ARTISTS
Pop Life: Art In A Material World
01 Oct, 2009 - 17 Jan, 2010
Pop Life: Art in a Material World will propose a re-reading of one of the major legacies of Pop Art. Opening at Tate Modern on 1 October 2009, the exhibition will take Andy Warhol鈥檚 notorious provocation that 鈥榞ood business is the best art鈥� as a starting point in reconsidering the legacy of Pop Art and the influence of the movement鈥檚 chief protagonist. Pop Life: Art in a Material World looks ahead to the various ways that artists since the 1980s have engaged with mass media and cultivated artistic personas creating their own signature 'brands'. Among the artists represented will be Tracey Emin, Keith Haring, Damien Hirst, Martin Kippenberger, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami and Richard Prince.
Pop Life: Art in a Material World argues that Warhol鈥檚 most radical lesson is reflected in the work of artists of subsequent generations who, rather than simply representing or commenting upon our mass media culture, have infiltrated the publicity machine and the marketplace as a deliberate strategy. Harnessing the power of the celebrity system and expanding their reach beyond the art world and into the wider world of commerce, these artists exploit channels that engage audiences both inside and outside the gallery. The conflation of culture and commerce is typically seen as a betrayal of the values associated with modern art; this exhibition contends that, for many artists working after Warhol, to cross this line is to engage with modern life on its own terms.
The show will begin with a focused look at Warhol鈥檚 late work, examining his related initiatives as a television personality, paparazzo, and publishing impresario. Highlights include a number of works from his initially controversial series known as the Retrospectives or Reversals. Reprising his celebrated Pop icons from the 1960s, in a manner initially deemed cynical, the Retrospectives look ahead to installations by a number of artists including Martin Kippenberger and Tracey Emin, who overtly engage the self-mythologizing impulse manipulating their personas as a medium, like silkscreen or paint.
Pop Life: Art in a Material World will include reconstructions of both Keith Haring鈥檚 Pop Shop and Jeff Koons's seldom reunited Made in Heaven. Haring opened the Pop Shop in 1986 on New York's Lafayette St. to merchandise his branded artistic signature as editioned objects such as t-shirts, toys and magnets aimed at as wide an audience as possible. Jeff Koons鈥檚 Made in Heaven, which debuted at the Venice Bienniale in 1990, immortalized his marital union with the Italian porn star and politician known as La Cicciolina. A specially-commissioned new installation by the celebrated Japanese artist Takashi Murakami will debut in the exhibition's final gallery.
A gallery dedicated to the so-called 鈥榊oung British Artists鈥� will focus on their early performative exploits including ephemera from Tracey Emin and Sarah Lucas鈥檚 shop in Bethnal Green where they created and sold their work. Renowned pieces such as Gavin Turk鈥檚 Pop 1993 will also feature, as will selected works representing Damien Hirst鈥檚 recent Sotheby鈥檚 auction, Beautiful Inside My Head Forever. Tate Modern will also restage Hirst鈥檚 performance originally shown at Cologne鈥檚 鈥楿nfair鈥� art fair in 1992. Identical twins will sit beneath two identical spot paintings for the duration of Pop Life: Art in a Material World. Tate Modern is appealing for identical twins to take part in this performance.
The exhibition is organized by Tate Modern and is co-curated by Jack Bankowsky, Artforum鈥檚 Editor at Large, Alison M. Gingeras, Chief Curator of the Fran莽ois Pinault Collection and Catherine Wood, Tate Modern Curator of Contemporary Art and Performance, assisted by Nicholas Cullinan, Curator, International Modern Art, Tate Modern. Pop Life: Art in a Material World will travel to the National Gallery of Canada and is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue.
Pop Life: Art in a Material World argues that Warhol鈥檚 most radical lesson is reflected in the work of artists of subsequent generations who, rather than simply representing or commenting upon our mass media culture, have infiltrated the publicity machine and the marketplace as a deliberate strategy. Harnessing the power of the celebrity system and expanding their reach beyond the art world and into the wider world of commerce, these artists exploit channels that engage audiences both inside and outside the gallery. The conflation of culture and commerce is typically seen as a betrayal of the values associated with modern art; this exhibition contends that, for many artists working after Warhol, to cross this line is to engage with modern life on its own terms.
