TheVine. Skip directly to: Search Box, Section Navigation, Content.

Cowboys, Pin Ups and Bling Bling

Where: United Galleries, Darlinghurst, Sydney
When: 10am Saturday 03 May

Dennis Ropar presents Cowboys, Pin Up’s and Bling Bling at United Galleries in Sydney throughout April. As well as exhibiting a series of sculptures, the pop artist will also show a selection of works on canvas.

Ropar, infamous for his ‘kinky’ public art stunts, has extended the pop themes in his painted works on canvas to fashion, video clip, music and now sculpture.

At the heart of Ropar’s latest offering is a series of nine classic "boys toys" such as a Vespa, chainsaw and Victa mower, that have been "blinged". Transfixed by the disco fairy’s wand, these objects have been mirrored with thousands of mosaic tiles to dazzling effect.

His works on canvas for this show present three of his classic "Roparised" pop icons. The cowboy, the 50’s Pin Up girl and the Redhead matches logo. All three feature and/or represent consumer culture through advertising in the twentieth century. The smoking cowboy is the Marlboro Man, the Redhead lights his fire and the pin-up girl sells her soul to the holy dollar. It is art for the mainstream with subtle subversion.

Ropar’s work incorporates the previous five decades in art and design; 1950’s pin up girls, 1960’s Pop Art, 1980’s comic and graffiti culture and 1990’s post-modernity, all of which he amalgamates and recycles to bestow new meaning.

You can check out Cowboys, Pin Ups and Bling Bling at United Galleries, 79-181 Palmer Street, Darlinghurst, NSW. Phone: (02) 8915 5300.

The exhibition begins April 8 and ends May 2.

The image featured here has been cropped. It's called Cowboy Bambi, it's acrylic on canvas and it measures a pleasing 170 x 170cms.