If Looks Could Kill - Graphic Art & Design

I watched a documentary on Roy Lichtenstein last night, and learned that ALL of his bad-ass comic-styled paintings were TRACED from vintage comics by other artists. He cut selected panels out and would first trace it at regular size, then blow it up with an opaque projector. From there, he would reduce and enlarge, to get the desired framing and cropping of the image on his canvas. The benday dots? Masked, then airbrushed. For some reason, I had always pictured them painstakingly painted by hand.

He was, however, a master of graphic design. You could liken him to someone armed with Adobe Photoshop and another artist’s work - there is an art involved in cropping, adjusting the colors, enhancing. Not everyone with Photoshop creates captivating images. His were always and striking and distinct in style, which technically was his own.

What I object to, is that the work was not his own, yet he made shitloads from each painting with no credit or kickback to the original artist. Lichtenstein originally insisted all work was his own, but an artist recognized his own work therein, and soon the truth was out. An interesting aside, the artists of these 50’s comics, that Lichtenstein’s work hinged on, got together and held a huge exhibit in New York, only to receive to a dismal turn-out.

This speaks to Roy Lichtenstein’s sense of aesthetics. He knew that by isolating a comic panel from it’s original context, and even improving on the original artist’s lines, the drama was intensified. The viewer could make up their own accompanying backstory.

I just think that it’s fucked up that he was selling shit that wasn’t his. Furthermore, I find it humorous that his foundation site commands that none of the contents should be reproduced in any form. ;p