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Kelowna’s newest art exhibit, ‘From Warhol to Banksy’ features a number of iconic pop artists from the 1960s to the present day.
The Kelowna Art Gallery has acquired over 75 notable pieces of pop art featuring Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons, Tom Wesselmann, Takashi Murakami, Banksy and Mr. Brainwash.
Pop art emerged in the UK and the United States during the mid-to-late 1950s and challenged the traditional methods of fine art.
Through the use of bright, vibrant colours, and popular imagery taking inspiration from comic books, magazines, advertising and graffiti it pushed the boundaries by using irony and satire to add a bit of flair to the art world.
“The whole movement is unique, and it’s really a challenge on the status quo. Using art as a tool to become an activist or make a statement that might be political, it might have social connotations, but really there’s a message behind the work,” explains Christine May, curator at the Kelowna Art Gallery.
“A lot of that message has to do with consumerism, one iconic piece is Warhol’s Campbell Soup. Taking art that we see every day and in our everyday life and moving it to a high art context. It also challenges the elitism of the fine art world in bringing these everyday images to a gallery setting.”
While most of the works in the space are original, and even signed by these household names, some are replicas of the original pieces that are attributed to these creative geniuses.
As exhibitions come and go within the Kelowna Art Gallery, the space was redesigned over a two-week period to accommodate the colourful display.
“This is an originating exhibition,” May told KelownaNow.
“The team here came up with the concept and approached a local collector, Paul and Tracey Mitchell, and they very generously allowed us to come into their homes and take a lot of this artwork right off their walls and show it this summer at the art gallery.”
‘From Warhol to Banksy’ will be running for three months, and will end in mid-October. Tickets can be purchased at the front door or online, or you can check out the gallery on Thursdays for free.
On top of this specific exhibition, there are five other exhibitions you can explore while spending your time browsing the fabulous galleries.
Learn more about the Kelowna Art Gallery, here.
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