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Pop Goes Mumbai
~ With Pop Art having a hot moment globally, Mumbai is right on time in hosting its first comprehensive exhibit in the genre, featuring 12 iconic artists including Andy Warhol ~By Sohini Das Gupta | 25th Dec 2023
Andy Warhol had once observed, “Everything is beautiful. Pop (Art) is everything.” The remark not only gives a glimpse into the American artist’s characteristic flair, but also captures the multi-continent, multi-decade cultural phenomenon in its elemental essence.
Pop Art, a movement that originated in Britain and America towards the latter half of the 1950s, sought inspiration in everyday objects and scenarios that may not have found equal favour with the Abstract Expressionists, the artistic predecessors of the era.
American Pop Art, particularly, was conceived in the shadows of the Second World War, as the country emerged out of economic and artistic constraints into a shiny but tumultuous new world of mass consumerism, media transformations, and a popular culture that embraced celebrities and material excesses. Young, bold and disruptive, Pop Art aimed to blur the lines between ‘high’ art and ‘low’ culture, ultimately begging the question, what is art?
(Left) Untitled by Keith Haring. Credit: Keith Haring, Untitled,1983 © Keith Haring Foundation | (Right) LOVE (Red Outside Red Inside) by Robert Indiana. Credit: Robert Indiana, Love (Red Outside Red Inside), 1966 - 1999 © [2023] Morgan Art Foundation Ltd / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New YorkFor Warhol and his contemporary pioneers like Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Indiana, Ed Ruscha and others, art straddled a truly radical range of inspirations. Warhol’s own pick famously included – “comics, picnic tables, men’s trousers, celebrities, shower curtains, refrigerators, Coke bottles”. Although this mad mix perfectly captures the zeitgeist of the era, it is by no means the complete catalogue. James Rosenquist derived his punchy style from the billboards he once painted; Tom Wesselmann found his lens in hyper-focussed details of the female body; Keith Haring chose to immortalise the dazzling nightlife of ’80s New York, and the list goes on. By its own rules (or lack thereof), it would appear that Pop Art is constantly ahead of its time, no matter what the time.
But ask London-based curator Lawrence Van Hagen, and he would insist that the time to (re)discover Pop Art is now. Put together by the gallerist, whose work as an advisor and collector has been making waves in the art world, ‘POP: FAME, LOVE AND POWER’ is a first-of-its-kind exhibit underway at the Art House at Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre till 11th February.
Silver Clouds by Andy WarholFeaturing 12 luminaries of American Pop Art including Claes Oldenburg & Coosje van Bruggen, Robert Rauschenberg, Jim Dine, Elaine Sturtevant among others – and Warhol, of course – the showcase launches the Indian audience into the glory years of American Pop Art. Guided by the three recurring themes of Pop Art – Fame, Love and Power – this is an exhibit that covers much ground, literally. The themes occupy one floor each at the Art House, with the fourth floor housing Warhol’s immersive installation, ‘Silver Clouds’. From cultural history and a component of human emotion that is timeless to eye-catching colour and quirk for the youth – the exhibit promises to be as enriching as it is fun.
(Top left) Aretha Franklin. Credit: Andy Warhol, Aretha Franklin,1986 © [2023] The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York | (Top right) Sylvester Stallone. Credit: Andy Warhol, Sylvester Stallone,1980 © [2023] The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York | (Bottom left) Giorgio Armani. Credit: Andy Warhol, Giorgio Armani,1981 © [2023] The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York | (Bottom right) Gianni Versace. Credit: Andy Warhol, Gianni Versace,1979-80 © [2023] The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New YorkTo stoke Mumbai’s excitement, the Cultural Centre, which has made good on its promise of bringing the best of the world to India, has kept entry free for students of fine arts, children under the age of 7 and senior citizens.
“I believe this exhibition will spark fascinating parallels between these ‘golden decades’ in the US and the global transformation India is having at this very moment,” quips Van Hagen. He believes Pop Art is en vogue, with major retrospectives on Ed Ruscha and Keith Haring taking place in New York right now.
And right on time, Mumbai is ready to pop a bottle to Pop Art.
Tickets starting from INR 500
Exhibition timings:
Tuesday – Thursday, and Sunday: 11am - 8pm. Entry closes at 7.30pm.
Friday and Saturday: 11am - 10pm. Entry closes at 9.30pm.
You can book your tickets on nmacc.com .
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