History
Pop Art is a well-known art movement. It made an appearance in Britain during the mid 1950's, and then the US in the 1960's after World War II. Pop Art is a reaction against the seriousness of the Abstract Expressionism art movement that was happening at this time (Foster 2005). Pop Art was completely different then Abstract Expressionism. Abstract Expressionism was very somber and looked at the emotional intensity of the people. In addition, it was also a reaction to the consumerism and mass production taking place at this time. Pop Art is a playful and lighthearted art form. After the negativity of WWII people needed something to look forward to, something to uplift their spirits. Pop Art captured this feeling. It was now time to rebuild and look to the future, In the 1960's advertisers created innovative adverts by creating messages that made ads more appealing to consumers' eyes (Foster 2005). Before the 1960's advertisements were very simple, the focus was on the product, when advertisement transformed in the 60's the focus was on attracting the consumers in unique ways. Imitating this new way of advertising, Pop Art not only embraced popular culture but world wide culture, trends of young people, as well as the sex drugs and rock 'n' roll culture.
What is Pop Art?
Pop Art served as a scanner reproducing, and duplicating images of popular culture. In fact, that is where the name Pop Art came from (Foster 2005). Pop Art imitated popular images such as common brands, and famous people whether celebrities or politicians, which made it similar to the new ways of advertising. Instead of advertising products, artist advertised their art in a commercial way. Pop Art used images that were familiar to a wide variety of audiences' young, old, black and white, once again focusing on the mass audience. Everyday items and media icons inspire Pop Art. Pop Art transformed the classical sense of art to fit the modern commercialism of society that was taken place. A very famous example of this is Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe image and his Campbell Soup image. These are perfect examples of what Pop Art was all about, taking famous images and putting them on a canvas to show commercialism, and the repetition of the images symbolizes the mass production of products and advertisements that have taken over society.
Reactions against Pop Art movement
When Pop Art surfaced not everyone accepted it. Classical artist did not look at Pop Art as being "Real Art". Harold Rosenberg, A very famous influential critic of contemporary art described it as
"A joke with out humor, told over and over again until it begins to sound like a threat…Advertising art which advertises itself as art that hates advertising." (Pop Art)
Everyday people are being fed the same images repeatedly, on their TV screen, on the sides of buses, while reading magazines sitting at the doctors office, even walking down the street, every day all day, people are bombarded with advertisements that show the same media icons and products over and over again. (Encyclopedia of Irish and World Art). Pop Art is doing the exact same thing. The Pop artist is taking the society that surrounds them, mass production and commercialism, and paints a picture perfect image of the world they live in. Pop artist joined in on the fad by commercializing their art so that it can appeal to mass audiences, thus, generating a larger interest and profit.
Famous Pop artists
There are numerous Pop artists today, but there are a few key players to take note of:
Andy Warhol
To start Andy Warhol, is by far the most popular Pop artist. He created some of the most famous images of Marilyn Monroe and everyday objects like the "Brillo" . Overall Warhol's' art had a large audience because of his use of iconic images that were famous in films, TV, and advertising. Along with his many iconic paintings, he opened a very famous art studio "The Factory", where he wanted to take everyday items that people often forget about and made them into art. He got this idea from when he was younger; his mom used to reuse old food cans to make flowerpots. He loved the way she recycled old can goods and made them into something new .
Roy Lichenstein
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Roy Lichtenstein had a different style of Pop Art then Warhol. Lichtenstein created images that looked like comic books. Often using emotion in his comics Lichtenstein had a lot of inspiration from popular comic books, advertisements, movies, and television. He used past art styles as an influence such as cubism and benday dots to form his comic inspired art. He changed the way comic books looked slightly with the use of the benday dots.
Robert Rauschenberg
Robert Rauschenberg is most famous for his collage-like images. Rauschenberg often called his art "combines", using materials that artist usually did not use as art tools. One of Rauschenberg's first and most famous combines was entitled "Monogram" (1959) and consisted of an unlikely set of materials: a stuffed angora goat, a tire, a police barrier, the heel of a shoe, a tennis ball, and paint (American Masters). Using bizarre material to create his works made him famous. He usually used trash he found off the streets of New York City and combined them with popular images.
Jasper John
Jasper John is known for his painting "flag", John is more known as a neo dada painter but because he uses classical iconic images, he is often called a pop artist (Foster 2005). Just like the Dada artist Marcel Duchamp, he loved to play with opposites and ironies. The reason that John is often put under the "pop art" catergory is because in his paintings he liked to use images that were well know like targets and beer cans. Johns was actually doing this before "pop art" became big. He is well known for using actual tools like paint brushes in his art. (Art History)
Keith Haring
Keith Haring started loving art at a very young age. Living in New York City inspired him. He loved the art he would find while walking down streets, riding on the subways, watching dancers and graffiti writers. The NYC art community gave him inspiration (K. Haring). He eventually became famous after drawing on empty advertisement spaces on the New York City (NYC) Subway, shortly after New Yorkers' began to recognize these images. When he opened the "Pop Shop" in Soho, art district in NYC, selling T-shirts, toys, posters, buttons and magnets had his images. Haring considered the shop to be an growth of his work and painted the entire interior of the store in an abstract black on white mural, creating a striking and unique retail environment( Keith Haring Foundation).
Other Pop artist
•Tom Wessleman
•David Hockney
A little info about myself:
I am currently on exchange in Great Britan, in my final year studying at Manchester Metropolitan University. I am from New York.
Coming from New York and being on exhange in the U.K. has made me realize a lot about my home country (United States).Since on exchange I have done a lot of traveling to different European countries such as Scotland, Netherlands, Sweden, Spain and France and I'm amazed at the things that I hear about America. Specifically, its amazing how popular American culture is. It still shocks me when I'm hanging out with my Australian flat mate, and her friends are shouting out all the lyrics to a Biggie track, or when a Dutch girl asks me about "Sex and the City" episodes from season one, even whenever I go to a party and they ask me for those famous "Red cups". Every Country I have been to the people knows about the "Red Cups". Movies that take place on American college campuses would not be complete if the college students were not getting drunk while playing Flip Cup, a team drinking game intended to get anyone and everyone playing intoxicated.
My influence comes from this exchange in Manchester, England and all the things I have learned about the way different cultures see a "typical" American life. .
REFERENCES
•"about.com." Art History. New York Times Company, 2010. Web. 14 Dec 2010. .
•American Master." Robert Rauschenberg. PBS, n.d. Web. 29 Nov 2010. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/robert-rauschenberg/about-the-artist/49/>.
•Entman, R. (2002). The black image in the white mind : media and race in America . Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press.
•Foster, H. (2005). Pop. London, UK: Phaidon .
•"K. Haring." Keith Haring. Keith haring Foundation, 2009. Web. 29 Nov 2010. McCarthy, D. (2000). Pop Art. London, UK: Tate Gallery.
•"Pop-Art movement." Encyclopedia of Irish and World Art. Ireland, UK: Web.
•Squires, C. (2009). African Americans and the media . Cambridge, UK: Polity.
