsons as cartoon characters themselves have such a huge stamp on American pop culture that this partnership is almost seamless. Also, if any of you remember Saved by the Bell, Screech and many of the other kids carried around folders with many of Lichtenstein’s famous images, most notably the “girl with hair ribbon”.

The Recession and Museums

I thought it would be interesting to see how the current state of the economy has affected museums as institutions. As we know, museums have now taken the marketing aspect of the game much more seriously, as evidenced through some of the very impressive websites out there.

I was looking into MOCA-LA and it seems as though they have run into some troubles lately. Although this could be attributed to a mis-management of sorts, it seems that MOCA lost around 44 million of their $50 million endowment.

LA billionaire Eli Broad offered a rescue deal to the museum to keep it up and running. They are still discussing the possibility of a merger with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. It seems as though in the case of MOCA-LA, it may have been an issue of management, and if Broad's donation goes through, he will have a number of guidelines for them to follow. Hopefully it can be resolved, especially given Los Angeles's position as a node in the art world.