Open-mindedness and Broad Variety of Art...

"Artist's Studio No. 1" by Roy Lichtenstein

This is an oil/Magna acrylic/sand painting on canvas by Lichtenstein, an American pop artist. It is 8 ft. by 10.6 ft. and was completed in 1973. The painting includes various objects in a room, an "artist's studio", which seem random. The items include a couch, plant, arrangement of fruits, telephone, picture frame, paintings, comic pictures, plant, vase/pottery, and a greek-like end table/stand. There are only six main colors used in this painting; black, white, yellow, green, red, and blue. Everything is relatively flat except for the ceiling which is a gray cloudy texture.

Lichtenstein was a pop artist, so he painted images of images. The concept of machine-made things was a common pop theme, hence why his works seem very "perfect" in a sense, and appear to be computer generated (a print). In fact, similar to Warhol, he painted his works by hand. A comic theme is common throughout Lichtenstein's work. He even painted all the small color dots which appear when a comic print is magnified.

I had learned about this piece only a few days before I first saw it in person and felt an overwhelming wave of awe. I didn't stop by it long to interpret it, but looking at it closer now, I see that he includes different forms of art within the whole painting. With the large painting on the far left, I believe he represents abstract expressionism (or painting in general). The telephone refers to modern art, or communication art. The arrangements of fruits represent still-life art. The vase represents pottery. The couch represents furniture design (with it's frilly trim on such a boring, flat, white couch). The painting above the doorway is landscape art. The large donald duck image is comic art. The whole room represents architecture. And the pillar-column like stand on the far right represents classical art. I think he may be showing the different kinds of art which an artist may be exposed to. The artist, seeing something inspiring, "takes" that inspirational subject into the artist's own "studio" in a sense. A metaphor for being inspired, storing the memory of the inspiration, and making art influenced by that inspiration. Although, this thought contradicts the non-variety of pop art.

I watched a video of Lichtenstein painting one of his large paintings, very similar to "Artist's Studio No. 1". I was amazed at the fact that he actually painted them with paint and brushes. It is very similar to Mondrian. The perfection in line and purity in color is simply amazing.