ROY LICHTENSTEIN’S CREATIVE PROCESS FOR TOKYO BRUSHSTROKES IS ILLUMINATED IN A DOCUMENTARY FROM CHECKERBOARD FILM FOUNDATION

Roy Lichtenstein: Tokyo Brushstrokes Offers Comprehensive Documentation on the Pop Master’s Creation of a Major Public Sculpture. Friday, January 30, 6PM.
Film Still from Roy Lichtenstein Tokyo Brushstrokes. Courtesy Checkerboard Film Foundation

The Parrish Art Museum is presenting the documentary, Roy Lichtenstein: Tokyo Brushstrokes—an in-depth look into the artist’s process for creating his brushstroke sculptures—on Friday, January 30, 6pm. Directed by Mark Trottenberg and produced by Checkerboard Film Foundation, the film provides insight into these monumental works, one of which is installed on The Bacon Family Meadow at the entrance of the Parrish Art Museum. The 30-minute documentary will be introduced by Checkerboard founder/producer Edgar B. Howard, followed by a Q & A led by Parrish Director Terrie Sultan.

Roy Lichtenstein: Tokyo Brushstrokes follows Lichtenstein’s process from collaged brushstroke images to 3–D models; from meetings with the Japanese curator and architect to the actual fabrication at the foundry; and finally the installation in Tokyo. Sculptures from this series have also been installed as public works in Paris, Barcelona, Indianapolis, and Water Mill, New York, at the Parrish.

“Roy Lichtenstein was one of the most important artists of the 20th Century and a key figure in the East End’s creative community,” said Andrea Grover, the Century Arts Foundation Curator of Special Projects at the Parrish. “In addition to revealing how a work of art evolves from the artist’s earliest concept to full realization, the film is the perfect vehicle for sharing the history behind the Museum’s Tokyo Brushstroke I & II, installed in April 2014.”

Roy Lichtenstein: Tokyo Brushstrokes marks the first collaboration between the Parrish and Checkerboard in a new program series designed to screen documentaries on art and architecture with a specific relevance to the Museum’s collection, mission, and engagement with artists of the East End of Long Island. Future screenings at the Parrish include Ralph Gibson: Photographer/Book Artist in February, and Diller Scofidio + Renfro: Reimagining Lincoln Center and the High Line in March.

Since 1979, Checkerboard founder Edgar B. Howard has produced or directed dozens of films documenting the work of significant artists, architects, writers, including Dorothea Rockburne, Eric Fischl, Ellsworth Kelly, Milton Glaser, David Libeskind, Steven Holl, George Plimpton, Brice Marden, James Salter, and Carrie Mae Weems.

Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997) was an American Pop artist active in New York from the 1960s until his death in 1997 who is best known for his iconic large-scale paintings based on comic books. Lichtenstein, who earned a Bachelor and Master of Fine Arts from Ohio State University, had his first solo exhibition at the Carlebach Gallery in New York in 1951. By the late 50s, he began to incorporate cartoon character images into his work, eventually using both cartoon imagery and techniques to a greater extent throughout the next decade.

In the 1970s, Lichtenstein turned from comic book sources to paintings that reference the work of artists including Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, and Salvador Dali, as well as representation of house interiors and brushstrokes. In the 1980s he received his first commission for a sculpture based on the brushstroke gesture. The first American to exhibit at the Tate Gallery in London, Lichtenstein is represented in museums worldwide, with the most substantial collections at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Museum Ludwig in Cologne.

Even Details: Roy Lichtenstein: Tokyo Brushstrokes
Friday, January 30, 6pm
$10|Free for Parrish Members, Children, & Students

About the Parrish Art Museum:
Inspired by the natural setting and artistic life of Long Island’s East End, the Parrish Art Museum illuminates the creative process and how art and artists transform our experiences and understanding of the world and how we live in it. The Museum fosters connections among individuals, art, and artists through care and interpretation of the collection, presentation of exhibitions, publications, educational initiatives, programs, and artists-in residence. The Parrish is a center for cultural engagement, an inspiration and destination for the region, the nation, and the world.

Upcoming Checkerboard Film Foundation Screenings at the Parrish:
Ralph Gibson: Photographer/Book Artist
Friday, February 27, 6pm

Diller Scofidio + Renfro: Reimagining Lincoln Center and the High Line
Friday, March 27, 6pm

Friday Nights are made possible, in part, by the generous support of The Corcoran Group. Tokyo Brushstroke I & II is made by possible, in part, by the generous support of The Lichtenstein Foundation and Glenn and Amanda Fuhrman