PhillipsX Presents Fall Exhibition ALT POP: An Alternative History to American Pop Art

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Nov 02, 2023, 15:49 ET

Featuring Historical Paintings By Kiki Kogelnik, Rosalyn Drexler, Claes Oldenburg, Idelle Weber, Tom Wesselmann, Andy Warhol, Among Others

NEW YORK, Nov. 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- FALL 2023 – In conjunction with Phillips' marquee 20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening and Day sales, PhillipsX is pleased to announce ALT POP: An Alternative History to American Pop Art. This exhibition will feature artworks for sale and on loan on view at 432 Park Avenue from 23 October though 17 November. ALT POP aims to reconsider the influence of a variety of figures, many of them women, who actively participated in the Pop movement from its inception.

Rosalyn Drexler
Hunted, 1963
18” (diameter) — Rosalyn Drexler Hunted, 1963 18” (diameter)

Alexander Weinstock, Private Sales, said, "We're excited to welcome people into the ALT POP exhibition and experience a familiar artistic scene through a new lens. While the artists presented in this exhibit did indeed overlap at various points in their careers, each found their way to a working artistic method through their adoption of this universal consumerist language. By placing these figures in conversation with one another, we can cull new insights into the recurring themes and meanings within Pop art itself, while also gleaning new perspective on the artists and movements which proceed it."

Among the highlights are Kiki Kogelnik's Rainy and Incognito, which will be presented publicly for the first time in almost 50 years. The trailblazing painter has received attention recently from a number of institutional exhibitions across Europe. These two canvases prominently feature her re-examination of the archetypal female pin-up model, and fascination with space-age imagery all set against the backdrop of the burgeoning feminist movement.

Idelle Weber is well represented with two large-scale, early canvases from her iconic Ben Casey series: Nos. II and IV, 1962. Taking inspiration from the popular television procedural of the same name, rather than focusing on the titular protagonist – the charismatic doctor – she instead turns toward the anonymous bodies which open each episode. Rendered in sharp contrast, the paintings mimic the effects of a television screen. In a similar vein, Rosalyn Drexler is featured with multiple canvases such as Hunted, 1963, an early tondo in striking orange. An anguished silhouette is pictured in the throes of pain, clearly the recipient of a gunshot wound. Culled from pulp magazines, cinema posters, and other consumer media, these works highlight Drexler's unique fascination with the overt violence intrinsic to contemporary pop culture.

Sparkling and plush, Jann Haworth's Rhinestones, 1963-64, evolve not only from a fascination with material culture, but derive from her background as the daughter of a Hollywood set-designer. The miniature stones are magnified ten-fold in textile form. A central player in the history of soft sculpture, her practice evolved in parallel to Yayoi Kusama and Patty Mucha & Claes Oldenburg.

Exhibition viewing: 23 October – 17 November
Location: 432 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10022
Click here for more information: https://www.phillips.com/store/alt-pop

SOURCE PHILLIPS