The show will begin with a focused look at Warhol鈥檚 late work, examining his related initiatives as a television personality, paparazzo, and publishing impresario. Highlights include a number of works from his initially controversial series known as the Retrospectives or Reversals. Reprising his celebrated Pop icons from the 1960s, in a manner initially deemed cynical, the Retrospectives look ahead to installations by a number of artists including Martin Kippenberger and Tracey Emin, who overtly engage the self-mythologizing impulse manipulating their personas as a medium, like silkscreen or paint.
Pop Life: Art in a Material World will include reconstructions of both Keith Haring鈥檚 Pop Shop and Jeff Koons's seldom reunited Made in Heaven. Haring opened the Pop Shop in 1986 on New York's Lafayette St. to merchandise his branded artistic signature as editioned objects such as t-shirts, toys and magnets aimed at as wide an audience as possible. Jeff Koons鈥檚 Made in Heaven, which debuted at the Venice Bienniale in 1990, immortalized his marital union with the Italian porn star and politician known as La Cicciolina. A specially-commissioned new installation by the celebrated Japanese artist Takashi Murakami will debut in the exhibition's final gallery.
A gallery dedicated to the so-called 鈥榊oung British Artists鈥� will focus on their early performative exploits including ephemera from Tracey Emin and Sarah Lucas鈥檚 shop in Bethnal Green where they created and sold their work. Renowned pieces such as Gavin Turk鈥檚 Pop 1993 will also feature, as will selected works representing Damien Hirst鈥檚 recent Sotheby鈥檚 auction, Beautiful Inside My Head Forever. Tate Modern will also restage Hirst鈥檚 performance originally shown at Cologne鈥檚 鈥楿nfair鈥� art fair in 1992. Identical twins will sit beneath two identical spot paintings for the duration of Pop Life: Art in a Material World. Tate Modern is appealing for identical twins to take part in this performance.
The exhibition is organized by Tate Modern and is co-curated by Jack Bankowsky, Artforum鈥檚 Editor at Large, Alison M. Gingeras, Chief Curator of the Fran莽ois Pinault Collection and Catherine Wood, Tate Modern Curator of Contemporary Art and Performance, assisted by Nicholas Cullinan, Curator, International Modern Art, Tate Modern. Pop Life: Art in a Material World will travel to the National Gallery of Canada and is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue.
Pop Life: Art in a Material World will propose a re-reading of one of the major legacies of Pop Art. Opening at Tate Modern on 1 October 2009, the exhibition will take Andy Warhol鈥檚 notorious provocation that 鈥榞ood business is the best art鈥� as a starting point in reconsidering the legacy of Pop Art and the influence of the movement鈥檚 chief protagonist. Pop Life: Art in a Material World looks ahead to the various ways that artists since the 1980s have engaged with mass media and cultivated artistic personas creating their own signature 'brands'. Among the artists represented will be Tracey Emin, Keith Haring, Damien Hirst, Martin Kippenberger, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami and Richard Prince.
Pop Life: Art in a Material World argues that Warhol鈥檚 most radical lesson is reflected in the work of artists of subsequent generations who, rather than simply representing or commenting upon our mass media culture, have infiltrated the publicity machine and the marketplace as a deliberate strategy. Harnessing the power of the celebrity system and expanding their reach beyond the art world and into the wider world of commerce, these artists exploit channels that engage audiences both inside and outside the gallery. The conflation of culture and commerce is typically seen as a betrayal of the values associated with modern art; this exhibition contends that, for many artists working after Warhol, to cross this line is to engage with modern life on its own terms.
The show will begin with a focused look at Warhol鈥檚 late work, examining his related initiatives as a television personality, paparazzo, and publishing impresario. Highlights include a number of works from his initially controversial series known as the Retrospectives or Reversals. Reprising his celebrated Pop icons from the 1960s, in a manner initially deemed cynical, the Retrospectives look ahead to installations by a number of artists including Martin Kippenberger and Tracey Emin, who overtly engage the self-mythologizing impulse manipulating their personas as a medium, like silkscreen or paint.
Pop Life: Art in a Material World will include reconstructions of both Keith Haring鈥檚 Pop Shop and Jeff Koons's seldom reunited Made in Heaven. Haring opened the Pop Shop in 1986 on New York's Lafayette St. to merchandise his branded artistic signature as editioned objects such as t-shirts, toys and magnets aimed at as wide an audience as possible. Jeff Koons鈥檚 Made in Heaven, which debuted at the Venice Bienniale in 1990, immortalized his marital union with the Italian porn star and politician known as La Cicciolina. A specially-commissioned new installation by the celebrated Japanese artist Takashi Murakami will debut in the exhibition's final gallery.
