I hadn't really planned on going to see Lichtenstein's retrospective at the Tate. Perhaps because I wasn't sure that seeing his work in person would be all too different from seeing documentation, or perhaps it didn't seem worth the somewhat steep £13.50 (concessions). However when my flatmate picked up two free tickets I couldn't turn it down, and it turned out to be greatly worthwhile. Although I love Lichtenstein's work, I hadn't expected it to be all too relevant to my personal practice. However in many pieces, it turns out, I was proved wrong. In Room 5: Landscapes and Seascapes was a piece I have never seen before Sea Shore (1964).
The added dimension of the layered plexiglass meant that as you moved around the image, it would change and appear to move (something that's hard to get from the photograph).
Sea Shore (1964)
Another part of his work I was, of course, aware of, but always underestimated was his use of Benday dots to create optical illusions, and of how much these visual tricks really play into his work. One of my favourites were his series of mirrors. I had, again, never seen these works before, but it turns out he worked with them rather extensively. As mirrors are something I'd like to work with, I saw it as a very interesting take on the objects. They were so skilfully done it was obvious what they were meant to be. However lacking in a mirror's vital characteristic (being reflective) I found them to be totally surreal.