Boston Common - Niche Media - A side of Boston that's anything but common.
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hottest ticket the poppa of pop art A RETROSPECTIVE OF PAINTER ALEX KATZ AT THE MFA SHOWCASES THE DISTILLED, GRAPHIC IMAGERY THAT ANTICIPATED ANDY WARHOL. by jared bowen H Alex Katz with his cutout Edwin and Rudy, circa 1968 64 bostoncommon-magazine.com is works are sublimely bold and vibrant—portraits that sear despite their deceptive simplicity, landscapes remarkable for their pureness. Alex Katz has endured for some 60 years now, as celebrated in "Alex Katz Prints," a new retrospective at the Museum of Fine Arts. Blame Matisse, an artist Katz has admired since his youth and who inspired him to chart his own maverick path. "I just think he's a fabulous artist," Katz says. "A lot of the work I've done is to get away from him…. He was kind of dominating." What Katz went toward was his own singular vision—anticipating Pop art by distilling influences from advertising, movies, and television with works rendered in dramatic close-ups, luminous color, and unconventional crop- ping. It was work that led the way for an entire generation of Pop artists. "I photography courtesy of the museum of fine arts, boston