Sinister Pop
15 Nov 2012 - 31 Mar 2013
Claes Oldenburg (b. 1929),
Giant Fagends, 1967.
Canvas, urethane foam, wire, wood, latex and Formica,
52 × 96 × 96in. (132.1 × 243.8 × 243.8cm).
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from the Friends of the Whitney Museum of American Art 70.44a-o. © 1969 Claes Oldenburg
Giant Fagends, 1967.
Canvas, urethane foam, wire, wood, latex and Formica,
52 × 96 × 96in. (132.1 × 243.8 × 243.8cm).
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from the Friends of the Whitney Museum of American Art 70.44a-o. © 1969 Claes Oldenburg
SINISTER POP
15 November 2012 – 31 March 2013
Sinister Pop presents an inventive take on the Museum’s rich and diverse holdings of Pop art from the movement’s inception in the early 1960s through its aftershocks a decade later. Although Pop art often calls to mind a celebration of postwar consumer culture, this exhibition focuses on Pop’s darker side, as it distorts and critiques the American dream. Themes of exaggerated consumption, film noir and the depiction of women in art, the dystopic American landscape, and the intersection of popular culture and politics, are explored through works by acknowledged masters such as Jasper Johns, Claes Oldenburg, Ed Ruscha, and Andy Warhol, as well as by many artists not traditionally associated with Pop whose art may be understood within its wider field of reference. These include William Eggleston, Peter Saul, Christina Ramberg, and Vija Celmins, among others.
Sinister Pop is organized by Donna De Salvo, Chief Curator and Deputy Director for Programs, and Whitney curator Scott Rothkopf.
15 November 2012 – 31 March 2013
Sinister Pop presents an inventive take on the Museum’s rich and diverse holdings of Pop art from the movement’s inception in the early 1960s through its aftershocks a decade later. Although Pop art often calls to mind a celebration of postwar consumer culture, this exhibition focuses on Pop’s darker side, as it distorts and critiques the American dream. Themes of exaggerated consumption, film noir and the depiction of women in art, the dystopic American landscape, and the intersection of popular culture and politics, are explored through works by acknowledged masters such as Jasper Johns, Claes Oldenburg, Ed Ruscha, and Andy Warhol, as well as by many artists not traditionally associated with Pop whose art may be understood within its wider field of reference. These include William Eggleston, Peter Saul, Christina Ramberg, and Vija Celmins, among others.
Sinister Pop is organized by Donna De Salvo, Chief Curator and Deputy Director for Programs, and Whitney curator Scott Rothkopf.