RARE AMERICAN POP-ART, TITLED 'GOPURAM,' DATED 1971 HIGH-MODERNIST, PENCIL SIGNED 'KOHN,' LARGE COLOR SERIGRAPH, SMALL LIMITED EDITION #3/10, FEATURING STACKED, MULTI-COLORED, PIXELATED PLASTIC 'NIBCO DWV' PVC PLUMBING FITTINGS ABSTRACT REPRESENTATION OF MULTI-COLORED, MONUMENTAL TOWER ENTRANCES OF SOUTHERN INDIAN HINDU TEMPLES

[Print was in period polished chrome metal frame, under glass. Removed for photography & cleaning.]

(Dated 1971)

Mid-20th century vintage American Pop-Art, High-Modernist serigraphs/silkscreen prints

DIMENSIONS: 

30" Height x 22 1⁄4" Width

DESCRIPTION:

Offered for your review and consideration is this really fantastic mid-20th century vintage American Pop-Art, large format Modernist color serigraph, featuring stacks of 'Nibco DWV' PVC plastic plumbing tubes, in nearly fluorescent colors, with complimentary color shadowing and exaggerated, neon-light like pixelation. The large color serigraph print has matte silkscreen inks and is realized on a buff colored cotton rag paper sheet with cut edges. This limited edition print is pencil signed 'Kohn,' dated 1971, numbered #3/10 and is titled 'Gopuram,' which is a reference of this Modernist abstract, 2-dimensional sculptural construction seen in the print, to the well-known tall, multi-colored Hindu temple entrances found in southern India. This Pop-Art image then isn't accidental or without conceptual drive and intellectual inertia. What we see, even though the disparate elements of the serigraph are disassociated pieces of plastic PVC pipe and their unnatural, nearly radioactive colors, seemingly have little to do with the monumental Gopuram temple entryways, it nevertheless insists on this unusual visual reference, using disassociated component parts, that with their upward, towering assembly and completely unnatural, nearly acidic, caustic colors, is an appropriate and most importantly, immediate visual reference to something already familiar and pre-existing in our established visual lexicon. What's realized then is an entirely Modernist and one could even suggest, Post-Modernist deconstruction of a readily identifiable cultural symbol into something that's disassembled and broken down into individual pieces and then reassembled into the current or Modern cultural milieu, with PVC plastic piping, instead of brightly painted wood, ceramic clay brick and mortar. The viewer at first believes that they may be viewing and looking at a meaningless piece of visual drivel but when learning of the title 'Gopuram' and its cultural references to antique South Indian Hindu temple entrances, the piece seems to lament the loss of the hand made quality of the original 'Gopuram' found in the East, in favor of ready-made, mass-produced, plastic component parts of the newly constructed Gopuram facsimile found in the West. One is left to wonder then, if the modernity and disassociation found in the 'new' West, is truly a historical triumph over the old-fashioned, hand-made and hand painted archaic constructions of the 'old' East. What's really being discussed here is the perpetual cultural battle between the West and the East and Occidentalism versus Orientalism. A Modernist and American Pop-Art tour de force. Immensely pleasing on both a visual and intellectual level and simply gorgeous. Magnificent.

CONDITION:

Very Good to Excellent overall vintage condition. The color serigraph is in relatively well-preserved overall vintage condition and there are no pushes, stains, tears, color degradation, abrasions, scuffs or other depreciating, noticeable damage to the surface of the color serigraph print. The serigraph was originally framed to the margins and without matboard in a period Modernist polished chrome frame. It was previously under glass. The print was removed from its original frame for inspection and to properly clean the interior sleeve of the frame, as well as the glass. The frame is a period Modernist polished chrome frame. The print will be shipped in its original frame and only have the piece of real glass substituted with fine art picture quality clear plexiglass, to ensure the work is not damaged during shipping, considering its large size. The buyer may elect to swap the plexiglass out for real glass once received after shipping.