About the artwork
This work takes the form of a comic strip. Familiar characters from popular culture can be seen battling it out: Bart Simpson and Astroboy. Bart Simpson is depicted as a hybrid creature reminiscent of the Japanese monster Godzilla, as is Astroboy. Astroboy defeats his adversary; Gondek thus seems to be staging Japan's triumph over American culture. By depicting popular characters transformed and destroyed, Matt Gondek deconstructs and slaughters our modern gods. In this way, he celebrates demolition with a critical, topical approach. Presumably, the massacre of such characters is also a way of leaving behind the world of childhood and confronting the viewer with reality.
Expert opinion
Matt Gondek claims to represent a "deconstructive" pop art, and here we recognize the influences of pop artists such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein: bright colors, popular culture and comics.
About the artist
Matt Gondek is a pop artist born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1982. He began his career as an illustrator before becoming a painter and muralist. He now lives and works in Los Angeles. His artistic practice is rooted in both urban and pop art. Using bright colors, he appropriates cartoon, comic book and comic strip characters such as Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny and The Simpsons. He enjoys deconstructing them, depicting them as exploding, melting or collapsing. His approach is one of rebellion and destruction, inspired by the popular images of the 90s. Close to the punk movement, his art has a protest value of expression and questioning of contemporary phenomena, in an almost political approach. Gondek's work has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions, notably in Tokyo, Los Angeles, Paris and Hong Kong.
“Who are our modern-day gods? Mickey mouse, Bart Simpson. These are the characters I grew up with. They made up my whole world growing up, and they still affect me today. They've shaped my whole life.”
Additional info
Signed
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