BOOK:Roy Lichtenstein -The Loaded Brush, Thaddaeus Ropac Publications

Thaddaeus Ropac has run its own publishing house since it was founded in 1983, to document the work of artists represented by the gallery and advance the critical dialogue surrounding their work. With over 300 titles published to date, its publications feature new and in-depth research together with quality reproductions of the artists’ work and installations, in the form of exhibition catalogues, monographs, compilations of artists’ writings and, more recently, artists’ books. Thaddaeus Ropac bookstore make a spring offer 25 of in its books. Among them is the catalogue “Roy Lichtenstein – The Loaded Brush” that cover the homonymous exhibition at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac Salzburg (27/7-28/9/2019), an in-depth exhibition focusing on this seminal period of Roy Lichtenstein’s career which follows numerous historic and institutional shows in the United States, brings together rarely seen works that span major figurative and abstract paintings, sculptures, collages and drawings. Together, the brushstroke sculptures and paintings constitute a significant portion of the artist’s oeuvre and demonstrate some of the guiding interests of Lichtenstein’s ongoing artistic development across a variety of materials.Executed with superb craftsmanship, Lichtenstein’s painting is characterised by its celebrated subject matter, rich colour contrasts and rhythmic brushwork, a combination shared only by Lichtenstein’s most iconic Cartoon Brushstroke Figure works of the 1980s. A flawless union between the classical, the modern, and the contemporary, “Artemis and Acteon” is an outstanding example of Lichtenstein’s timeless engagement with the history of art, demonstrating his remarkable ability to bring together past historical styles and pave the way for conceptual commentary on painting itself. -Efi Michalarou