Pamper Guests - The Parklander Magazine

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT BY YVETTE JAYSON SENCER, Ph.DPOPoff the pageDrawing for “BedroomPainting #24” (1972).At top right, “Study forSunset Nude, FloralBlanket” (2003).“TOM WESSELMANN DRAWS” is an outstanding exhibition onview now through February 27, 2011 at the Museum of Art inFort Lauderdale. It is the most comprehensive showing of thefamed Pop artist’s drawings ever assembled.Along with Andy Warhol, Jim Dine, James Rosenquist andRoy Lichtenstein,Wesselmann was a pioneer of the Pop Art movement,which began in England and the U.S. in the late 1950s.These artists employed imagery that challenged the accepted styleof Abstract Expressionism. The imagery of Pop Art exploitedmundane objects of everyday life, like a toothbrush, a set of keys,familiar grocery items, and elements of the human body. The1960s saw a surge of interest in the style. New York’s PopArt movement gained critical acclaim. AlthoughWesselmann and his peers worked independently,they shared a common approach beyond theemployment of commonplace objects as subjectmatter for serious art—direct observation,a fresh concern for realism and aunique interpretation of post-World WarII contemporary life.Wesselmann is best known for creatingcollages from a variety of foundobjects. He considered these works tobe drawings, although some werecrafted from materials such as metal,textiles, and plastic. More than 100works, created from 1959 to 2004, theyear of his death, are on display.According to Irvin Lippman, themuseum’s Executive Director,“Wesselmann goes beyond the takingof everyday objects…and hasmemorialized them into an impossiblelevel of reality.”A special treat for viewers inthe exhibition, originally conceivedby Wesselmann and hiswife Claire, are the manyworks never before seenoutside the artist’s(continued on page 60)58DECEMBER 2010