In
this installment, I wanted to bring one of my favorite artists to the
limelight. Artist Roy Lichtenstein (1923
– 1997). His early work sprang from
caricatures of artists and famous celebrities in motion or doing some task as
well as abstractions of Western motifes.
The popular majority of his work is contrived from comic strips popular
in the US since the 1950’s among youth. He
has a very certain style and that style is still wildly popular today. He considered his art to be “Industrial Art”,
and there appears to be many followers. Many
of his works seem simple in design, but offer the viewer a fun look at the
contemporary world through the panes of comic strip boxes. There is a stipple design called Ben-day dots
that are seen in most of his paintings.
They play on the printing techniques used in newspapers and in many low
resolution printings. Throughout his
collection, you will see women crying, embraced, or involved in some sort of
dramatic situation, as well as parodies on advertising and the ideas of the day,
which include some timely humor. For
example, he has a piece called “Portrait
of a Duck” 1989, where we see a Disney figure of Donald Duck with dollar
signs in the eyes and evoking from the head; by this, he seems to be making fun
of the Disney Corporation and perhaps the greed associated with it.
The focus piece today is “Kiss V” 1964 by Roy Lichtenstein. The original piece is a drawing that was later turned into screen print and painted. It has been duplicated and rendered in many different styles also. This is an image of a man and woman embracing in a kiss. It is a colorful piece and really stands out. The man is wearing a blue shirt/sport coat, and the woman is all primped up in perfect 60’s form and a tear is being shed, as they embrace tightly and kiss. “Kiss V” include the Ben-day dots and is compositionally very balanced, with focal points in the lips, eyes, and hair. Critics say that this is a purely satirical look at the traditional roles of male and female in the 1960’s. Maybe seen as a woman forcibly holding her man as if he were the only way for her to feel comfort, or that she is needing of comfort from a long day of grooming and making the house ready for the return of her man. The tear she sheds for emotion as if all women are overly emotional, fragile and incapable of rational thought. I think that people and critics really make too much of this piece of art. I simply see a lonely woman who is happy enough to cry that she is after however long in time, finally in the embrace of her man and even throw in a kiss to make the moment even brighter.
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| Original Drawing |
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| Replicated Piece |
I've found it is also interesting which way this work is laid out, woman above or man above. By simply rotating the canvas you can maybe make different realizations of the intended meaning. I really believe
this to be a question of are you a pessimist or optimist? If you are an optimist I think you see a
happy situation, one that is bringing two people closer together, and if you
are a pessimist, than you see this art as a travesty and intentional slight on
humanity and society as a whole. Some
may say it requires more effort to be pessimistic, but I think it requires just
as much thought to be positive. And
perhaps you can gain a smile.
That smile
was most certainly attained as the original drawing in graphite and crayon, “Kiss V” was sold at Christie’s auction
house New York in 2011, for $2,098,500. I
find it important to mention that the drawing was 6” x 6”, thus raising over
$58,000 per square inch of paper. That
dollar figure doubled the estimates, and the previous owner received one of the
heaviest grossing payouts for a drawing (per square inch) in history.
The economics behind modern and contemporary art is so interesting! The prices for art have just skyrocketed over the past few decades (as evidenced by the Christie's 2011 sale that you just mentioned). And with each high-paying sale, the art market sets a new precedent for the monetary figures that can be reached for similar works by the same artist. It's insane.
ReplyDelete-Prof. Bowen
This is a very interesting piece! The emotions in this artwork really show that the woman might be feeling sadness and betrayal, while the man is trying to comfort her. But then again, when you rotate the canvas so the woman is on top, one could interpret her tears as regret and full of hope to be forgiven and loved. I liked your post!
ReplyDeleteI like that you mentioned rotating the piece also changes the way we may perceive its meaning. It's interesting how placement or presentation of a work can change the way we see it in relation to what we know about the real world or how we view it.
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