タッド星谷 Tad Hoshiya

In “Roy Lichtenstein: Like New,” the Pop artist’s first New York retrospective in over 30 years, his works now take up the Whitney’s entire fifth floor. The show is a “masterpiece of curation and design,” Hilton Als writes, “an exhibition that positions Lichtenstein as the last happy white man in American art.” It is also a show that aims to keep the real world, our gothic political climate included, at bay, in a museum that has foregrounded race- and gender-based political art for years now. “After having a great time at ‘Like New,’ you may find yourself feeling slightly guilty about it,” Als continues. But although Lichtenstein may have been the least dirty and anarchic voice in New York’s sixties avant-garde, the exhibition still serves as a reminder of what a beautiful, forceful energy there was to the scene. As the artist’s signature brightly colored brushstrokes, lines, and Benday dots cause pleasurable kinetic movements in the mind, viewers can see delight in his strongest qualities as an artist: his interest in gender and his amused wit. newyorker.com/magazine/2026/…