Imperfect Print For B.A.M.
Imperfect Print For B.A.M.
Signed Mixed Media
Roy Lichtenstein
Mixed Media, 1987
Signed Mixed Media Edition of 75
H 137cm x W 65cm
Critical Review
Roy Lichtenstein was one of the first artists of the Pop Art movement to mimic the visual language of commercial design in his contemporary artworks. The artist was also known for breathing new life into long-established art historical genres, thereby initiating bold dialogues with the art of the past.
The Perfect/Imperfect series, executed between 1978 and 1995, is a sensational example of the varied visual strategies Lichtenstein employed throughout his career. Rather than deriving inspiration from mass-produced images, both sequences manifest the artist’s original abstract designs. Although they were created concurrently and are thematically identical, the two series represent the same composition differently. While the Perfect prints conform to the framework, the Imperfect prints take a different approach and subvert the pictorial boundaries.
Imperfect Print for B.A.M, completed in 1988, is the most subtle saboteur of the Imperfect Series. The print exhibits light and dark blue shapes with stark black borders, arranged into a web of interconnected lines. Tone, texture and dimension are evoked through black Ben Day dots and stripes. No sharply angled forms are piercing the edges of this print. Instead, discreet lines and corners poke at the borders, gently interrupting its outline in a select few places.
