Roy Lichtenstein: Pop Remix

Roy Lichtenstein's name is synonymous with Pop Art. As a master of appropriation, he applied a refined strategic approach to his creative energies and constructed his entire body of work following a sophisticated process of image selection, reinterpretation, and reissue. Lichtenstein developed a central creative principle that became a potent formula: an ability to identify cultural clich?s and to repackage them as monmumental remixes. His works stand today as icons of 1960s and 1970s America with his characteristic comic strip and Benday dot imagery continuing to inspire contemporary visual culture.

Roy Lichtenstein: Pop Remix traces the artist's print projects from the 1950s to the 1990s, exploring how he appropriated, transformed, and remixed numerous art historical sources including Claude Monet's Impressionism, Max Ernst's Surrealism, and Willem de Kooning's Abstract Expressionism. Lichtenstein reinterpreted the work of these artistic giants and significant art movements using an instantly recognizable graphic aesthetic, effectively branding his art with a signature Lichtenstein look to secure his place alongside those masters he so admired. Slick, intelligent, and humorous, Lichtenstein's remixes of romance and war comics, brushstrokes and nude girls are among the best-known Pop prints.

Jaklyn Babington is curator of international prints, drawings, and illustrated books at the National Gallery of Australia.