This past weekend marked the opening of International Pop, the Walker Art Center’s exhibition surveying the pop-art landscape of the late ’50s to early ’70s from an international perspective. It kicked off in terrific fashion on Friday night with a Walker After Hours parties for the books. A Virtual Graffiti Wall, a “high striker” strength-testing amusement-park game, and tunes from DJs Izzy and Liberty Finch of KFAI retro vinyl show Pop Shop greeted art partiers. The evening’s centerpiece: a lit-up Ferris Wheel, tying to the show’s color-drenched palette and iconographic imagery.
The night also presented guests with the first opportunity to see the exhibition before it opened to the public. Works spanned the usual pop-art suspects—Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol–as well as pop art hailing from around the world. They included that of Britain—the 1950s-era Independent Group collective and swinging ’60s-era British Pop artists—Germany’s Capitalist Realism movement of the ’60s, Brazil’s politically charged mix of Pop Art with Concretism, Argentina’s participatory take on Pop Art, and Japan’s Tokyo Pop. Despite the varying places of entry, the collection of art shares themes of commerce and consumerism, political and social consciousness, and color—lots of it.
Accordingly, the evening’s crowd was a colorful bunch. Here is a glimpse of some of the evening’s best- (and most Pop Art-infused) dressed:
International Pop artist Delia Cancela
Karrie Vrabel
Kristoffer Knutson and Emma Berg
“International Pop” is on view through August 29 at the Walker Art Center, 1750 Hennepin Ave., Mpls. 612-375-7600, walkerart.org
[Photos by A.J. Olmscheid]
