Pop (T)art

I went to that Pop Art exhibition at the Portrait Gallery today. Prerequisite for working at the Portrait Gallery – BEING SNOOTY.

They’re already charging you nine quid for an exhibition you can happily whip round in 15 minutes and still have time to dilly dally, then as you’re paying they ask would you like to add another pound as a charitable donation. “No, I’m sorry”, I replied as I proffered my tenner. Well! Immediately an icy cast fell, and as my change was handed back it was twisted this way and that and looked at with as much disgust as if it had just dropped out of my arse. Then there was a smug “hmm, I suppose you’ll be needing this" kind of sneer as I was waved away in the general direction of the entrance. Honestly! All this from a man in his sixties who has done nothing with his life but sell tickets.

The exhibition itself was OK, but nothing special. For some reason I was expecting Warhol’s electric chair and car crash, but that must have been a review I read in my imagination because it was mostly his self portraits and Marilyns. You get sick of her face after a while.

It always feels a bit predictable and lazy to label Warhol as your favourite artist, so I’m going to be contrary and choose Roy Lichtenstein instead. He’s certainly wittier than Warhol, not to mention more camp. All those melodramatic dames and chisel-faced men in smart/casual. I especially like the ones with captions. My favourite is the drowning girl thinking, “I don’t care! I’d rather sink than ask Brad for help.” Ha ha, I love her. Also the angry man, storming away from his girlfriend barking, “Forget it! Forget me! I’m fed up with your kind!” Whaat a barrstard.

Though actually, those paintings aren’t even in the exhibition, so what the HELL am I on about?! I’ve taken a mental trip back to something I saw at the Hayward a few years ago. FOCUS! It's just just the one up there, In The Car, *points* which doesn't have any captions, but it does have lots of his trademark dots on as compensation.

I think my favourite print might have been this one, a piece by Richard Hamilton called Just what is it that makes today’s homes so different, so appealing? I loved it because of the woman at the top of the stairs. You'll have to squint to see her in this picture, but she has a hoover and there's a little arrow halfway up the steps saying “Ordinary cleaners only reach this far”. It reminded me of that stupid old advert for some cleaner or another and for some reason made my laugh hysterically … plus there’s also the girl on the right with the nice titties.