Leo Castelli Gallery is pleased to announce Reflected in the Mirror there was a Shadow, Roy Lichtenstein – Andy Warhol on view from November 1 – December 23, 2011. This is the first exhibition dedicated to exploring the rich and complex imagery of Roy Lichtenstein’s Mirror paintings together with Andy Warhol’s Shadow paintings. Works in the exhibition span from 1969 – 1984.

The exhibition takes its title from a Japanese poem. Provocatively referring to the subtle nuances of perception and reflection, the poem is analogous to the viewer’s experience with these two evocative bodies of work. Roy Lichtenstein’s Mirrors are at once static objects, and at the same time they reflect the viewer’s perception of painting itself. Andy Warhol’s Shadow paintings also delve into the dark essence of painting. In the words of Julian Schnabel, Warhol’s Shadow paintings are, “a record of the act of painting. They are a brilliant emphatic view of everything and nothing.”

Mirrors first began to appear in Roy Lichtenstein’s paintings as early as 1961. Often using commercial mirror advertisements as source material, he delved into this body of work in earnest in the 1970’s. The Mirror series nods to the presence of mirrors as subject matter in painting throughout the history of art, such as in iconic paintings by Velasquez and Picasso. The Mirrors also put forth a conceptual analogy for the breakdown of pictorial conventions.

In the mid 1970’s, Andy Warhol began to investigate Shadows as subject matter in his paintings. Warhol had always admired the corners of his paintings - where the silk screens met the edge of the canvas. Inspired by this abstract imagery, Warhol initially devised maquettes in his studio expressly to create abstract compositions. Subsequently, paintings were also created based on polaroids Warhol took of the human form.

A catalog accompanies the exhibition.

www.castelligallery.com