Television | Art Is Now Pop

Issa Pineapple

Posted on May 9, 2017 by kimberlydenisewilliams

I am never one to tell someone to stop short of their dreams. Look at these students, who without even thinking had their artwork featured in a museum. As reported on Mashable and other sources, Ruari Gray, a student at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen,Scotland left a pineapple in the museum as a joke. The pineapple ended up on display in a case.

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Photo from Dailymail.co.uk

Someone will point to how much this devalues the art world, but what we should focus on here is everyone’s inner artist. Besides, pineapples are welcoming and experiencing a real fashion world moment now (more on that later).

And here’s a Boy Meets World clip where Eric shows off his inner art critic. If you didn’t see a monkey and a coconut, maybe you won’t appreciate the pineapple either.

I Walk a Lonely Road….

Posted on September 12, 2015 by kimberlydenisewilliams

It’s the most wonderful time of the year: The New Fall TV Season. And surprise, surprise visual art once again has its place in the pantheon. Last season, a lot of talk was dedicated to the abundance of Kehinde Wiley and Basquiat work showcased on Empire. But the Lyons family isn’t the only hip hop obsessed family with an eye for art. It turns out Fresh Off the Boat has also been making it’s own statements. Both season one and season two features American art classics reimagined with the Asian American cast for the promos.

The first season channeled American Gothic.

Fresh of the Boat Season 1 Poster. Source: Angry Asian Man

Season 2’s art work is a bit more modern and takes on Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks, painted in 1942.

Fresh off the Boat Season 2 Art, Source: Angry Asian Man

Fresh off the Boat Season 2 Poster Source: Angry Asian Man

Because Nighthawks is so accessible it has been used in pop culture often, in everything from The Simpsons to The Tick. Fresh off the Boat’s take is unique because of the explicitness and details of the characters: a multigenerational Asian American family. While I love this take on the painting, I have to admit my favorite version has always been Gottfried Helnwein’s Boulevard of Broken Dreams. Perhaps it was being able to easily identify characters that I did not identify with that allowed me to connect with this pop culture infusion of the work.

Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Helnwein, 1984 Source: Pinterest

Thanks Hopper for the gift of art that keeps on giving.