Barbaralee Diamonstein
POP ART, MONEY, AND THE PRESENT
SCENE: An Interview With Roy Lichtenstein
and Leo Castelli
Diamonstein:
It 's doubtfu l if the a rt of the sixti es would have looked
quite the way it did if Leo Cas telli had no t assemb led hi s g ro up o f
arti sts and promo ted them into intern a ti ona l prom inence. H e helped
defin e a whole es thetic period and confirm new bounda ri es fo r a n. It
was he who introduced the first flag pa intings by J asper John s, the
first shaped canva ses by Frank Stella, and the first ca rtoon pa intings
o f Roy Lichten stein . As criti c Dav id Bo rden once rema rked , he may
no t have written it, but he has certa in ly lived and helped ma ke the
hi sto ry of modern a rt , since he first opened his ga ll ery nea rl y twent y
vears ago.
In
1962, when the a rt popping on th e New Yo rk scene was
la beled as neo-Dada, Roy Lichtenstein was known as th e comi c strip
man , who used popu lar images and printing technology, Ben Day
clo ts as a dev ice fo r fo rma l pa inting . H is remarkabl e use of the
commonpl ace cha ll enged no t onl y the way in which we live but o ur
accepted ideas and way of seeing art.
It 's often been assumed tha t the source of Roy Lichtenstein 's
o r igin a lity is in subj ect ma tter, the g iant brush strokes, the land–
scapes. th e com ics . A first-rate cu ra to r and cri ti c and a cl ose fri end o f
yours, Di ane Wa ldman , says tha t is a m isconceptio n abo ut your
work . Sh e says tha t yours is an a rt o f reference and th a t you 're
willing
to
use an ythin g that suits your need s from the a rt o f you r
predecesso rs. Wou ld you ag ree with tha t appra isa l. and which
pa inters wo u ld you say mos t a ffected you r wo rk ? Wh a t I'm rea ll y
a~ kin g
is, how was your visio n fo rmed?
L ichtenstein:
Well , I think tha t wha t Diane Wa ldman sa id is true.
"Reference" is an impo rtant part of th e content o f my wo rk .
" Reference" is a much better word fo r wha t I do than " pa rody" o r
" homage"; but I don 't think I can know in an y fund amenta l way
how my vi sion was fo rmed .
