Found Objects
Driven by experimentation and collaboration and an interest in consumer culture or modern design, found objects became a direct source of inspiration for many artists in the 60s. A postcard of London’s famous Piccadilly Circus given to Dieter Roth formed the basis for one of the artist’s best-known works, Six Piccadillies, 1969-70, consisting of six double sided prints of the famous landmark. A print of a toaster by Richard Hamilton made in 1967, one of the artist’s first works to combine different printing techniques, depicts a Braun home appliance with accompanying text adapted from Braun advertising brochures.
For other artists everyday ephemera and materials became elements of the work itself, such as small wooden and metal items, stapled or attached by string by Joe Tilson to his prints or a work by Briget Riley from her Fragments series, featuring the first screenprints ever made on plexi-glass in 1965.
Although dissolving the distinction between everyday items and what was deemed a work of fine art, many of the artists on show remained rooted in a European tradition. Tess Jaray found inspiration in the forms and shapes of Italian Renaissance architecture, whereas Tom Wesselmann and Patrick Caulfield’s pared back depictions of furnishings, interiors and still life drew directly from artists such as Léger, Cezanne, Matisse, Braque and Picasso.
The emergence of this egalitarian approach in the 60s is typified by 7 Objects in a Box, the first ever edition of multiples produced in 1966. Using a wide range of materials, some newly invented, the work embodies an alternative and sometimes irreverent approach to making multiples. 7 Objects in a Box, a combination of each artist’s distinctive style, includes a cast of a baked potato by Claes Oldenburg, a printed still from a film by Andy Warhol, and a baked enamel sunrise by Roy Lichtenstein, together with contributions from Jim Dine, Allan D’Arcangelo, George Segal, and Tom Wesselmann.
The exhibition demonstrates the breadth and variety of prints and multiples that, for the first time, confounded oppositions between high art and the vernacular, the hand made and the mechanical, abstraction and figuration.
Artists: Patrick Caulfield, Allan D'Arcangelo, Jim Dine, Richard Hamilton, Tess Jaray, Jasper Johns, Allen Jones, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, Bridget Riley, Dieter Roth, George Segal, Joe Tilson, Andy Warhol, Tom Wesselmann.
For a full list of works in the exhibition please contact sales@cristearoberts.com
Opening Reception
6.30 - 8pm, Wednesday 29 January 2025
Please contact rsvp@cristearoberts.com to confirm your attendance. This opening reception coincides with the exhibition opening for Christiane Baumgartner: Sunken Treasure.
