Signs of the Times Exhibition and the Graffiti Artrain

The Sign of the Times Exhibition

1986 Tour to Four States, 22 Cities and reached 90,600 people.

Signs of the Times showcased approximately 50 artworks, by such artists as Marcel Duchamp, Claes Oldenburg, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Indiana, Audrey Flack and Richard Estes. Through their artworks, Signs of the Times helped to describe the artistic styles of Pop Art, photo-realism and Dadaism. Pop art was an artistic style in which artists were influenced by objects in the world around them - billboards, movies, mass produced food products and automobiles. Photo-realism is characterized by the meticulous reproduction of photographic images on canvas. Dadaism came about after the First World War, in which artists showed their disillusionment with the world after the devastation of the war. They purposefully chose objects and techniques to convey their perception of the meaninglessness of moral values after the war’s great destruction.

The Artrain Graffiti Train
Artrain commissioned urban artists to paint the exterior of the Artrain’s rail cars for its 1986 tour of the Signs of the Times: Pop Art and Photo-Realism in America exhibition. These train painters, or graffiti artists, whose beginning traced back to painting murals on unattended train cars, were invited to paint 12 murals on the cars over the course of four days. Many of their murals used familiar images from Pop Art. Commissioning graffiti artists caused quite a bit of controversy for Artrain. It was covered widely by the media and the subject of many lively debates.

Link to Graffiti Train Art Auction information

The exterior train artists included:

The Sign of the Times Artists & Lenders