"Look at Mickey"

Being that Pop Art originated in Britain, American Pop Art emerged in the late 1950s and mid-1960s. And, it was a reaction to the huge number of social clashes and human rights movements that took place in America at the time. For instance, post World War II, the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, the pressure is made between the government and young Americans, and women’s rights. Such social disturbances offered artists like, Lichtenstein the opportunity to dive into the experimentation in consumerism, also mocking the very government that was supposed to make everyone in America, seem “American”.

“Look Mickey” is the prime example of where Lichtenstein was taking his vision of the pop culture during the time he was still teaching at Rutgers. “Look Mickey” can also be seen as a bridge between what Lichtenstein was planning for the future of his artistic career and what he would evolve into the movement he rightfully belonged to, which is the top part.

Since “Look Mickey” was the start of Lichtenstein’s pop art, I resonated with this painting right away because let’s be honest, who didn’t love Mickey and Donald when they were a kid? The appropriateness of the depiction of something I grew up watching makes me relate very closely and more so because they’re timeless characters. Characters that evoke a sense of happiness and innocence inside me as I reminisce them through this painting. And although this painting came way before I was born, I am sure that many people feel the same way.

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Besides the ironic humor, it exudes while Mickey and Donald are goofing around and laughing while they are fishing. Even the colors are appropriate to my childhood years along with all that playfulness that we as kids may have experienced with a friend. The painting has three primary colors, yellow, blue, and red. Colors that make me go back to my 1st-grade classroom and realize that something so simple and innocent can be turned into an art movement. The message may be interpreted as innocent and harmless but knowing now what pop art is all about, I am sure it pertains to something Lichtenstein was greatly influenced by. Something with a significant meaning. I wouldn’t say political but it does resonate with those visuals of pop imagery culture Lichtenstein associated with his artworks.

Overall, “Look Mickey” became somewhat of a landmark in the Lichtenstein world because it was at this moment that, he stops doing something to start something bigger than what he had done before. In other words, he calculated every move of his career and took a chance of leaving Rutgers to potentially take a bigger chance at making something like “Look Mickey” into what would become his future in the vast world of art.