POP Goes the World

14 x 11", acrylic on gessoed mounted aluminium panel

painting #267, 2018

Frederic Tuten (b.1936) is an American novelist, writer, art and film critic. Tuten was a friend of both Hergé and Roy Lichtenstein. He has published several essays on the work of Lichtenstein as well as catalogues of other artists such as Eric Fischl. With the permission of Hergé, Tuten took Tintin and plunged him into a coming of age adventure, this time going to Machu Picchu with Captain Haddock and Snowy. The narrative follows Tintin as he meets and falls in love with Clavdia Chauchat, which for the first time in his life will awaken and arouse sexual desires. During this process, a metamorphoses occurs as he shed his physical image of a boy-man. This dream-like escapade with political overtones included four characters taken from Thomas Mann’s 1924 novel, “The Magic Mountain”, of which Clavdia Chauchat is among the cast. Prior to this novel, Tintin had always retain the image of being asexual throughout the comic book series

The novel, “Tintin in the New World” was published in 1993, a decade after the passing of Hergé. However, chapters of Tintin in the New World had first appeared in it's entire form in Fiction (1975), Tri-quarterly (1975),  Syntaxis (1984), Artform (1984) and De Brakke Hond (1984). It is perhaps Tuten's best known and most critically acclaimed work. It has been translated into six languages and has gone through several print runs. I had a chance to read the novel during a recent vacation and am in agreement with several critiques I've read on-line which were mixed. Tuten will be publishing a memoir, My Young Life, slated to arrive in bookstores in March 2019.

Roy Lichtenstein had previously done artwork for a book cover of Tuten’s 1971 novel, The Adventures of Mao on the Long March. The artwork that appears on the cover of Tintin in the New World was especially done for the novel in 1993 and is entitled “Tintin Reading”. I only discovered the existence of the Tuten/Lichtenstein collaboration this past August by happenstance. 

I had acquired the collectible figure of Tintin reading in the big red armchair two years ago upon visiting the Tintin Boutique in Brussels, Belgium. "Coffret at home" was inspired from the pages of the graphic novel “L’oreille cassée" (The Broken Ear), published in 1937, page 10 and 11. Tintin was originally holding a book entitled “Voyages aux Amériques” by Ch. J. Walker, Graveau éditeur, 1875. I decided to play with the narrative and have Tintin read his own adventure in Tuten's novel instead.

In the beginning of the novel, it is revealed that Tintin is an art collector and is amassing a collection which includes Danse by Henri Matisse which appears in the artwork. 

Capitain Haddock: "What about your art collecting? Have you given that up, too? All those unopened crates of paintings you've left unexamined: that Matisse you spent ages to acquire- that one with all those naked dancing people- still in its shipping case."

 Photographed during a visit at the MOMA, NYC, Dec. 2015

Lichtenstein had previously drawn inspiration from Matisse's masterwork when in 1973, he incorporated The Dance in a very large scale painting entitled, Artist's Studio- The Dance.

Artist's studio - The Dance, 1973

magna, oil on canvas, 243.8 x 325.1 cm

collection of the MOMA, NYC

Sculptor Seward Johnson is another artist whom was inspired by Matisse's The Dance and created multi-pieces 3-dimension bronze sculptures that included Matisse himself painting on a canvas and models. 

Seward Johnson
photographed during a trip to Key West, Florida

March 2011. 

This painting marks the first time that I have use the camera from my iPod Touch to do the photo study for the painting.

  

Trivia- Lichtenstein's Tintin Reading was also used for a retrospective of his work held at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Montreal in 1994.

This is my second of two paintings that will exhibited at Art Toronto with La Galerie de Bellefeuille of Montreal. The exhibition will be held from October 26 to 29, 2018 at Metro Toronto Convention Centre, North Building, 255 Front Street West, Toronto.
-SOLD

Pops on Pop Art

Acrylic on gessoed hardboard, 2011

12 x 16, painting #200

The inspiration for this painting is a play on words that emerged during the photo studies I did for the painting ''Sally blowing bubbles, an homage to Charles Schulz''. Pops, a hard candy lollipop with a bubble gum center was introduced after Tootsie Roll acquired Dubble Bubble in 2004. It is a modern take from the Tootsie Pop, first introduced to the public in 1931, 80 years ago.

The art book is Pop Art, by Tilman Osterwold, originally published in 1990 by Taschen. This edition was part of Taschen publishing 25th anniversary, printed in 2007 featuring Roy Lichtenstein's M-Maybe (a girl's picture), 1965 on the cover. In reference to the book's content, an original Tootsie Pop appears in Richard Hamilton's 1956 collage, Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing?

This is a milestone painting in my artistic career, as it marks my 200th original piece. I have been painting for 24 years. From 1987 to 2000, I only produced an average of two paintings per year, 27 in fact. I became more prolific in 2001 when I started painting for my first solo show that consisted of all new works. That 2002 show entitled Perspective would be the catalyst to jump start my professional career. My artwork is forever changing, but it doesn't get any easier with time. I found this piece to be especially challenging.  It might just be the fact that I'm tackling subject matter that I often find intimidating to paint. Rather than viewing it from a technical aspect, I try to focus more on composition, artistry and content.

-SOLD

Crayolas on Lichtenstein

Acrylic on gessoed hardboard, #168

5 x 7'', 2009

A simple composition of layering objects. A cat's eye marble on a basic 8 Crayola Crayon box, on the cover of Pop Art, an art book written by Tilmon Osterwold, with M-Maybe by Roy Lichtenstein on the cover. I only displayed the primary colored crayons from the box, as they are the colors used in Lichtenstein's artwork.

Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997) was an American pop artist who's work was heavily influenced by both advertising and comic book style. Even though my own work technically is very much rooted in hyper realism, Pop Art has a definite direct influence and my love for primary colors probably started here. I've had the chance to view a lot of his work in major art museums in both North America & Europe. His art is also displayed in public spaces including the tuilerie gardens of the Louvres in Paris, the J. Paul Getty Museum grounds in LA, the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid as previously posted on my blog, and the large 6 x 53 feet Times Square mural entitled Next stop, Times Square (1994) in the New York City subway station at 42nd & Broadway. Although it was completed 3 years before his death, it was only installed on September 5, 2002. I got to see it on November 4, 2002 when we visited NYC before running my 2nd NYC Marathon.

Part of my solo show- Near and Far - October 16-30, 2009.

-SOLD

Surfacing

Acrylic polymer emulsion on gessoed hardboard, 12 x 12"Created March 7 - 14, 2008, #144.

The image was taken from a corner in my tiny studio, where I also have two large bookcases. This image just kind of happen by itself. I often drink water in this glass mug and decided to continue my art book series on this piece. POP ART by Tilman Osterwold was published by Taschen as part of a 17 book series for the company's 25th anniversary. The cover image is M-Maybe (A Girl's Picture), 1965 by Roy Lichtenstein. While playing with camera angles, I was able to capture a view of her left eye surfacing on top of the water. Another point of interest was how the books and photo albums behind were all lined up in a reverse order underneath the surface of the water. I usually try to read a little while having breakfast. My wife Suzanne on the other hand is an avid reader. On this self are books from Danielle Steel to Jane Austen, from John Grisham to Arthur Miller, from Ernest Hemingway to Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I had a lot of fun with this piece

-SOLD