1962, Roy Lichtenstein, Live Ammo (Blang) -- The Broad (Los Angeles)
From the museum label: Live Ammo (Blang) is an early example of Lichtenstein's use of comic book imagery, part of an artistic strategy employing images and themes from popular culture that came to define his career. At the time it was painted, the United States was experiencing multiple wars: the spectral uncertainty of the Cold War and the nostalgia for valor from World War Il coming into conflict with the twisted realities of the escalating war in Vietnam. Taking images directly from comics such as G.l. Combat, All American Men of War, and Our Fighting Forces, Lichtenstein willfully exaggerated wartime heroics to their breaking point, using caricature to test and render absurd the clean lines between hero and villain. The message was social but also insular to the world of painting, for Lichtenstein detected these macho postures in the American triumphalism of abstract expressionism. Additionally, Live Ammo (Blang) caricatures the spontaneity and "action" of this approach to art.
1962, Roy Lichtenstein, Live Ammo (Blang) -- The Broad (Los Angeles)
From the museum label: Live Ammo (Blang) is an early example of Lichtenstein's use of comic book imagery, part of an artistic strategy employing images and themes from popular culture that came to define his career. At the time it was painted, the United States was experiencing multiple wars: the spectral uncertainty of the Cold War and the nostalgia for valor from World War Il coming into conflict with the twisted realities of the escalating war in Vietnam. Taking images directly from comics such as G.l. Combat, All American Men of War, and Our Fighting Forces, Lichtenstein willfully exaggerated wartime heroics to their breaking point, using caricature to test and render absurd the clean lines between hero and villain. The message was social but also insular to the world of painting, for Lichtenstein detected these macho postures in the American triumphalism of abstract expressionism. Additionally, Live Ammo (Blang) caricatures the spontaneity and "action" of this approach to art.