With its bold colors and provocative graphics, the Pop Art movement provides creative inspiration for all types of events. Here's a look inside functions that have riffed off the creative styles of artists such as Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons.
In the Pop Art garden at the Chicago show, moss and plants spell out the words "bloom" and "flower" in comics-like signage. The show runs through April 24.
About Face Theatre hosted its annual Wonka Ball at Chicago's Moonlight Studios on April 10. The event had a "Warhol" theme, and servers passed shots of bloody Mary cocktails in miniature soup cans that recalled the artist's famous work.
As part of the silent auction, local artist Matthew Lew created a Pop Art-inspired piece on site. The highest bidder took the piece home at the end of the night.
Gay Men's Health Crisis hosted its second annual Savor dinner in 2009 at Skylight in New York. Gobos moving across the room during the cocktail hour echoed the lines in Keith Haring's silk screen on display at the silent auction.
Inspired by Jeff Koons's "Puppy" sculpture at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, event producer Van Wyck & Van Wyck built a four-foot-tall topiary shaped in the form of a griffin at the 2012 event in New York. The mythical animal is sponsor JW Marriott's logo, and the floral version, which was created as a surprise for the brand executives, had eyes made of mums.
In 2013, a fete took place at Washington's Carnegie Library to honor radio show host Kojo Nnamdi. Decor included Pop Art paintings of D.C. monuments.
In 2001, Target put together a reception and fashion show in New York based on its then-current ad campaign, which paired photos of the typical commodities sold by the retailer—Cheer, Puffs, and others—with youngsters wearing the chain's clothes. The Pop Art-style gift bag was filled with Target products including Bounce and Puffs, as well as a vest.
A Pop Art-inspired bat mitzvah, designed by Danielle Couick of Magnolia Bluebird Design & Events, was held at the Decatur House in Washington in 2014.
2011 marked the end of Richard Daley’s tenure as mayor of Chicago, a position he occupied for more than 20 years. In April, the Art Institute of Chicago had a tributary gala for him and his wife, Maggie. Held in a tent in Millennium Park, the gala had Andy Warhol-inspired decor from HMR Designs.Â
Chicago artist Hebru Brantley blew out the candles on a stack of abnormally sweet soup cans in 2013. Alliance Bakery created the eye-catching confection for Brantley's birthday bash, an affair that was presented by Hennessy Black. Weighing approximately 30 pounds, the red velvet cake with cream-cheese frosting was inspired by a classic Pop Art image. “The idea came about by trying to capture the Warhol cans, in a way that would serve 100 people,” said the bakery's owner and executive chef, Peter Rios. “The cake was constructed over two days and was entirely hand-painted.”
In 2012, the Art Institute of Chicago celebrated its Roy Lichtenstein retrospective with a gala that included an elegant dinner, a burlesque show, and fun snacks such as corn dogs. HMR Design Group's decor was inspired by Roy Lichtenstein's painting "Whaam!" Designer Bill Heffernan said, "Giant crossed mirror shards exploding from a mirrored table splashed the artist's primary colors against the blank white canvas of Griffin Hall at the Modern Wing.
For three nights in 2011, the then-unfinished lobby of the Sanctuary Hotel in New York was bedecked with colorful Pop Art-style graphics and filled with diners supping on a menu created by a 15-year-old chef, Greg Grossman. In a makeshift kitchen adjacent to the hotel lobby, Grossman and a team of chefs provided by Guerrilla Culinary Brigade prepared a menu inspired by Pop Art works like "Balloon Dog (Orange)" by Jeff Koons and Takashi Murakami's "Flower of Joy" (pictured).
