"Seductive Subversions": The Women of Pop Art

We've always pretended to understand Pop Art. We see the portraits of soup cans and Brillo pads, the hybrids of Marilyn Monroe, and we get that they comment on mass consumerism—but what exactly do they say? It's difficult to appreciate Warhol's photographs and Lichtenstein's images without asking "one of the cool kids" to explain them. We need someone to hold our hand, nurture our understanding. We need ... a woman.

So thank you, Sid Sachs. Sachs, director of exhibitions at University of the Arts, is curator of Seductive Subversion: Women Pop Artists 1958-1969. The exhibition, which runs through March 15, is one of the first to solely collect and examine the contributions of female Pop artists. But these works, on loan from private and museum collections, also educate viewers on the intent of Pop Art. Take "Body Beautiful, or Beauty Knows No Pain: Vacuuming the Drapes," a photo montage by Martha Rosler. In this piece, a pleasant houswife stands with a vacuum hose, cleaning curtains as soldiers prepare for war in a different world behind them.

But then again, it's the same world, isn't it? One part of it is just covered by material. The piece has enough edge to provoke meditation without preaching politics, and the rhetorical dissonance is sobering.

This conversation will be furthered tonight and tomorrow, when U Arts hosts a two-day symposium featuring female Pop artists and art historians.

Seductive Subversion: Women Pop Artists 1958-1968
University of the Arts
Rosewald-Wolf Gallery (333 S. Broad)
Weekdays 10 - 5, Saturdays 12-5 (through March 15)
Free

Women and Pop Art Symposium
University of the Arts
Terra Hall, Connelly Auditorium (211 South Broad, 8th Floor)
Friday, February 5 (2-6) and Saturday, February 6 (10 - 6:30)
Free Event
Contact Kate Johnson, Special Events Manager: 215-717-6145 or kjohnson@arts.edu