Gagosian Spotlights Roy Lichteinstein’s ‘Brushstrokes’

Summary

• Gagosian in New York will open Painting with Scattered Brushstrokes, an exhibition dedicated to Roy Lichtenstein’s prolific brushstroke work
• Featuring paintings, works on paper, watercolors and sculpture, the exhibition arrives ahead of the artist’s Whitney exhibition, slated as a major New York moment

Gagosian is set to unveil a major ensemble of works by Roy Lichtenstein at its Chelsea gallery later this month. Titled after a 1984 canvas, Painting with Scattered Brushstrokes features an array of significant paintings, sculpture, watercolors and works on paper by the pop art pioneer, all while paring it all down to painting’s bare bones.

“I’m never drawing the object itself,” Lichtenstein once said. “I’m only drawing a depiction of the object — a kind of crystallized symbol of it.” For him, the brushstroke was more than just a gesture; it was a formal and symbolic instrument. He first started toying with the idea in a 1965. The first “Brushstroke” color screenprint figures a thick, ‘W’-shaped swipe and was dubbed by the artist as a “satirical send-up of abstract expressionism.”

Lichtenstein would further down this path through the 1970s and ’80s, eventually becoming a hallmark of his style and practice. Later Brushstrokes works would lifted the mark off the page and into sculptures, ranging from medium-sized models to monumental forms. Exploring irony, bravura and spontaneity, each piece is visually defined with a close-to-mechanical meticulousness, putting this essential element of painting under a new light.

The upcoming exhibition, drawn from the Lichtenstein family collection, transports us back to this era of artistic innovation. It arrives at a moment of renewed attention for the artist, on the heels of a banner market year that saw more than $150 million USDin auction sales, alongside twin spotlights at Dallas museums and a major retrospective at the Whitney incoming.

Painting with Scattered Brushstrokes will be on view in New York from March 19 through April 25.

Gagosian New York
541 W 24th St,
New York, NY 10011