Pop goes the art

Dadaumpop brings together 27 artists and duchampian and dadaistic legacies in Italian neo-pop. go, gawk!

Dadaumpop brings together 27 artists and duchampian and dadaistic legacies in Italian neo-pop. go, gawk!

Bollywood is no longer an opium just for the masses. Even artists are falling for our biggest exporter of dreams -- hook, line and sinker. It was the same story for artist David Cesaria, who travelled to India in search of inspiration and found it in Bollywood.

Andrea Francolino's Monet & Chandon

The result, three artworks with Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Hollywood's latest discovery, Anil Kapoor, serving as muse. So there is Kapoor as Batman, Khan as Spiderman while Bachchan is Superman. It's not just a case of Bollywood influencing pop art in Italy. There is more as 27 artists from Italy explore the neo-pop culture at an exhibition titled Dadaumpop: From Dada to Italian Neo-pop.

Tracing a journey
"The exhibition originates from a desire to understand what the Duchampian and Dadaistic legacies are that can be found in Italian neo-pop and also the need to find a definition and historicization to this artistic reality," says curator Igor Zanti. For the uninitiated, Dadaistic legacies was a cultural movement that began in Europe during World War I and peaked in the 20s, and primarily involved visual arts, literature and graphic design through a rejection of the prevailing standards. So the works presented in this exhibition underline this freedom of both technical and conceptual expression, the hybridisation of different languages, the interaction between high and low cultures, between noble materials and common materials.

The big debate
While a lot of people believe that pop art originated in 1950s in Britain and travelled to America thereafter, according to another argument, Frenchman Marcel Duchamp is actually the father of pop art and not Andy Warhol. Duchamp created a work of art using a urinal, turning it upside down and calling it Fountain and thus started the art form. Neo-pop comes all the way from the Orient. And yes, this form of art, which can be defined as 'more popular, less artistic'.

All for one
There are works drawn by the manga culture of the world of comics, sculptures, installations and also works influenced by the toy culture. The medium is varied and so are the materials used. From oil paints on canvas to video LCD, resins, toys, PVC and wood, there is a bit of everything.But does neo-pop art have an India connection? "The journey to India, a country that presents a significant pop acceptance in many of its aesthetic manifestations, symbolises a metaphorical return to the origins for the artists involved in thisu00a0 exhibition," says Zanti. "It is a journey back in time towards a continent that is the cradle of neo-pop culture," he adds. The exhibition showcases works by Cristina Stifanic, Chiara Todero, Fabrizio Braghieri, Angelo Volpe, Andy, Davide Mancosu among others. Check it out.

At: Exhibition Hall, Italian Embassy Cultural Centre, 50-E, Chandragupta Marg, Chanakyapuri
On till: March 20
Timings: 11 am to 6 pm
Ring: 26871901