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Posted on February 9, 2015 by Gionni Ponce
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Crying Girl
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Roy Lichtenstein was an American pop artist who gained prominence in the 1960s. He is best known for creating colorful works of images appropriated directly from comic books and advertisements. His characters were painted using hard lines and Ben-Day dots to mimic the imagery of mass produced printed materials.
Oh, Jeff… I love you, too… But…
Lichtenstein, along with his contemporary pop artists, sparked heated debates on the true nature of art and its relation to originality. Many people condemn Lichtenstein as a plagiarist because he never acknowledged the artists from whom he appropriated materials. In the end, however, Lichtenstein spawned a movement of copycat artists who have taken his work and made it their own: painters, graphic designers, make-up artists, and photographers.
Some people are offended by Lichtenstein’s work because they believe he creates caricatures of women which do not display the deep complexity of a woman’s life. By reading his images as a simple reflection on the nature of women, these people misunderstand his work. He does not seek to share his personal thoughts but, rather, he holds a mirror to society to hyperbolize its melodramatic portrayal of women in advertisements and comic books.
Photography and Text by Gionni Ponce, Copyright 2015
Editor’s Note: Gionni Ponce is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a major in English and is currently an executive assistant at http://www.participantmedia.com, based in Los Angeles.