// Icarus by Allan D'Arcangelo is a vibrant serigraph that juxtaposes iconic American symbols with elements of mythology, creating a complex narrative about ambition, power, and cultural identity. The composition features a stylized female figure seated nude, her gaze directed downward in contemplation. Surrounding her are various bold symbols: a U.S. rocket, the American flag, a lion’s head in profile, and a large ruler. At the bottom of the image, a helmeted astronaut with the name ICARUS on his helmet visor stares directly outward, referencing the myth of Icarus—who flew too close to the sun. The imagery suggests a collision of modern technological advancement with the timeless theme of human hubris and aspiration. D'Arcangelo's use of sharp lines, bold colors, and pop-art style intensifies the surreal quality, inviting viewers to reflect on the paradoxes within cultural identity, ambition, and the potential perils of progress.
Allan D’Arcangelo (USA, 1930–1998) was a prominent painter known for his striking depictions of American highways, road signs, and landscapes. Associated with Pop Art, his works blend bold graphic elements with themes of modernity and isolation. D’Arcangelo’s unique style captures the essence of 20th-century American culture and its symbols.
Serigraph Serigraph is a printmaking process that uses silk screen techniques to create an image. The image is digitally separated into individual colors, each of which is assigned to a separate silk screen. These screens are then used to apply each color by hand, layer by layer, to replicate the original artwork, often based on an oil painting.
// Icarus by Allan D'Arcangelo is a vibrant serigraph that juxtaposes iconic American symbols with elements of mythology, creating a complex narrative about ambition, power, and cultural identity. The composition features a stylized female figure seated nude, her gaze directed downward in contemplation. Surrounding her are various bold symbols: a U.S. rocket, the American flag, a lion’s head in profile, and a large ruler. At the bottom of the image, a helmeted astronaut with the name ICARUS on his helmet visor stares directly outward, referencing the myth of Icarus—who flew too close to the sun. The imagery suggests a collision of modern technological advancement with the timeless theme of human hubris and aspiration. D'Arcangelo's use of sharp lines, bold colors, and pop-art style intensifies the surreal quality, inviting viewers to reflect on the paradoxes within cultural identity, ambition, and the potential perils of progress.
Allan D’Arcangelo (USA, 1930–1998) was a prominent painter known for his striking depictions of American highways, road signs, and landscapes. Associated with Pop Art, his works blend bold graphic elements with themes of modernity and isolation. D’Arcangelo’s unique style captures the essence of 20th-century American culture and its symbols.
My most profound experiences of landscape were looking through the windshield.
- Allan D'Arcangelo
Allan D'Arcangelo was an American artist and printmaker who was part of the Pop Art movement. Like other Pop artists, he drew his inspiration from the cultural (and, in his case, often literal) landscape. His best known works are acrylic paintings of highway imagery, including iconic roads (such as Route 66), street signs, and road barriers. These pieces in particular demonstrate his "hard edge," or constructivist, style, in which Allan used bold colors and sharp geometrical figures to transform deep perspective fields into stark and simplified two-dimensional images. With this technique he was able to both portray and transcend spatial relationships, allowing the images to be experienced as representative of both direct experience and more general symbolism. Allan D'Arcangelo's work was included in a number of important Pop Art exhibitions, including Mixed Media and Pop Art at the Albright-Knox Museum in 1963. His paintings are in the permanent collections of a number of museums, such as the Tate Britain in London and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. (Artist website)
Hard Edge art is a style of abstract painting that became popular in the 1960s. It features areas of color separated by crisp, sharp edges that are painted with geometric precision. The term hard-edge painting was coined by art critic Jules Langsner to describe this approach, which contrasts with the softer, more fluid forms of other abstract styles.