Tia Jones of the Telegraph Herald wrote about Shiny, Sticky, Smooth: Pop Art and the Senses, the exciting new exhibition coming to the Dubuque Museum of Art showcasing Pop Art in a dynamic way.
“It’s going to be sensory, like a 360-degree sound system,” said David Schmitz, executive director of the Dubuque Museum of Art. “When I saw this show I thought, ‘What a great opportunity to educate our community to Pop Art.’”
Schmitz said Pop Art shows the power and cultural impact ordinary images can have.
“The work is just fun to look at,” he said. “They have a visual punch to them.”
The work is part of the collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation, based in Portland, Ore. Schnitzer and his Foundation have shared more than 100 exhibitions at 80 museums, all free of charge to the institutions. Shiny, Sticky, Smooth was created by Patricia McDonnell, executive director of the Wichita (Kan.) Art Museum.
“She came up with this idea, and she and her team came up with a brilliant collection of contemporary artists,” Schnitzer said. “There are many pieces that will resonate with Dubuque audiences.”
Those pieces include Lichtenstein’s interior series, which he called spectacular, and Thiebaud’s little red suckers.
“Work that showed common objects, but in an artistic way no one ever considered,” Schnitzer said.
As for his favorite piece, Schnitzer referenced the Robert Cottingham’s “American Signs: ART.”
“I love the way he takes words and neon signs, but he makes them come alive in an abstract, realism technique,” he said.
Shiny, Sticky, Smooth: Pop Art and the Senses will be displayed at the Dubuque Museum of Art from Saturday, Feb. 18, to Sunday, May 14. It features more than 70 pieces, paintings, prints and sculptures from Warhol, Lichtenstein, Koons, Wayne Thiebaud, James Rosenquist, Ed Ruscha, Robert Cottingham and Claes Oldenburg.