Popart was a revolution in art history. A rebellion against the elitist approach to art, a rebellion against academic art.
It actually started with some fractions in Germany and England before it all broke loose in the USA - with Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Stuart Davis. In Europe it was Gerhard Richter, Peter Blake, Richard Hamilton, - and Duggie Fields. Popart born of – inspired of – the mass media, the new music, commercials, films, photos, cartoons, kitsch – and the view, that art should reach people on mass media’s terms. Art is not something you take an exam in. It is all about communication and messages, that are easy to understand. Warhol said: “It’s all surface. There is nothing behind what you see!”
Duggie Fields is pure popart. His pictures are all to be judged on the surface. And yet. I think there is more at stake. It is more complicated than that.
His career: Educated at Chelsea School of Art - and from then on exhibited all around the world, e.g. New York (where by the way he met Andy Warhol). Duggie Fields is a many faceted artist: with music, video, digital arts. Music is an important key to his universe, and his style of work, e.g. Pink Floyd’s huge sound images.
With origins in classical art such as Mondrian, Miro, Dali and Picasso, Duggie Fields knows his art history. He himself painted abstract but shifted into more direct and figurative imagery.
Many pop artists copy Warhol and Lichtenstein. Duggie Fields is the real thing. A post-modern pop artist, whose imagery is spectacular, fascinating and seductive, though paradoxically also filled with puzzles and mysteries.
So - is it all just surface? Is there nothing behind what you see?
It’s up to you.
Enjoy!