The New Orleans Museum of
Art purchased an addition of outdoor art that changed the look of the museum
all together in 2013. It is the Five Brushstrokes that are a monumental work of
art by Roy Lichtenstein commissioned in the 80s. It is considered to be
Lichtenstein’s most ambitious piece of artwork in his Brushstroke series that
he came up with time. It consists of five separate elements with the tallest
being over 40 feet in the air (Hatch, 56). The Five Brushstrokes features a
striking collection of some forms as well as colors and is one of the
Lichtenstein’s premier “scatter pieces.†Having been installed in NOMA, it
became a prominent addition to the celebrated outdoor sculptures and s also
awe-inspiring to anyone visiting the art museum.
The Five Brushstrokes
originally commissioned in the Stuart Collection at the University of
California San Diego (UCSD) in the 1980s. Lichtenstein worked on commission
while sketching his thoughts, creating color cut out elements and also made
wooden Marquette of the work. The sculpture was donated to NOMA by Sydney and
Walda Besthoff, who are sensational and famous for world class outdoor
sculpture that is on view in NOMA’s sculpture garden.
The Five Brushstrokes in
the museum is 20-n feet tall painted on aluminum sculpture created by the
characteristics of Lichtenstein. He has a trademark recognizable pop art style
in which liquid, two-dimensional painted shapes are translated into the towering,
three-dimensional artworks.With its combination of painting and sculpture at
the same time, the artwork serves as a fitting and outstanding visible visual
induction to NOMA’s collection of art. In fact, the art placed NOMA within the
elite group of public art institutions in the United States of America.
Lichtenstein died in 1997
and is famous for paintings especially the ones which depict panels from comic
books that bare blown up to heroic proportions heightening their formal
qualities and also exaggerating their emotional content (Hatch, 57). The
enlarged brushstrokes are clearly predominant in his paintings especially in a
series that he completed in the mid-1960s at the height of his reputation as
one of the top art’s enfant terrible. The brushstroke was used as ironic
commentary on the seriousness and self-importance of abstract expressionism of
the 1940s and the 1950s (Hatch, 57). The brushstroke, however, in the
contemporary society came to symbolize the freedom of individuals and artists and
the presence of the artists’ hand in the creative process.
The Five Brushstrokes,
serve as very potent visual reminders of the experience in NOMA to all
visitors. It can evoke a feeling and a sense of emotion of being free and also
creates a sense of readiness and open-mindedness. It appeals to an individual
to be ready for the unthinkable and stimulates the free spirit and willingness
to learn and see what one had never seen or learned what one had never learned
before. It also arouses a strong sense of curiosity because of the way it takes
advantage of the unthinkable making one wonder whether the artist had a clear
image in their mind when making the piece of art. It also appeals to the
visitors of NOMA to want to see more while in the Museum. Lichtenstein also
evoked a dry sense of humor and showed a non-conformist attitude when he made
the five Brush strokes that clearly indicate the typical style of making art
and paintings that have an emotional appeal and also attached to passion.
He shows some form of free
will and could seem to mock having to make every art emotional but just makes
one learn that they can have fun with art. It creates a sense of fun and can
even make one that was not into art love seeing and making their
interpretations of the intentions of the artist without necessarily having to
go down to the emotion and passion of the painter. The Five Brushstrokes are an
authentic portrayal of the liberty and freedom of art.
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