Pop Crítico/Political Pop: Expressive Figuration in the Americas, 1960s-80s
Sunday, October 31, 2021 - Sunday, January 16, 2022
In the 1960s Pop art in the Americas took a turn to the dark side. Artists working in both the United States and Latin America increasingly manipulated Pop’s colorful and flashy representation of the familiar into a tool for social and political critique. In a 2016 exhibition, Chilean curator Soledad García called this “Pop crítico,” or “critical Pop.”
Juxtaposing works by American and Latin American artists in the Blanton’s collection, this exhibition explores how artists adopted Pop artistic language to voice a political conscience, often veiling messages within their art. Their work was at once easily accessible to viewers and, in the Latin American context, effectively camouflaged from government censorship. Notably, all of these artists embraced a return to figurative art, often centering on the body as a vehicle for critical content.
This gathering of artworks from the 1960s to the 1980s is unified by shared artistic strategies between North and South, such as the use of bright colors, the depiction of everyday objects, the play with irony and satire, and most significantly, the reliance on expressive figuration. Yet critical Pop functioned in different ways in the United States and in Latin America. If in the US it served such purposes as exposing racism, voicing anti-war sentiment, or calling attention to the incipient AIDS crisis, in Latin America, it embodied other themes. In their Pop crítico works, these artists confronted issues like endemic social and economic inequality, government corruption, and state-sponsored repression and torture under military dictatorships. The common thread uniting these artists is their recourse to popular imagery as well as their exploration of expressive or symbolic figuration, which in Latin America was known initially as nueva figuración, or neo-figuration.
The critical commentary varies by country and time period, and is at times subtle, while at other times bold and antagonistic. This exhibition embraces these contradictions between artists in the Americas as well as their visual similarities and shared attitude of rebellion. Together, these pairings of American, Latinx, and Latin American artworks illustrate how critical Pop transcended geography.
Gallery TextJuxtaposing works by American and Latin American artists in the Blanton’s collection, this exhibition explores how artists adopted Pop artistic language to voice a political conscience, often veiling messages within their art. Their work was at once easily accessible to viewers and, in the Latin American context, effectively camouflaged from government censorship. Notably, all of these artists embraced a return to figurative art, often centering on the body as a vehicle for critical content.
This gathering of artworks from the 1960s to the 1980s is unified by shared artistic strategies between North and South, such as the use of bright colors, the depiction of everyday objects, the play with irony and satire, and most significantly, the reliance on expressive figuration. Yet critical Pop functioned in different ways in the United States and in Latin America. If in the US it served such purposes as exposing racism, voicing anti-war sentiment, or calling attention to the incipient AIDS crisis, in Latin America, it embodied other themes. In their Pop crítico works, these artists confronted issues like endemic social and economic inequality, government corruption, and state-sponsored repression and torture under military dictatorships. The common thread uniting these artists is their recourse to popular imagery as well as their exploration of expressive or symbolic figuration, which in Latin America was known initially as nueva figuración, or neo-figuration.
The critical commentary varies by country and time period, and is at times subtle, while at other times bold and antagonistic. This exhibition embraces these contradictions between artists in the Americas as well as their visual similarities and shared attitude of rebellion. Together, these pairings of American, Latinx, and Latin American artworks illustrate how critical Pop transcended geography.
Introduction
When we think of Pop art, Andy Warhol’s iconic Campbell’s soup cans and serial, brightly colored pictures of Marilyn Monroe may come to mind. But Pop was not just an American phenomenon, but rather a global movement. Although many artists practicing this type of art worldwide initially targeted consumer culture, others used the same visual language to express more explicit political views. In a 2016 exhibition, Chilean curator Soledad García dubbed this art “Pop Crítico,” or “Critical Pop.” This term applies to the wide variety of artworks in this exhibition, drawn from the Blanton’s collection.
This exhibition juxtaposes works by artists from the United States and Latin America to illustrate how artists adopted Pop’s visual vocabulary as a tool for political and social critique. Their graphic works are easily accessible to viewers, but also often embody profound messages embedded just beneath the surface. Notably, after a period dominated by abstraction, all of these artists embraced a return to figurative art, and frequently used the body to convey critical content. This assembly of works from the 1960s to the mid-1980s extends beyond Pop art proper to explore strains of expressive figuration that arose in its wake.
