Snap, Crackle and Pop: British Pop Art fills The Lightbox in Woking with retro Sixties cool

Exhibition: Snap, Crackle and Pop: British Pop Art, The Lightbox, Woking, until September 28 2011

Mottled plastic televisions the size of a cannonball were once considered more than kitsch retro amusements.

In the era before flatscreens and futurism, makers such as Panasonic and JVC were wheeling out new looks in a design revolution intertwined with the pop artists of the day.

Peter Blake, David Hockney, Eduardo Paolozzi and friends were informing film, fashion, music and advertising, their imaginations fed by the glamour of Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte Bardot.

At the same time, a new generation of cool kids were enjoying unprecedented levels of disposable income post-World War Two, snapping up Beatles albums with covers by Richard Hamilton and Peter Blake. Their sense of excitement runs through this show.

“It’s the first exhibition to examine the connection between mass culture and Pop Art in Britain,” suggests Lightbox Director Marilyn Scott.

“It will gather the most important works created through the British Pop Art movement together with significant objects – ranging from the everyday and ephemeral through to key pieces of 1950s and 1960s design – to present the most comprehensive picture of this cultural phenomenon yet.”

• Open 10.30am-5pm (except Monday, 11am-5pm Sunday). Admission free.
  

More pictures from the show: