A sculpture dedication ceremony at 3 p.m. will feature remarks from museum leaders, Lichtenstein Foundation representatives and community dignitaries.
Five Brushstrokes consists of five separate elements, the largest reaching 40 feet high, and had never been assembled. The sculpture, which took several days to install, is a prominent new addition to the campus, displayed in front of the main museum building.
The day of celebration will feature music by local DJs, food trucks and special programming for all ages. Visitors can play lawn games with an artistic twist, join a session of the IMA Drawing Club and add their own brushstroke to the Museum’s giant community painting. Visitors will also enjoy an exclusive sneak peek at upcoming programming, ticket giveaways and other surprises. The evening will conclude with a viewing of The Godfather, the final film in this season’s The National Bank of Indianapolis Summer Nights Film Series.
Block Party at the IMA is free and open to the public. Tickets for The Godfather are sold separately and cost $10 for the general public and $6 for IMA members. Tickets can be purchased online or by calling 317-955-2339.
Five Brushstrokes is considered to be Lichtenstein’s most ambitious work in his Brushstroke series. Consisting of five separate elements, the tallest of which soars 40 feet into the air, the sculpture features a striking collection of forms and colors and is one of Lichtenstein’s premier ‘scatter pieces’.
Five Brushstrokes was originally commissioned by the Stuart Collection at the University of California San Diego in the early 1980s. Throughout much of 1983 and 1984 Lichtenstein worked on the commission, sketching his thoughts, creating color cut outs of each element, and then making a wooden maquette of the work. However, when the final full-scale specifications were produced, the sculpture’s huge scale prevented its fabrication. Following Lichtenstein’s death in 1997, the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation was established with the purpose of increasing the world’s exposure to the artist’s work. The foundation funded the fabrication of two examples of the Five Brushstrokes in 2012: the artist proof being acquired by the Indianapolis Museum of Art and an edition of one that is still owned by the foundation. The IMA acquired Five Brushstrokes through the generosity of the Lichtenstein Foundation and the late Robert and Marjorie Mann of Indianapolis, who established an acquisitions fund for contemporary sculpture through a bequest in 2011. The installation is generously being underwritten by Ersal and Izabela Ozdemir.
Roy Lichtenstein (American, 1923 – 1997) was born in New York City and had his first solo exhibition in the city in 1951. By 1962 Lichtenstein was showing at the prestigious Leo Castelli Gallery, where he exhibited his signature comic strip paintings. He made sculptural works as well in the early 1960s in the form of utilitarian-style objects and mannequin-style heads, both directly influenced by the representation of commercial techniques in his paintings. As his career progressed, the artist’s sculpture evolved with his painting. In the 1980s this convergence of media culminated in his monumental Brushstroke sculpture series. Evoking the movement and color of paint on canvas, these totem-like works suspend the artist’s sweeping brushstrokes in midair, balancing one on top of the other in a dynamic sculptural spectacle. Examples from the Brushstroke series are now in the collections of leading museums around the world, including the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia (Madrid), Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles) and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (Washington, DC).
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