VIDEO | Expo Pop Masters arrives in Brussels: Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Keith Haring
Pop Masters will be on the Grand-Place in Brussels until May 29. The works of the three masters Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Keith Haring are exhibited there.
The exhibition has collected 150 posters from the three greatest artists in pop art. Pop art, short for popular art, was a new trend in the art world in the 1960s. The posters travel through time from the 60s to the 80s. Art was no longer an abstract thing. Art was now recognized by the everyday things on offer, such as canned soup. All posters come from the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg, which owns the world’s pop art poster collection.
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The posters first to advertise their own exhibitions and invitations were distributed for free in New York. It soon turned into art, which is now sold for tens of thousands of euros. Also see their chance. For example, The Paris Review, sponsored by Heinz Ketchup’s heirs, asked the three artists for posters to advertise the literary magazine. That did not miss their effect, and other companies soon followed suit. The clothing brand Levi, Absolut Vodka and RCA Records and even the Olympics have paid the three grandmasters for a poster of a work of art.
Roy Lichtenstein (1923 – 1997)
Roy Lichtenstein was one of the first Americans to embrace the pop art movement in the 1960s. He’s an art teacher, but at 38ste he has a style all his own. In 1961 he came up with the idea of painting over banal elements from comics and magazines. Lichtenstein makes Ben-Day dots his trademark. Primary colors and thick black contours are also a permanent feature in his works. The painting Wow! from 1963 is possibly his work.
Andy Warhol (1928-1987)
Andy Warhol is the one with the most commercial acumen. Before 1961 he worked as a New York illustrator. This way he understands that works of art are worth a lot of money. He ensures that reproductions are never the same. Thanks to the screen printing technique, he always makes the reproductions in other bright colours. The Cambell’s soup cans and the Marilyn Monroe series are still etched in my memory. Celebrities who liked to pay Marilyn Monroe for initially paid 25,000 euros.
Keith Haring (1958 – 1990)
Keith Haring was not born yet when Lichtenstein started his career. In 1980 he started his career by drawing on blank billboards with chalk. It is there that his mythical figures are created, which, in addition to advertising, also send future messages into the world. In this way he raises awareness for AIDS, a disease from which he himself dies at the age of 32.
More info and tickets on www.expopopmasters.be†