In the late 1960s, Bert Stern opened his New York boutique, “On First Store.” The store celebrated the everyday as art by commissioning stylish, affordable objects for the home and wardrobe from notable fashion designers and artists. For his commission, Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein (1923 –1997) took the common paper plate and emblazoned it with his signature style of swirling primary colors and Ben-Day dots. For more information, click here.
Selections from the collection · ART for USE
Celebrating the everyday as art.
The following selections are early art editions as everyday objects.
War is a frequent theme in the work of Scottish aritst/poet Ian Hamilton Finlay (1925-2006). In 1975 Finlay brought this theme into the everyday with PACIFIC. Type A & B - Board Wargame for 2 Players. The game features a board with pieces that symbolize naval attack planes, aircraft carriers, and kamikazes. For more information, click here.
Turning the utilitarian art object full circle, Franz Erhard Walther’s 1969 participatory fabric object, is realized only when activated. The loop sewn on the front of this triangular-shaped pocket allows it to be worn on a belt. Per its title, the idea of the piece is to Find A Purpose For The Pocket. For more information, click here.
Keith Haring (1958–1990) opened the Pop Shop in 1986, viewing it as an extension of his work. The shop's mass-produced common objects adorned with the artist's iconic imagery, like this plastic Three-Eyed Smiling Face pouch, fulfilled Haring's desire to have his art reach a much larger and broader audience. For more information, click here.
Likewise, the three-person Canadian collective General Idea, Felix Partz (1945-1994), Jorge Zontal (1944-1994), and AA Bronson, extended their audience by moving into the everyday world. Not only did their work inhabit and subvert forms of popular and media culture, including boutiques, television talk shows, trade fair pavilions, mass media, and beauty pageants, it was also often presented in unconventional media forms such as postcards, prints, posters, wallpaper, balloons, crests, pins, and as shopping bags, like the one shown here, a product of General Idea’s Yen Boutique, Galerie Montenay, Paris at ARCO ’90, Madrid. For more information, click here.
Kay Rosen is an American painter interested in wordplay and capturing language visually. Her largely text-based work employs formalism, linguistics, and humor to reveal content hidden within the structural nature of written language. What better way to marry the olive with the martini than to etch and paint the letter and shape “o” on a pair of martini glasses? For more information, click here.
Cary Liebowitz, under the moniker “Candy Ass,” makes bold, self-effacing artworks that comment on the contemporary art market, kitsch, Jewish identity, and queerness. Embracing a wide range of styles, Liebowitz’s work resonates with anyone who has ever felt like an outsider. Here Liebowitz silkscreens onto a cardboard car sunshade, “Please, Don’t Steal My Radio, I’m Queer.” For more information, click here.
