How artists since Duchamp have subverted and embraced the iconography of consumerism
The Fondation Louis Vuitton celebrates the origins, language, and legacy of pop art with a display of more than 150 works by the American artist Tom Wesselmann and 70 works by 35 other leading international figures including Marcel Duchamp, Jasper Johns, Ai Weiwei, Mickalene Thomas, and KAWS.
While less well-known than his contemporaries such as Warhol or Lichtenstein, Wesselmann was a key figure in the pop movement. His work often conflated painting and installation and drew on traditions including still-life and portraiture, while responding to consumer culture of the 1950s and 1960s. In this exhibition, his use of flat, bright color and striking composition is exemplified in his most famous “Great American Nude” series (1961-73), while monumental cut-outs, collages, semi-abstract landscapes and works employing light and sound demonstrate his energetic engagement in varied media.
Extending across all four floors of the Fondation building, the works by other artists aim to illuminate elements of Wesselman’s oeuvre and shed light on pop as an ever-relevant sensibility. The earliest works, by Duchamp and Kurt Schwitters, represent its dada beginnings, while contemporary artists including Derrick Adams and Tomokazu Matsuyama, present special commissions that demonstrate that art and pop culture continue to make engrossing bedfellows.
Image: Kiki Kogelnik, “Self Portrait”, 1964 © 1964 Kiki Kogelnik Foundation. All rights reserved.
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