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.