The Making of Beyond the Surface: Women and Pop Art 1958 – 1968 will present the work and personal histories of the female artists who played a role in the forging of Pop Art, within the context of the planning of the exhibition—which will premiere at The University of the Arts Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery, in Philadelphia, January 2010—as well as a ‘behind the scenes’ glimpse of the shooting of the full-fledged documentary film that will be made to coincide with the exhibition. While their work was included in the earliest exhibitions of Pop, Cold War politics of the pre-Feminist 60s and gender politics, conspired to negate these artists their place in the consensual canon. Both the exhibition and the film will expand and reëvaluate the critical reception of Pop Art. In recovering important female artists, the exhibition will enlarge the canon to more accurately reflect the women working internationally during this period. Nine episodes will appear, at approximately three month intervals, between now and December 2009; each episode will further the exploration of the subject through present-day interviews with the artists and authorities on the subject, coupled with archival images and footage.
