Part One, Frozen Terror … Part Two, Fangs of Death
Sir Eduardo Paolozzi ; Richard Davis; Editions Alecto
Description
Subject Matter:
Like many of his contemporaries, Paolozzi used new printing techniques as a way to engage with modern mass media's new visual culture. At the same time, the photomechanical process made the work look mechanically manufactured rather hand made, in the traditional artistic sense. Therefore, when he modified, transformed, and assembled the source image(s) the medium would allow for a more uniform final image.
This print is one of a large series of 50 prints included in the 1970 portfolio, which was a second edition of the an earlier group of slightly larger prints titled "Moonstrips Empire News." While the first series was stricktly produced as screenprints, this second series "General Dynamic F.U.N." includes works of photolithography, as in the present example. The themes seen in this portfolio are different in style and subject matter from other Pop works of the period, but engage with the images of a modern mass media, looking beyond just advertising and publicity images. Likewise, the title of the portfolio alludes to the General Dynamics Corporation, who was the manufacturer of the F-111 fighter used during the Vietnam War—the same one referenced in James Rosenquist monumental painting "F-111."
In this print, two images of pinup girls, are juxtaposed with two anthropomorphic figures, one a flower and the other a kind of surrealist monster. The title points to a reading of this series of images in juxtaposition, both titillating and terrifying.
Physical Description:
This colorful print has a variety of checkered patterning at the top, bottom and left in red, blue and white. At the center of the print is an "x" pattern, created with colored-stripes in red, black, yellow, blue and white. Both above and below, there are four rectangular shapes. At the top, the squares are a solid olive-green color. Below, the rectangles have images in them; from left to right: nude woman seated, anthropomorphic figure, nude bust, and an anthropomorphic flower.
Usage Rights:
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