Marilyn Sept 20-21 Mark Lancaster

Lancaster is one of the chainlinks between British and American Pop Art. After studies with Richard Hamilton at the university of Newcastle upon Tyne, he spent various periods of study in the United States. In New York, he was assistant to Andy Warhol, and later personal secretary to Jasper Johns for more than a decade. He also worked for Merce Cunningham’s dance company as vision designer and artistic adviser. Oscillating between the two continents, he kept transporting news and ideas from America to England, exerting considerable influence on his artist friends, first of all Stephen Buckley and Keith Milow. In 1985, he returned to England for good. His pictures aligned with the American abstract movements (especially the early works of Frank Stella) gave way again to figural paintings after that period.
His series, the “Post-Warhol Souvenirs”, was exhibited in London’s Mayor Rowan Gallery in 1988. The 179 identically small paintings commemorate the death of Andy Warhol. In each picture, the starting point is Warhol’s picture of Marilyn Monroe made in 1964. The world-famous screenprint of the American pop artist of the legendary actress undergoes various changes in Lancaster’s series. The iconic portrait of Marilyn appears in the typical styles of the great personages of modern art, but not as simple paraphrases. With his peculiar gesture as the expression of his devotion, Lancaster placed the two American stars in the texture of history.

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