Walking into Pop to Present, you’re immediately immersed in a Jackson Pollock drip painting. It quickly sets the mood for what’s to come: modern and contemporary American art that hits you with colour, texture and reflection. 

Pop to Present: American Art from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, currently on display at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, features 52 curated works across various movements. The exhibition places well-known names in conversation with artists from diverse backgrounds to offer broad and inclusive overview of recent American art.

Showcasing 28 works by women and African American and Indigenous artists. Artists featured include Elaine de Kooning, Mark Rothko, Alma Thomas, Andy Warhol, and Kehinde Wiley, exploring how American artists have reflected and responded to their changing times.

For Kiwis, it’s an amazing chance to see a world-class survey of contemporary art, defined as the art of the present, with pieces created from the post-World War II era to the current day. These pieces show how American artists have weighed in on social, political, and cultural issues. 

The whole story of the show comes to life as you move through the different gallery rooms.Triple Elvis, 1963 by Andy Warhol touches on the themes of celebrity and commercialism.

Then there’s Rosalyn Drexler’s painting No Pictures, 1963, with themes of surveillance and privacy that feel more relevant than ever. That feeling of unease, being watched or photographed, feels so fresh despite the painting originating from 1963.

As you reach the final sections, you’ll find pieces where contemporary artists are tackling huge, important topics head-on.

A stunning example is Kehinde Wiley’s painting Willem van Heythuysen, 2005, a massive portrait that uses the poses of old master paintings to highlight how people of colour have been left out of art history.

The sheer size of this piece looms over you, almost making you take a step back to take everything in. Seeing the contrast of the figures' streetwear against the ornate background and large gold frame evokes a powerful message of allowing yourself to take up space. 

By including these powerful and thought-provoking modern and contemporary American works, Pop to Present is a commitment to a bigger, more inclusive view of American art.

Through showcasing diverse artists from different backgrounds who tackle important themes like identity, power, and representation, the show actively challenges outdated traditional art-world rules and offers a much richer, more complex picture of American creativity. 

Pop to Present: American Art from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is an amazing curation. Diverse, it offers a fresh look at American culture through its art. Go check out a show that makes art history and American social, cultural and political history feel current and alive. 

This article was written in partnership with Auckland Art Gallery.

Thumbnail image: Gary Simmons, Screaming into the Ether (detail) (installation view), 2020, Oil and cold wax on canvas, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Gift of the Adolph D. and Wilkins C. Williams Fund, by exchange, and Gift of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Fund, by exchange, 2021.68. © Gary Simmons.