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Beyond Pop Art: A Tom Wesselmann Retrospective is the closest thing to a blockbuster this summer at the Denver Art Museum, and it’s a sweet one: On tour from the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the exhibition of nearly 100 works by Wesselmann, who died ten years ago, opens today for a run through the middle of September. Beyond Pop Art continues the DAM’s tradition of bringing exhibitions to Denver that provide an inside look into an artist’s process.
Though sometimes lumped into the pop-art genre, Wesselmann wasn’t fond of the affiliation; in a personal biography he penned as Slim Stealingworth, he wrote: “Wesselmann’s motivation, what drives his art, is no different than any other fine artist in history — he wants to give form to his own personal discoveries of what is beautiful and exciting.” But the imagery is often undeniably pop: Sexy lips, celebrity portraits, tubes of lipstick, still lifes of Royal Crown Cola and other symbols of life in the fast lane were among his favorite “beautiful and exciting” subjects.
See Beyond Pop Art daily except Mondays on the second floor of the Hamilton Building at the Denver Art Museum, 100 West 14th Avenue Parkway; the exhibit, which runs through September 14, is included in the regular museum admission of $3 to $13. For more information about the show and special DAM programming, visit denverartmuseum.org or call 720-865-5000.
Tuesdays-Sundays. Starts: July 13. Continues through Sept. 14, 2014
