Lichtenstein: Driving Me Dotty.

Pow! Lichtenstein: A Retrospective has finally arrived at Tate Modern and on Wednesday I was lucky enough to attend the preview with my entourage, well. My Boyfriend, Mum and Granddad. The show is 2013's blockbuster at Tate and after last year’s Damien Hirst Retrospective London is expecting Lichtenstein to knock her spotty socks off, and London I will tell you now your socks won't last long so go barefoot. 

My entourage for the evening came in a range of expertise and interest. I am a pop art fanatic and lover of Lichtenstein along with my Mum and Granddad. Whereas my boyfriend (an archive lover and comic book enthusiast  proclaimed on arrival that he had never heard of Lichtenstein. This blew my brains, 'Didn't you study him at school?' 'Nope' 'Do you recognise any of this?' ‘not right now, and isn't it just comic book strips?' My Granddad however has watched documentaries, read books and studied the way he paints, and told me all about how Lichtenstein painted his lover, designed stencils to make the dots and pointed out where the stencil had been moved before the paint had dried. And my mum walked round soaking it all up, 'eeking' at her favourite pieces and furiously facebooking her friends about where she was. 

Whaam. 1963.

Look Mickey, 1961.

The range of works in the show were fantastic, there was the most famous pieces 'Whaam' and 'Look Mickey' but what I think will really make it a blockbuster are the pieces that you wouldn't expect from Lichtenstein; the 1920's inspired brass sculptures and the breath-taking landscapes. 

 Litchenstein is world renowned for those little repetitive dots (known as ben-day dots)I feared seeing a retrospective I would get sick of them. But the dots,  inspired by comic books and consumer advertising didn't seem repetitive in the show, instead I wanted more dots and to go home with dotty things and cover myself in dots.

Whilst we're on that this is possible the best dress up from my friend Francesca Bartha:

My entourage loved Lichtenstein even more on exiting, the boyf recognised a lot of the work, loved learning about how old Roy was inspired by comics and concluded that the show was ' Bang! Wham! Pow! Poptastic' (and I even got a gift from the shop :D) My Mum and Granddad went a bit mad in the shop getting their paws on some awesome Lichtenstein cushions.

 Nothing like taking home a souvenir from a good exhibition. 

Lichtenstein: A Retrospective is on at Tate Modern from 21 February – 27 May 2013