Arts & Entertainment

Lichtenstein "Tokyo Brushstroke I & II" to be Unveiled Today at The Parrish Museum of Art

On Friday, April 25, Roy Lichtenstein's monumental sculpture, Tokyo Brushstroke I & II (1994), will be unveiled outdoors at the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill. The first long-term outdoor installation at the Parrish's new Herzog & de Meuron-designed building, the sculpture will be placed on the front lawn, west of the driveway entrance to the Museum, near Montauk Highway. Tokyo Brushstroke I & II is a long-term loan from the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation and the Fuhrman Family Foundation.

 “The Parrish Art Museum is thrilled to become the home for Tokyo Brushstroke I & II at this time,” Terrie Sultan the director of the Parrish Art Museum said.

Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997) was an American pop art painter active in New York from the 1960s until his death in 1997. He is best known for his iconic large-scale paintings based on comic books. Lichtenstein continues to be one of the most influential and recognizable artists of the 20th century. 

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Tokyo Brushstroke I & II is made of painted and fabricated aluminum by Paul Amaral / Amaral Custom Fabrication in Rhode Island. Taller than the Parrish itself, Tokyo Brushstroke I stands 33 feet high (actual dimensions: 396 x 112 x 90 inches) and will be installed with a crane into a cement brace. Weighing over 12,000 pounds, Tokyo Brushstroke I is constructed in two pieces that will be joined together on site. Tokyo Brushstroke II weighs approximately 5,000 pounds and is 19 feet high (actual dimensions: 233 ¾ x 105 x 39 inches). It will be installed closer to Montauk Highway.

Tokyo Brushstroke I & II is part of a series of "brushstroke" sculptures constructed mainly in the 1990s. Similar "Brushstroke Groups" can be found in Madrid, Paris, Singapore, Washington, D.C., and other cities worldwide. 

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 “It’s a symbol of something it isn’t,” Lichtenstein said, “and that is part of the irony I’m interested in." The work asks questions about the contradictions between the ephemeral nature of the artist's brushstroke and the monumentality and permanence of art.

The presence of Tokyo Brushstroke I & II at the Parrish Art Museum continues the legacy of Lichtenstein on the East End. Roy Lichtenstein and his wife Dorothy moved to Southampton to live year-round in 1970. In 1982, the Museum organized an exhibition of 48 Lichtenstein paintings from 1951 to the early 1980s.



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