A Pop Artist parodies Abstract Expressionist painting.
1 Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997) USA Brushstrokes (1965) oil and magna on canvas 122.5×122.5cm
In 1965-6 Roy Lichtenstein made a series of paintings depicting enlarged brushstrokes. Ironically, the motif was taken from a printed source, the comic book story entitled The Painting, printed in Strange Suspense Stories in October 1964. Here Lichtenstein used it to make a direct comment on the elevated content and loaded brushwork of Abstract Expressionism. The brushstroke, as the token of the artist's personal expression, is de-personalised. The motif is screenprinted onto paper in a manner usually associated with advertising or publishing to the effect that it seems banal and everyday. tate.org.uk
2 The source for the entire Brushstrokes series was Charlton Comics' Strange Suspense Stories 72 (October 1964) illustrated by Dick Giordano
3 Brushstroke (1965) screenprint on cardboard 96×82cm
4 photo by Martha Holmes Jackson Pollock drip-painting in his studio.
5 Jackson Pollock (1912-56) USA Number 24 (1948) enamel paint on gesso on paper 57.5 x 78.4cm
A “...[Pollock’s] process, involved splashing, using gestural brushstrokes and dripping paint onto canvas rather than carefully applying it. The term 'action painting' was coined by Harold Rosenberg in his groundbreaking article The American Action Painters published in ARTnews in December 1952.
B theartstory.org Lichtenstein was a prolific print-maker throughout his career, and his prints played a substantial role in establishing printmaking as a significant art form in the 1960s. Brushstrokes, one such print, reflects his interest in the importance of the brushstroke in Abstract Expressionism. Abstract Expressionist artists had made the brushstroke a vehicle to directly communicate feelings; Lichtenstein's brushstroke made a mockery of this aspiration, also suggesting that though Abstract Expressionists disdained commercialization, they were not immune to it - after all, many of their pictures were also created in series, using the same motifs again and again. Lichtenstein has said, "The real brushstrokes are just as pre-determined as the cartoon brushstrokes."
C artsy.net “...the modern painter cannot express this age, the airplane, the atom bomb, the radio, in the old forms of the Renaissance or of any other past culture.” Jackson Pollock
Gestural Abstraction (or Action Painting).... emphasized the energy of the painter’s mark.
