get treated like trash without a college degree

But that doesn't mean we should condone it, or dismiss the original artists as mere 'drawers' as the Lichtenstein Foundation has. This is where the 'but all artists steal' comment always comes in. Many of the artist he copied were working at the time he was.

Why? Because it is simple plagiarism, at best, and theft, at its worst. But on the idea of Pop Art, the twisting of popular culture into 'art' and playing on ideas of mass production and similar themes, Lichtenstein's work STILL doesn't qualify as worthy of praise. He stole, too, and while I have a special hatred for some of his work for similar reasons, Lichtenstein was specifically stealing from OTHER artists at the time and essentially taking credit for their work, all the while letting the art world continue to belittle them.

One of the other major players in the Pop Art movement was Andy Warhol. The other major thing is the idea of Pop Art. I've already hit on the fact that comics are not 'low art' and that the artists behind the originals are worthy of far more praise than they ever have received from the art community, but just keep repeating that because its going in circles in my head. Now before I get into direct comparisons between his 'art' and the original works, I want to shoot down the usual counters to these points I'm making. Oh, and on top of even that, there's the fact that he never credited the original artists, selling his copies for millions while the actual artists saw nothing of it and some spent their lives struggling to make it. And on top of THAT, his lettering is offensively bad all on its own. Not to mention the fact that nearly all of his copies are inferior to the originals on basic levels, such as line quality, form, etc. His copies of panels from master comic artists are insipid pieces that only have any life because of the original artists, not his work. And guess what? Lichtenstein is the poster child for the problem. Clearly, I believe comics should be treated as art and not some trash to be ignored. To that, I give you a simple response that can sum up my entire feelings on this without any pretense.įirst, it must be made clear that my anger towards Lichtenstein is not because I'm some crazed lover of comics. His taking of comic panels and turning them into larger paintings is still seen as a great use of 'low art' and turning it into 'high art.' He is supposedly a great master of Pop Art, one of the first, even. Every single art history class mentions him in some form, be it at a high school or college level. Everyone knows 'his' work, and those quotes are there for a reason as can likely be inferred from the title of this post alone.

His art is loved by artists, teachers, critics, historians, and students alike. This is something I'm very passionate about. I shall do my best to avoid this, but you've been warned. There is a distinct possibility I will be much less formal and devolve into angry ranting. In fact, my anger over this topic is part of the reason this blog exists in the first place. This is a topic that makes me very angry. Second: This will, most likely, be my only negative talk about an artist. First: this is likely to be a very long entry.

Get treated like trash without a college degree