Global gallery Gagosian will present a major exhibition dedicated to Pop Art pioneer Roy Lichtenstein at its Chelsea location in New York City. Titled Painting with Scattered Brushstrokes, the show takes its name from a 1984 canvas and brings together a selection of paintings, sculpture, watercolors and works on paper from the artist’s celebrated Brushstroke series.
The exhibition focuses on Lichtenstein’s exploration of one of painting’s most fundamental elements: the brushstroke. Rather than presenting the gesture as an expressive mark, the artist transformed it into a stylized and symbolic motif. As Lichtenstein once explained:
“I’m never drawing the object itself. I’m only drawing a depiction of the object — a kind of crystallized symbol of it.”
From satire to defining motif
Lichtenstein first began experimenting with the brushstroke concept in 1965. At that time, he produced the first Brushstroke color screenprint, which depicted a thick, W-shaped swipe of paint. The artist famously described the image as a “satirical send-up of abstract expressionism,” challenging the spontaneity associated with that movement.
Over the following decades, however, the motif became a defining feature of his practice. During the 1970s and 1980s, Lichtenstein expanded the idea across multiple media, translating the stylized gesture into large-scale paintings as well as sculptural forms.
These later works elevated the brushstroke from a painted mark into a physical object. Some sculptures appear as medium-sized models, while others take on monumental dimensions. Nevertheless, each piece retains the artist’s precise, almost mechanical visual language, which contrasts sharply with the expressive spontaneity the gesture originally symbolized.
Renewed market attention
The exhibition draws from the Lichtenstein family collection and revisits a pivotal period of experimentation in the artist’s career. At the same time, the presentation coincides with renewed market attention surrounding his work.
Recent auction results illustrate that demand remains strong. In fact, works by Lichtenstein generated more than $150 million in auction sales over the past year. Meanwhile, institutional interest has also increased, with museum exhibitions in Dallas and a forthcoming retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Painting with Scattered Brushstrokes will be on view at Gagosian in New York from March 19 through April 25.