SuperPop!

In 2014, Serlachius Museum Gösta’s main exhibition in the new pavilion shows the international classics of pop art side by side with the Finnish ones. They enter into dialogue with the artworks of Finnish and international contemporary artists.

Pop art was one of the most important shifts of the 20th century art. It emerged after the second world war in the Great Britain and in the United States as the artists became interested in the popular culture as a response against elitistic high culture.  Pop art was aimed for the general public, it was fast moving, easy and sexy. It was inspired by adverts, packages and other every-day phenomenon as well as celebrities and world’s events.

Pop art is intellectually interesting in spite of its virtual simplicity. It directed criticism to the norms of the established art world and changed our relationship to art by challenging the traditional definitions related to the meaning of artwork’s author as well as the authenticity and uniqueness of the artwork.

SuperPop! conprises classic pieces of Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and James Rosenquistm among others. Their works have inspired the Finnish pop artists of 1960s, which in SuperPop! include artists like Paul Osipow, Leo Lindsten, Raimo Reinikainen and Simo Helenius.

The curator of the exhibition SuperPop!, Timo Valjakka, has picked about 130 artworks from 23 different artists that represent pop art in many different ways.

The artists of the exhibition are: Jacob Dahlgren, Jiri Geller, Peter Halley, Simo Helenius, Damien Hirst, Jasper Johns, Katri Kuparinen, Jani Leinonen, Roy Lichtenstein, Leo Lindsten, Liisa Lounila, Robert Lucander, Paul Osipow, Simon Patterson, Robert Rauschenberg, Aurora Reinhard, Raimo Reinikainen, Bridget Riley, James Rosenquist, Riiko Sakkinen, Pilvi Takala, Marianna Uutinen and Andy Warhol.