POP-ART | STREET ART | 19. 6.—31. 10. 24
POP! Goes the Easel! Art must go out!
It all started half a century ago with an exhibition in 1963 in Texas, USA. Two university teachers and an avant-garde artist decided to organize a joint exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Houston , along with several others, to bring their previously mainly advertising work out of the studios and present it as a new artistic direction. The exhibition was called "POP! Goes the Easel!" and the teachers were Melvin John Ramos and Roy Fox Lichtenstein, who were joined by the multi-talented artist Andrew Warhol.
POP-ART thus finally got its name and began to spread like an avalanche that has not stopped to this day. The three became the fathers - founders of this new artistic direction and their works are still admired by the whole world. Mel Ramos, Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol became legends, and this place rightfully belongs to them to this day.
Pop art began to find its own path , which took different paths for individual artists and territorially in Europe and the USA, but it still retained its original idea - to connect popular culture with commercial art and mass consumer goods. It did not hide its origins in the advertising industry and willingly adopted motifs and techniques from everyday objects, inspired mainly by urban culture and its visual manifestations - photography , film, advertising or comics.
The authors were not afraid of large formats, colorful or pastel colors and created their own image of a consumer lifestyle , exploring and crossing the boundaries of artistic creation. But also "stealing" and using previously untouchable and protected brands, which brought them more popularity than starched advertising campaigns. The element of mutual "borrowing" of motifs and brands from individual artists and from the world of the consumer industry became typical for pop art and is still adopted by many contemporary artists today.
In the 1980s, however, the world of museums and galleries of pop art began to become small, and therefore it went out into the streets, uncontrolled and unmanaged , directly among the people it increasingly needed to address. In contrast to its originally mainly consumerist style, it began to be often associated with activism and the need to speak out about urgent social, political and environmental problems. Thus, street art and graffiti art were born, with their territorial and rebellious nature, which usually also carries a social or political message , provoking responses, reactions and discussions. Artists such as Keith Haring (collaborator and friend of Andy Warhol) and Jean-Michel Basquiat from the New York street art scene gave this sphere credibility and began to transfer their works from studios to the streets and at the same time back - from the streets to the world of fine art.
Since then, street art has secured its place in the art world as an artistic movement and has become a recognized cultural phenomenon, although its practices are often considered illegal. The authors often perform anonymously and increasingly explore the boundaries of what is possible. They turn not only the walls of houses, but entire streets and cities into their canvases, and although they can rightly be accused of sedition and vandalism, they gain worldwide admiration for their work.
The most famous street art artist of our time is the British artist Banksy , while the most important artist in the country is Pasta Oner , who is also starting to feel like the Czech Republic is small and is successfully making his way into large foreign galleries.
The “POP! Goes the Easel!” exhibitions have been held regularly in the United States since their inception and continue to this day, trying to break down the barriers between expensive art for the select few and bringing accessible art that everyone can afford. And we want to do the same in our Gallery. The works of the founding fathers – although they were created with the intention of enriching mass culture in particular – are now sold in auction houses for millions of dollars, but everyone can buy them in the form of very affordable graphic sheets , which are usually published by foundations that manage the legacy of the original authors. And we want to offer you this opportunity as well.
Our selection includes works by the most famous names from the world pop art and street art scene , as well as representatives of domestic art and contemporary world art in this genre. You can see the works of the "classics" - Banksy, Mel Ramos, Andy Warhol, Keith Haring and Roy Lichtenstein, and from contemporary artists, for example, the works of the Italian duo LED Mansion , the British artist NOT BANKSY or the American artist DeathNYC , whose works probably "borrow" the motifs of the original authors the most and connect them to contemporary post-cultural work, which is nevertheless increasingly popular and in demand.
Among the domestic authors, we could not leave out the legend of the Czech comics scene Kája Saudek , in whose footsteps his son Patrik Saudek is very successfully continuing. And we must not forget the most important representative of the Czech street-art scene, PASTA ONERA , who cannot be missing from our exhibition.