A gallery dedicated to the so-called 鈥榊oung British Artists鈥� will focus on their early performative exploits including ephemera from Tracey Emin and Sarah Lucas鈥檚 shop in Bethnal Green where they created and sold their work. Renowned pieces such as Gavin Turk鈥檚 Pop 1993 will also feature, as will selected works representing Damien Hirst鈥檚 recent Sotheby鈥檚 auction, Beautiful Inside My Head Forever. Tate Modern will also restage Hirst鈥檚 performance originally shown at Cologne鈥檚 鈥楿nfair鈥� art fair in 1992. Identical twins will sit beneath two identical spot paintings for the duration of Pop Life: Art in a Material World. Tate Modern is appealing for identical twins to take part in this performance.
The exhibition is organized by Tate Modern and is co-curated by Jack Bankowsky, Artforum鈥檚 Editor at Large, Alison M. Gingeras, Chief Curator of the Fran莽ois Pinault Collection and Catherine Wood, Tate Modern Curator of Contemporary Art and Performance, assisted by Nicholas Cullinan, Curator, International Modern Art, Tate Modern. Pop Life: Art in a Material World will travel to the National Gallery of Canada and is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue.
Pop Life: Art in a Material World argues that Warhol鈥檚 most radical lesson is reflected in the work of artists of subsequent generations who, rather than simply representing or commenting upon our mass media culture, have infiltrated the publicity machine and the marketplace as a deliberate strategy. Harnessing the power of the celebrity system and expanding their reach beyond the art world and into the wider world of commerce, these artists exploit channels that engage audiences both inside and outside the gallery. The conflation of culture and commerce is typically seen as a betrayal of the values associated with modern art; this exhibition contends that, for many artists working after Warhol, to cross this line is to engage with modern life on its own terms.
The show will begin with a focused look at Warhol鈥檚 late work, examining his related initiatives as a television personality, paparazzo, and publishing impresario. Highlights include a number of works from his initially controversial series known as the Retrospectives or Reversals. Reprising his celebrated Pop icons from the 1960s, in a manner initially deemed cynical, the Retrospectives look ahead to installations by a number of artists including Martin Kippenberger and Tracey Emin, who overtly engage the self-mythologizing impulse manipulating their personas as a medium, like silkscreen or paint.
Pop Life: Art in a Material World will include reconstructions of both Keith Haring鈥檚 Pop Shop and Jeff Koons's seldom reunited Made in Heaven. Haring opened the Pop Shop in 1986 on New York's Lafayette St. to merchandise his branded artistic signature as editioned objects such as t-shirts, toys and magnets aimed at as wide an audience as possible. Jeff Koons鈥檚 Made in Heaven, which debuted at the Venice Bienniale in 1990, immortalized his marital union with the Italian porn star and politician known as La Cicciolina. A specially-commissioned new installation by the celebrated Japanese artist Takashi Murakami will debut in the exhibition's final gallery.
A gallery dedicated to the so-called 鈥榊oung British Artists鈥� will focus on their early performative exploits including ephemera from Tracey Emin and Sarah Lucas鈥檚 shop in Bethnal Green where they created and sold their work. Renowned pieces such as Gavin Turk鈥檚 Pop 1993 will also feature, as will selected works representing Damien Hirst鈥檚 recent Sotheby鈥檚 auction, Beautiful Inside My Head Forever. Tate Modern will also restage Hirst鈥檚 performance originally shown at Cologne鈥檚 鈥楿nfair鈥� art fair in 1992. Identical twins will sit beneath two identical spot paintings for the duration of Pop Life: Art in a Material World. Tate Modern is appealing for identical twins to take part in this performance.
The exhibition is organized by Tate Modern and is co-curated by Jack Bankowsky, Artforum鈥檚 Editor at Large, Alison M. Gingeras, Chief Curator of the Fran莽ois Pinault Collection and Catherine Wood, Tate Modern Curator of Contemporary Art and Performance, assisted by Nicholas Cullinan, Curator, International Modern Art, Tate Modern. Pop Life: Art in a Material World will travel to the National Gallery of Canada and is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue.
Contact details
Tuesday - Thursday
10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Friday - Saturday
10:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Bankside Bankside - London, UK SE1 9TG
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