USA. Social commentary has once more become a major element of his work tackling head on subjects that have strong political overtones such as gun control, police brutality and once again, the multinationals - this time on home turf. He is a visiting lecturer at University of California Los Angeles School of Arts where he teaches drawing. Themes American culture and influence Starting at the Royal College Boshier explored his fascination with the soft-power and hybrid marketing and cross-referencing of products, notably Special K cereal, as a means of diffusing and neutralizing American influence. Perpetually interested in "the now", Boshier also explored the space race in 1962. The resulting paintings, The Most Handsome Hero of the Cosmos and Mr. Shepherd and I Wonder What My Heroes Think of the Space Race, explore what he saw as traditional heroes, defined by epic adventure, being supplanted by celebrities who were famous for being famous. Boshier saw the astronaught as a counter balance to this trend and through these works painted them in historical and heroic contexts. Unlike other pop artists of his era, especially those captured in Russell's Pop Goes the Easel, Boshier was outspokenly critical of the expansion of American influence and the impact of advertising on identity, seen in The Identi-Kit Man and Man Playing Snooker and Thinking of Other Things. Through these works we also see Boshier's reflections on the fragility and fragmentation of heterosexual masculinity in the face of technology and consumption. Beliefs About Art Highly influenced by Samuel Beckett, Boshier has said that the not knowing, the unknowability that ultimately make art compelling for him. For Boshier, Pop Art denotes not just "popular" but also the potential for a "popularism" that is unlike political popularism with its de facto opposition to the elite. Instead, Boshier's work celebrates commonly held experiences without making distinctions between high and low or historical and contemporary. Friendships Within in the art world Derek Boshier is famous for the way he builds and maintains friendships. David Hockney, a close friend of Boshier's since 1957 when they met during their interview for the Royal College of Art, describes, "He sends me things by ordinary mail that always have decorated envelopes...Sometimes it's a cutting from a newspaper (very old fashioned) or a drawing. I assume he does this for a lot of other people." Hockney has also said of Derek Boshier that he has always