Tintin and Pop Art

As you already know, we offer art history and painting courses at the Ottawa School of Art.  In one of our courses, students were asked to develop a conceptual work that reflects the confluence of Pop Art and Tintin. All this ended up with a student show curated by Ashlea Low (left). According to Ashlea:

“Since January 10^th 1929, Hergé’s Tintin has engaged us with the adventures of a young investigative reporter and his fox terrier Snowy (Milou). Tintin never ceases to amaze us with his dangerous adventures and corky tales. In the upcoming 3-D movie by Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson, Tintin will be featured in a new 21st Century style.

As we all know, Pop Art is inspired by modern popular culture and mass media. During the 60s, artists such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Jasper Johns, used imaging from comic books, advertisements, consumer products, television, and the movies to expose critical or ironic values.  Our class did the same thing but with Tintin’s world. Our works recreate Tintin’s characters in the political turmoil of today’s society and under a contemporary Pop Art twist. Notice Tess Parker’s work when Tintin is holding a iPhone (left), and saying the very same words from the original album.

In conclusion we have taken Tintin, stripped him down and recreated him in the new world by using the Pop culture irony of today. In these paintings we have recreated a unique vision of Tintin. Understanding the world around us and incorporating it into a Pop Art style was challenging, but forced us to see what today is like in comparison to the society in which Tintin was created.”