Eastern pop art

There’s the much-anticipated Lichtenstein retrospective at Tate Modern , we’ve already seen Richard Hamilton’s late works at the National Gallery, and proving that pop art is not only still alive, but certainly not confined to the west, Thai artist Pakpoom Silaphan is showing a selection of brilliant new works in a new London exhibition opening next month, Empire State.

The artist’s previous endeavours have seen him rework masters such as Francis Bacon, Peter Blake, Keith Haring, Gilbert and George and Mark Rothko in his own distinctive style.

Taking the central tropes of pop art – art as a big, bold branding statement – Silaphan’s work explores ideas of mass consumerism and the universal reach of cultural icons.

Much of the work in his new exhibition takes found objects such as metal advertising signs collected during his time in Thailand, using them as canvases or sculpture materials.

In a fresh take on the east-meets-west idea, Pakpoom reworks these inherently eastern objects into westernised statements of consumption and the power of advertising, covering them with western imagery and art-world iconography.

The hoardings are frequently adorned with images of artists such as Warhol, Frida Kahlo and Picasso, brazenly underlining not only Silaphan’s own influences, but the idea of personal branding within the art world.

A new sculptural piece, The Identified Flying Object, re-appropriates Lichtenstein’s 1963 Whaam! Painting, creating a 2m tall aluminium aeroplane, designed to look like a paper-plane casually crafted from one of Lichtenstein’s most iconic pieces.

Empire State runs from 22 February – 6 April at Scream,  27 – 28 Eastcastle Street, London W1W