short essay about artwork

For this assignment I chose Roy Lichtenstein’s Live Ammo (Blang!) from 1962, shown at the LACMA.  The piece depicts a battle scene, in a cartoon, pictorial manner.  In the background on the left side of the picture there is an army tank, with guns smoking and aimed toward the viewer, splashing through a body of water in the foreground.  On the left side there is the barrel of a gun protruding from the bottom left hand corner, depicted seconds after firing.  A cloud of smoke is being expelled from the barrel, creating a huge explosion that consumes much of the right half of the work.  The left half has a cool temperature, with a blue background and the green tank, while the right half has a warmer color scheme; the gun is pink while the smoke clouds are yellow, red, pink and white.  The waves in the foreground are a neutral mix of black, grey and white.  The piece is extremely graphic, each form is one color with black used to break up the space and create detail and depth.  In the left upper hand corner there is a box with text inside that reads: JUST THEN… and next to the explosion there are big yellow block letters that read BLANG.  This piece is extremely reminiscent of a square from a comic strip.

            The piece is very stimulating.  With guns pointing out towards the audience, and a gun protruding toward the attacker, it places the viewer in the middle of the battle scene.  I think the piece was created to have a confrontational effect.  By placing the gun in such a manner, the piece was designed to extend beyond the picture plane and into the space of the viewer.  The audience is thrown into this battle scenario without a choice, both sides are firing, it’s a kill or be killed scenario.  However, the work is very simple, lacking the information to tell the audience which side is which.

            Created in the style of pop art, this painting employs a subject, World War II, from popular culture.  Thus, society already has a vested interest in the topic and the piece reflects the culture of the time.  Lichtenstein’s unique style also functions as a comment on contemporary culture.  By means of Benday dots, he creates pieces that mimic comic strips that have been greatly enlarged.  This technique reflects our country’s fixation on consumerism and the process of mass production that must be employed to satiate it.  I believe this piece can be viewed as a comment upon the nonchalant attitude our country frequently seems to carry about war.  Under this view, comic strips and soldiers are equally easy to produce.