Pop Life

the first leg of a touring exhibition of Contemporary Drawing that was also shown in Amsterdam


Marcel van Eeden Zigmund’s Machine 2019 Charcoal on paper 20 x 29,7 x 21 cm and 10 x 42x 29,7 cm		Euan Gray Dancers (Moulin Rouge) 2021 Coloured Pencil on Paper 51 x 64cm

Paul McDevit Notes to Self 2012 - 2021 Ink, colour pencil, gouache on paper 30 × 21 cm		Charlotte Schleiffert Untitled 65 x50 cm mixed media 2004

Rinus Van de Velde They call him the wall of the village., 2019 charcoal on canvas, artist frame 159 x 153 cm	Rinus Van de Velde He will put the towel always on the exact same spot, ..., 2019 colored pencil on paper 11,9 x 13,8 cm	Sandra Vasquez De La Horra La muerte se apronta 2012 graphite on paper in wax 70,5 x 49,7 cm	Sandra Vasquez De La Horra Dictando Poemas 2020 graphite, watercolour, oil and sand on paper with wax 70,5 x 49,7 cm

Witte Wartena Show busines for ugly people Terminator 2021 Watercolour and pencil on paper 30 x 40 cm

The artists Witte Wartena from the Netherlands and Euan Gray from Scotland have curated the autumn exhibition at Teckningsmuseet in Laholm.

International pop art gathers Trump and Lady Gaga in Laholm

Art • Popular culture icons are everywhere. We can take part in celebrities, scandals and stories in everything from film, music, television, social media – and now also in museums. Pop art is the autumn theme at the Drawing Museum.

There is something pop in the air at Teckningsmuseet in Laholm as soon as you step inside. The smell of popcorn is the first thing that hits you, like in a cinema.
- We thought it might be suitable for tomorrow's opening, says Frida Talik, artistic director at the museum.
What's fitting about this particular snack is that it's about pop art. Popular culture in all its varieties shapes our lives in different ways on a daily basis, and this is what we want to show during this autumn's exhibition. For this, however, it is not the museum itself that has decided which artists will be displayed, but two curators have been selected for this: Euan Gray from Scotland and Witte Wartena from Holland. Together they have selected seven artists – including themselves – from Belgium, the Netherlands, Great Britain and Germany, with one of the German artists originating from Chile.
- It is an accessible exhibition for everyone, says Euan. And it's fun.
- You can relate to a lot, says Witte. There are several layers – among the fun there is also the dark.
The idea was that they would have arrived already two years ago, but then, as you know, something stopped international travel...

Super bowl and Donald Trump

There are many different techniques and motifs that are mixed at the exhibition. Some images are pure series albums. Others are images from music magazines, with modern classic images such as Janet Jackson during the Super bowl 2004 and Spice girl Geri Halliwell in her British coloured dress. Social media like Tiktok is mixed with good old phone doodles.
Witte Wartena's pictures have brought together politicians from before they became politicians, and instead were known for something else. We get to see the TV celebrity and later President Donald Trump in a wrestling match. Britain's recently deposed Prime Minister Boris Johnson was on their version of "Talk about news". And an even more, smoking hot defection: In a quiz, one of the participants was called Kwasi Kwarteng - who on Friday afternoon was ousted as Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer. Which he still was on Friday morning, when the museum's press screening took place.
- All of these have been elected thanks to voter recognition, says Euan Gray. It shows how important popular culture is, when it affects the whole society.

Van Gogh and Lady Gaga

The artists in the exhibition have solid careers, and at the same time exhibit at, among others, the Center Pompidou in Paris and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. This whole exhibition will also go to that city when it is finished with Laholm in January. Incidentally, Van Gogh is also featured in Pop life, in one of Euan Gray's works. Four drawings show four actors who have all played the Dutch painter.

- It is about identity, and how it is formed
through the language of popular culture, says Gray. There are no photographs of an adult Van Gogh. Therefore, we have instead received our images of what he was like via actors who have portrayed him, and their charisma. That's what pop culture can do.
The exhibition's largest work is called "Lady Gaga", but it is not clear if it is the singer in the painting, as the person in the picture is wearing a large mask, or a bird's head. Something that an artist like Lady Gaga could certainly wear. At least that's the image we've been given of her via – popular culture.

Text and Pictures:
Johan Hammerby