PAINT BY NUMBERS

PAINT BY NUMBERS

Interesting history of the rise, fall, and rise of paint by numbers in the U.S. from the 1950s to today. The rise is generally attributed to the development of mass produced culture and increase in leisure time available to people in the 50s. There is discussion of the artistic merits and debated over these paintings. The modern discussion focuses on Warhol and pop art's use of paint by numbers and Komar and Melamid's evolution of the idea into survey based artworks "by the numbers". Overall, a truly interesting blend of pop-culture, economics, and art theory.