Pop art goes potty at Wolverhampton Art Gallery

Pop Art & Pottery present a kaleidoscope of Pop ceramics by key artists from around the world.

From special edition dinner plates to tea services, vases to mugs the exhibition, Pop Art & Pottery, features items from private collections that have not been displayed before in public.

Curated by independent curator Nick Duxbury and using Wolverhampton Art Gallery’s Pop art collection as an anchoring point, the exhibition brings the conversations around Pop art into the 21st century. It includes works by contemporary ceramic artists who use everyday objects as their canvas for pop culture references and the kind of iconography that would be familiar to the originators of Pop art. 

Driven by the curator David Rodgers, the Art Gallery first began collecting Pop art in the late 1960s when it was still relatively new and controversial. At first, the growing collection attracted negative media attention and provocative headlines. Rodgers himself was labelled ‘a rebel leader of the arts’. Today, Pop art is considered one of Wolverhampton Art Gallery’s most culturally significant and internationally renowned collections. Visitors come from far and wide to view it and our Pop works go out on loan to exhibitions all around the world.

Councillor Bhupinder Gakhal, City of Wolverhampton Council Cabinet Member for Visitor City, said: “As a city we pride ourselves on this phenomenal collection that began back in 60s.

“Visitors come from far and wide to view the collection and our Pop works go out on loan to exhibitions all around the world. I urge all to come along to the gallery and be inspired.”

Pop art and ceramics have a strong but overlooked history. Since Pop emerged as an art movement in the mid-1950s, many leading Pop artists have produced designs for some of the biggest ceramics manufacturers in the world. Eduardo Paolozzi, Peter Blake and Patrick Caulfield designed items for Wedgwood, Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol for Rosenthal, Keith Haring for Villeroy & Boch, and Sister Corita Kent for Hackett American Collectors.

Wolverhampton Art Gallery houses the largest collection of Pop art outside of London and featuring alongside Pop Art & Pottery there will be a number of the city’s Pop art collection on display.

Pop Art & Pottery is a free exhibition and can be seen during gallery opening times, Monday to Saturday (10.30am - 4.30pm) and Sunday (11am - 4pm). The exhibition runs until Sunday, April 7, 2024.

For more information on exhibitions, events and activities visit www.wolverhamptonart.org.uk.