Uniting these diverse artworks are shared visual strategies: using bright colors; appropriating images from the mass media and popular culture; highlighting the look and techniques of printmaking and commercial printing; playing with irony and satire; and most significantly, experimenting with expressive figuration. Yet critical Pop targeted different issues in the United States and in Latin America. For example, US artists used it to expose racism, voice anti-war sentiment, or call attention to the incipient AIDS crisis; in Latin America, artists confronted endemic social and economic inequality, corruption, and state-sponsored repression and torture under military dictatorships. Both drew on popular imagery and distorted the body in color and/or form.
Pop art was a direct, graphic form of artistic expression that could easily be imbued with political themes. Critical commentary varies by country and period. It may be subtle, or bold and confrontational. Together, these pairings of American, Latinx, and Latin American artworks illustrate how the visual language of Critical Pop transcends geography.
Introducción
Al considerar el arte pop, uno piensa quizás en las latas icónicas de sopa Campbell y la serie de retratos coloreados de Marilyn Monroe de Andy Warhol. Sin embargo, el arte pop no fue un fenómeno exclusivamente estadounidense, sino un movimiento global. Muchos de los artistas que practicaron este tipo de arte en todo el mundo criticaron a la cultura del consumismo, pero otros usaron el mismo lenguaje visual para expresar ideas políticas más explícitas. En una exposición de 2016, la curadora chilena Soledad García llamó a este estilo “pop crítico”. Este término describe la gran variedad de obras presentes en esta exposición, todas pertenecientes a la colección del Blanton.
Al considerar el arte pop, uno piensa quizás en las latas icónicas de sopa Campbell y la serie de retratos coloreados de Marilyn Monroe de Andy Warhol. Sin embargo, el arte pop no fue un fenómeno exclusivamente estadounidense, sino un movimiento global. Muchos de los artistas que practicaron este tipo de arte en todo el mundo criticaron a la cultura del consumismo, pero otros usaron el mismo lenguaje visual para expresar ideas políticas más explícitas. En una exposición de 2016, la curadora chilena Soledad García llamó a este estilo “pop crítico”. Este término describe la gran variedad de obras presentes en esta exposición, todas pertenecientes a la colección del Blanton.
La muestra contrapone obras de artistas de Estados Unidos y América Latina para ilustrar cómo se fue adaptando el vocabulario visual del pop como un dispositivo para la crítica política y social. La calidad gráfica de sus obras resulta fácilmente accesible, pero con frecuencia también incorpora mensajes más profundos. Es de notar que luego de un período en que dominaba la abstracción, estos artistas volvieron al arte figurativo y a la frecuente representación del cuerpo para articular contenidos de naturaleza crítica. Esta selección de obras, que data de la década de los sesenta hasta mediados de los ochenta, se extiende más allá del arte pop mismo, para explorar el arte figurativo expresivo que surgió a su paso.
Las diversas obras aquí expuestas comparten estrategias visuales: presentan colores brillantes; se apropian de imágenes de los medios de comunicación masiva y la cultura popular; destacan la apariencia y las técnicas del grabado y las impresiones comerciales; juegan con la ironía y la sátira; y, de manera significativa, experimentan con la figuración expresiva. No obstante, el pop crítico abordó temas diferentes en Estados Unidos y en América Latina. Por ejemplo, los artistas estadounidenses escogieron este estilo para exponer el racismo, expresar su oposición a la guerra, o dar a conocer la incipiente crisis del SIDA. En América Latina, por su parte, los artistas lo usaron para hacer frente a la desigualdad económica y social endémicas, a la corrupción, a la represión estatal y a la tortura perpetrada por las dictaduras militares. Tanto unos como otros utilizaron la imaginería popular y distorsionaron en forma y color la figura humana.
El arte pop fue una modalidad de expresión artística gráfica y directa, que fácilmente podía encarnar asuntos políticos. Los comentarios críticos varían según el país y el período. Pueden ser sutiles o audaces y polémicos. En conjunto, estas comparaciones de obras latinoamericanas, latinas y estadounidenses ilustran cómo el lenguaje visual del pop crítico trasciende la geografía.