Industry and the Arts (I) 1969

Roy Lichtenstein’s screenprint, Industry and the Arts (I), well, it’s a real head-scratcher, isn’t it? It's hard to know when exactly it was made, but it's Lichtenstein at his most Pop. The way he lays down those flat, graphic shapes and those unmistakable Ben-Day dots is really something. You know, it's almost like he's saying, "Hey, art can be mass-produced too!" Look at the left side, the blues and greys, the stark lines of the factory against the… I guess, is that supposed to be a face? And then on the right, the sunshine yellows and the musical notes that seem to be spilling out. There's this amazing tension between the mechanical and the organic, the industrial and the artistic. Lichtenstein is playing with the idea that art and industry are not so different. I'm reminded of Warhol's screenprints, but Lichtenstein always adds this cool, almost detached quality. It makes you wonder, what's he really saying about art, culture, and commerce?