Topic: Arts and Culture

February 22, 2021

David Owsley Museum of Art

The public can see works of art by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and more in a special exhibition at the Ball State University’s David Owsley Museum of Art this spring that showcases the biggest names in Pop art.

The exhibition POP Power from Warhol to Koons: Masterworks from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation runs from February 25 through May 16. The museum and this exhibition are free and open to everyone.

The exhibition features more than 100 works of art. Prints and sculptures by innovators such as Warhol, Lichtenstein, and Claes Oldenburg are paired with art by popular and provocative artists like James Rosenquist, Robert Indiana, Keith Haring, Damien Hirst, Takashi Murakami, Julian Opie, and Jeff Koons that trace the explosion of popular imagery in the visual arts over the last half century.

This special exhibition was made possible through a collaboration with the collector and philanthropist Jordan D. Schnitzer and the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation.

“Jordan D. Schnitzer has amassed one of the most comprehensive Pop art collections in the United States,” said Dr. Robert G. La France, director of the David Owsley Museum of Art. “This exhibition provides a fun, irreverent look at the low-brow, high art of the last several decades. From comic strips to balloon dogs, POP Power from Warhol to Koons: Masterworks from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation explores Pop art as a historical movement and the groundwork for today’s Neo-Pop artists, such as Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst.”

The exhibition pays tribute to the transformation of visual art from the seriousness and cult of self-expression that animated avant-garde artists through the early postwar period to the embrace of humor, celebrity and commerce. This transformation has made Pop art both revolutionary and accessible to mass audiences.

“The exhibition of Pop Artists speaks to a time and place in our country’s history that was remarkable,” said Jordan D. Schnitzer, President of the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation. “I am pleased that the David Owsley Museum of Art has chosen to exhibit these works.”

POP Power from Warhol to Koons: Masterworks from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation extends the David Owsley Museum of Art’s commitment to postwar American and international art by showcasing several of the most popular artists of the second half of the 20th and the early 21st centuries.

The exhibition was organized by the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation and the Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, Virginia, and appeared at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art and the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane, Washington, before coming to Ball State University.

For information and protocols for visiting campus during the pandemic, see bsu.edu/coronavirus.

Public Program Highlight

Visit bsu.edu/DOMA for museum hours, programs, and events. Upcoming public programs related to this exhibition include a talk by Jordan D. Schnitzer planned for March 18.

Exhibition Support

This special exhibition was made possible by support from the Friends of the David Owsley Museum of Art, Arts Alive!, and the Sursa Fund of the College of Fine Arts at Ball State University.