Shiny, Sticky, Smooth: Pop Art and the Senses

An exhibition of over 50 rarely-seen works of Pop Art relating to sight, smell, taste, and touch on view in the Falb Family Gallery and on the Amuse Bouche Balcony Gallery, both located on the museum’s second level.

Known for its bold color and graphic images – inspired by advertising, movies, television, and comic strips of the late 1950s and 1960s – the modern art movement commonly called “Pop Art” embraced the visual language of popular culture and left a lasting mark on American art and culture.

This exhibition, which includes more than 50 prints and sculptures – several spanning more than 7 feet – features such notable Pop artists as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Wayne Thiebaud, James Rosenquist, and Claes Oldenburg and offers a fresh perspective on a familiar period in art history and mass culture.

“We are excited to bring this remarkable collection to Dubuque and to share Pop Art with our museum visitors for the first time, said DUMA Executive Director David Schmitz. “Though perhaps less shocking, Pop art movement is as relevant to our current times as it was originally in the late 1950s and 60s, when the power of media, advertising and popular culture to shape our understanding of the world around us became apparent. Pop Art and Pop artists simply drew our attention to that reality.”

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website