POST 5 : POP ART MYTHS EXHIBITION

Exhibition Title     POP ART MYTHS

Venue Name Temporary Exhibition Galleries, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Ground floor.

Website     Pop Art Myths - Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza (Madrid)

Venue Address     Paseo del Prado, 8, 28014 Madrid

Exhibition Dates     10th  June to 14th  Septembre 2014

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

The temporal pop art group show was exhibited during 3 months from the 10th June to the 14th September in the Temporary Exhibiton Galleries on the ground floor of the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza located at Madrid on the Paseo del Prado. The curator involved in the creative process was Paloma Alarco, head of modern painting of the museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. The paintings' authors were artists of whom paintings was famous during the pop art decade in the late 1950s and early 1960s such as Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and many others...

ADVANTAGES AND DRAWBACKS FROM MY EXPERIENCE 

As I have only seen the exhibiton through the virtual visit, it is complex to tell its actual value. As far as i'm conserned, I think the idea of  being abble to have a look at an art gallery trough internet is pretty cool so you can have a conception ahead of time of the exhibiton and if you weren't abble to go to see it by the time it was exposed you can still see it thanks the virtual visit... 

Even thought the concept of the virtual visit seems amazing, there are many lacks of elements that would have been very practicle such as the desription of the paintings: the name of the paintings, the name of its authors, the date on which it was made and the dimensions of the frame are all missing... There are also many paintings that can't be seen because the image have restricted reproduction. I thimk it would also have been better if we could have been able to pause the running of the visit for when a painting catched the eye of the viewer and he/she wants to spend more time watching it. 

The part I want to emphasize the more is about the topics of some of the gallery's rooms. It is organised so the paintings are dispatched in different rooms, nine to be precise, according to their kind: you start in the hall, then the first and the second room are about collages, advertisings and comics, the third one is about emblems, the forth one about myths, the fifth about portraits, the sixth about landscapes, interiors and Still Lifes, the seventh and the eighth about urban erotism, the next one about painting history and the last room is about ''Art about Art''. 

As the themes shows it, the main topic of pop art is about myths - in the sense that it is a popular belief or story that has become associated with a person, institution or occurence, especially one considered to illustrate a cultural ideal, such as Marylin Monroe, Elisabeth Taylor, Marlon Brando or James Dean... who are stars of whose fame has turned them into myths - and heroes - in the meaning of the protagonist of a story, the principal male or female character in a novel, poem or dramatic presentation, such as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck from Disney or some other comics characters.

FOCUS ON A PAINTING OF THE EXHIBITION

Andy Warhol
Marilyn Monroe in Black and White
(Twenty‐Five Marilyns)
1962 
Acrylic and silk screen on canvas
208 x 140 cm

Following the tragic death of the film star in 1962, Warhol made several paintings based on one and unique photo. Warhol knew that images tend to lose their meaning if they are repeated enough times. On this painting Marilyn's face is repeated 25 times, some of her 'faces' are more detailed/ visble than othes as some are whitewashed.  Marilyn was a manequinn, an actress and a singer. She was the symbol of feminity as she was 'crowned' the most beautiful woman on earth in the early 50's, she was one of the most influent sex-symbol and a good actress. Her huge fame even lead/allowed her to sing 'Happy Birthday' to the president J.F. Kennedy, this song is still viral and really famous nowadays. She illustrate a cultural ideal and her fame has turned her into a myth. As Marylin was realy famous by her beauty and talent, the painting might represent the beauty and power of the star that vanished with her her tragic death. Marilyn Monroe's personality is erased and the product Marilyn is put on sale, like a tin of tomato soup.  She has become a mass-produced icon. "The more you look at the same exact thing, the more the meaning goes away, and the better and emptier you feel." Warhol's attitude was at once sensitive, detached and enigmatic. 

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

(AGAIN...)

It is the first exhibition on the subject of  Pop Art Myths in Madrid since Pop Art at the Museo Reina Sofía in 1992. More than twenty years later, the exhibition’s curator Paloma Alarcó, Head of Modern Painting at the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, has offered a reassessment of this artistic trend from a 21st century viewpoint. It is a unique exhibition specific to the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza

The exhibition was sponsored by Japan Tobacco International (JTI) and included works from more than fifty museums and private collections around the world, with important loans from the National Gallery of Washington, the Tate, London, the IVAM, Valencia, and the prestigious Mugrabi Collection in New York, to name but a few.