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New Exhibition | Made in America
Andy Warhol and Pop Art are synonymous with 20th century American art. Warhol elevated the medium of screenprinting, using it throughout his entire career to make published editions as well as unique works on canvas and paper. He famously immortalised the Hollywood icon, Marilyn Monroe, as a series of ten screenprints in 1967 and with the same medium he also turned the humble American staple ‘Campbell’s Soup’ into definitive symbols of ‘high-art’ in 1968-69.
Amongst the works chosen for ‘Made in America’ is Warhol’s 1980 print ‘Shoes’, created at a significant moment in Warhol’s screenprinting career, when the artist had just begun to develop a new printing technique involving the use of diamond dust. Introduced to him by Rupert Smith around 1979, the dust adhered to the surface of the paper in the same manner as a silkscreened colour, but with a subtly raised surface relief. The result is a deluge of glittering, multi-coloured women’s shoes, captured in a seemingly haphazard, yet methodical manner. ‘Shoes’ reflects the glamour and giddiness of Warhol’s Manhattan.
Joe TILSON
The set of two screenprints in colour, 1967
74 x 40.4 cm (framed size 85.5 x 98.5 cm)
£6,500
Although a key figure in the British Pop Art scene of the 1960s, rather than America, we couldn’t deny Joe Tilson’s ‘New York Decals’ a place. Tilson drew great inspiration from his American Pop Art contemporaries, appropriating American tourist memorabilia like these decals of the famous Rockefeller Center in Manhattan and blowing them up to larger-than-life proportions. Tilson recognised Rockefeller Center as a symbol of American popular culture - the home of NBC Studios and Radio City Music Hall, both giants of the glamorous, dazzling entertainment industry in America and part of the famous New York City skyline.
Frank Stella excelled in the complex when it came to modern printmaking and five of his key maximalist works feature prominently in the windows of our Maddox Street Gallery. His technique was daring and adventurous in ways in which his contemporaries would never be able to emulate, as well as being labour intensive. Instead of embracing just one printmaking medium at a time, Stella would deploy his full arsenal of techniques: lithography, linocutting, screenprinting, mezzotinting, etching and relief all in one single print!
‘Made in America’ features two works from the ‘Shards’ series which Stella created, using leftover scraps from previous projects, transforming them into new, unique and dynamic pieces. The fascinating grid systems that make up the backdrop of these prints were adapted from the plates of ‘Polar Coordinates’, and the various French curves and undulating lines echo the forms seen in ‘Circuits’. The use of 'shards' of previous works to create a series in its own right would become an increasingly employed technique for Stella, and here we can see why. There is a magnificent richness of texture and an immense depth in the two prints on display, showcasing Stella's creative force.
