TATE MODERN. ROY LICHTENSTEIN RETROSPECTIVE

WHAM 1963. IN A GALLERY DEVOTED TO A SERIES OF LARGE CANVASES IN PRIMARY COLOURS RED/YELLOW/BLACK/WHITE- WE ARE SURROUNDED BY DESOLATE HEROINES, GORGEOUS BLONDES & THE STAR TREKKER HUNKS. WAR & ROMANCE. BASED ON COMIC BOOKS SUCH AS “ALL AMERICAN MEN OF WAR” & “GIRLS’ ROMANCES”. WE ARE TRANSPORTED TO THE WORLD OF POP ART THAT SUDDENLY EXPLODED IN THE EARLY 1960’s. INSPIRED BY INDUSTRIAL PRINTING & DRIVEN BY ADVERTISING IMAGERY & COMIC STRIPS. THESE ICONIC POP PAINTINGS BECAME AN OVERNIGHT SUCCESS. ROY LICHTENSTEIN, ONE OF THE CENTRAL FIGURES OF AMERICAN POP ART, A TIME WHEN THE VIETNAM WAR WAS DOMINATING MAJOR NEWS. ROY LICHTENSTEIN’s, INSTANTLY RECOGNISABLE, UBIQUITOUS COMIC STRIP STYLE MAY ALSO HAVE HAD A SUBLIMINAL MESSAGE. WHAM ACQUIRED BY THE TATE IN THE 1960’s. EPITOMISES THE EPOCH.