On My Gallery Wall: Max, Lichenstein and Choe

The old cliche about “beauty being in the eye of the beholder” certainly holds true when it comes to an appreciation of art. My husband and I have collected early Americana for years but neither one of us are big fans of the artists that portray life on the American prairie. He is drawn to old movie posters, while  bright bold colors in vintage art, a look that gives a contemporary feel to a home filled with antique furniture is what catches my eye. If I happen to win the lottery, here are a few of the artists whose works will grace my gallery wall:

Peter Max – Pop Artist

Max is a German/American artist whose work captured the spirit of the sixties and was cited by art critics as “the visual arts counterpart to the music of the Beatles.” Max has the neurological condition known as synesthesia which is defined as experiencing one sense in place of the other. He has had synesthetic experiences his entire life when he “hears” colors and “sees” music. Bright colors and abstract designs typify his work which includes posters, paintings, print ads, album covers, postage stamps and, believe it or not,  the body of a Boeing 777 super jet and a Norwegian Cruise Lines ship hull. Max spearheaded a campaign to restore the Statue of Liberty in the 1980s and continues to paint a portrait of the lovely lady every 4th of July. Born in Berlin in 1937, he lives and works in New York City.

“Peace Sign” – 1962

Roy Lichenstein – Pop Artist

Lichenstein became famous for his bright and bold paintings of comic strip cartoons as well as his paintings of everyday objects. He was one of a group of artists in the 1960s who were called “pop artists” because they made art about ‘popular’ things such as TV, celebrities, fast food, pop music and cartoons. That group included Andy Warhol of  Campbells Soup Cans fame and Jasper Johns. Lichtenstein chose the colors he used in his bright graphical work to imitate the four colors of printers’ inks. He also used Ben Day dots, a system invented to increase the range of colors available to newspaper printing but he enlarged and exaggerated them in many of his works.  He ventured into sculpting in the ’80s and ’90s producing large scale fabricated aluminum sculptures that he called his “Brushstrokes” series. Born in 1923, Lichenstein died in 1997 and his work continues to increase in value.

“Reflections on Minerva” – 1990

David Choe – Graffiti Artist

Graffiti is writings or drawings done on a wall in the public view, typically without permission. While there are examples of graffiti going back to ancient Egypt, Greece and the Roman Empire, it came to the forefront in the US as an art form in the late 1970s and 80s. Some of the most well known graffiti artists are untrained street artists. Because it is considered vandalism in our more litigious world, most graffiti artists seek anonymity and “tag” their work rather than use their actual names. David Choe is one of the few who has risen to some level of prominence in contemporary society. He was asked to paint a series of murals in 2005 by Sean Parker, the original president of Facebook and two years later, another “tamer” set for their second office by Mark Zuckerberg, the current CEO. Although he thought the Facebook business model was ” ridiculous and pointless,” Choe, a habitual gambler, chose to take Facebook stock instead of the $60,000 offered for the original murals. Thanks to the company’s IPO in 2012, the value of his shares has risen to $200 million which made that bet a pretty good one. 

Facebook office wall mural – 2005

Who are some of your favorite artists? Let us know by leaving a comment below.