Scott Listfield approaches art with his tongue pressed firmly against his cheek. His pop-art aesthetic is interesting. He clearly loves popular culture in the form of science-fiction and film but finds the commercialism of pop-art itself something of a joke. It's a tension that needs no resolution. Like the astronaut that inhabits his work, Mr. Listfield is not an alien to pop-art. He's from it, but has gone away, and upon returning, finds the whole thing strangely ludicrous; a kind of parallel to his real life experience of being overseas, then returning to America. Having done so myself I can vouch for the odd sense of surreal displacement one experiences. The astronaut serves not only as a stand-in for the artist but for the viewer as well, a figure both a part of and apart from the strange reality we inhabit. The whole premise is played for laughs, mostly, but underneath the humor is a genuine and biting critique of what our contemporary culture deems valuable. The work has gotten a good deal stronger in both technique and composition over the years, though the wit was always there, and I look forward to seeing the world through Mr. Listfield's visor for many years to come.
www.astronautdinosaur.com
"Boom" oil on canvas 12" x 9" 2010
"Coke Machine" oil on canvas 24" x 18" 2008
"Flying Cars To The Right" oil on canvas 12" x 9" 2010
"NASDAQ" oil on canvas 12" x 9" 2009
And I am grateful to the art of
Jeff Koonz if only for the fact that he provides ready fodder for the wit of other artists.
"Grand Canyon" oil on canvas 24" x 48" 2008
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