Warhol, Johns, Oldenburg, Indiana, Raysse

Andy Warhol - Self-Portrait, 1966
synthetic polymer and silkscreen ink on linen

This artwork of Warhol that I had seen so many times in reproductions, now I was in front of it. Everything Warhol creates, he pours a drop of godness.

But Master Warhola wasn't alone there.

Jasper Johns - 0 through 9, 1961
oil and charcoal on canvas

Jasper Johns - 0 through 9: it's a whole universe there, of digits, and of people, and of weird animals, and some birds, and funny, strange events. Digits defining people, people in metamorphosis to become animals and birds, a miraculous geometry of shapes, and colors, and white drops of snow, drops of snow in sudden metamorphosis to red. Drops of red snow.

Near Jasper Johns, a Claes Oldenberg: this Ghost Version of a Soft Bathtub. It is interesting, I noted the head (so, the Ghost) only after taking the photo. Actually I noted the head only in the photo, I wasn't able to observe it just watching the work. It's an interesting point, and it goes well with the argument of PhotoRealists, that one should start with a photo to get all interesting details of reality.

Claes Oldenburg - Soft Bathtub (Model) - Ghost Version, 1966
acrylic paint and and graphite on foam-filled canvas with wood, cord and plaster

On the opposite wall, another Oldenburg, this 7-UP that I knew from some art books

Claes Oldenburg - 7-Up, 1961
enamel on plaster-soaked muslin on wine

Robert Indiana then, the wizard discovering icons in digits and words. Here building ironic icons:

Robert Indiana - Beware-Danger American Dream # 4, 1963
oil on canvas

Martial Raysse - Made in Japan, 1964
photomechanical reproductions, wallpaper,gouache, peacock feathers and plaster puncte paper on fiberboard

And finally this green Venus Made in Japan, laying on soft cushions. I felt I needed to record the whole in a video, to keep the memory forever: Warhol, Johns, Oldenburg, Indiana, Raysse.




(Hirshhorn Museum)

(Contemporary Art)

Robert Indiana: The Meaning of Iconic

Robert Indiana, FIVE
Lincoln Gallery, American Art Museum

FIVE, the painting and the sculptural ensemble of wood and metal are exposed together at the Lincoln Gallery in the American Art Museum.

Robert Indiana, Five, 1984
painted wood ceiling beam, metalwood dowel, wood block

Robert Indiana considers himself a sign painter. He's more than that: like Jasper Johns, he starts from signs to discover the iconic.

We live in a world of signs: road signs, and traffic lights, and initials, and all kind of indicators, in buildings, on the streets, on the stadiums, in street cars and in railroad stations, everywhere.

Words and numbers are important for Robert Indiana, because they are also signs. For Jasper Johns, there are the numbers, and the targets, and the objects. For Warhol, the objects. Take a real object, and glue it on a canvas, as Johns and Warhol did: the object shows now his sign potency. Pop artists reversed the relation between image and object: it's no more about the image pretending to represent an object, it's about the object pretending to represent an image.

Robert Indiana, The Figure Five, 1963
oil on canvas

So, Indiana and Johns created a language of signs: not only obvious signs, also numbers and words belong to this language; Pop artists include in this language of signs real objects and comics with human figures (Lichtenstein and all his followers).

Signs (and numbers, and words, and real objects, and human figures) are icons: each one tells us something essential, beyond its appearance.

Numbers are not just empty numbers; they are icons. FIVE is an icon: USA, ERR, DIE, HUG, EAT.

LOVE is not just a word, an empty word; it's an icon: the icon of all words from all languages.

Some people like to paint trees, Indiana says, and he goes on, I like to paint love. I find it more meaningful than painting trees.

LOVE, 1966-67
aluminum
Smithsonian Castle

(Contemporary Art)
(Lincoln Gallery at the American Art and Portraiture)
(Smithsonian Castle)