Pop art is the American Dream, optimistic, generous, and naive! - Robert Indiana (artist)

Like most movements pop art emerged from a shift in society.


Originating from Britain (but distinctively different) in the mid to late 1950's following World War II, pop art gained popularity in the United States spurred by the cultural revolution of the 1960's, a new generation presenting a contemporary perspective on fine art merging it with the popular culture of advertising, comic books and everyday objects. Many early artists adapted the ironic use of bawdy or tawdry depiction of the mundane. Some took the genre to new heights becoming icons themselves. Roy Lichtenstein, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg and of course Andy Warhol.
Images of common popular elements were interpreted as an expansion of ideas, found objects similar to the Dada movement and designed for a mass audience making art sexy, witty, gimmicky, and glamorous. 
Modernists and critics of fine art  disliked the use of ordinary pedestrian objects presented as art and its uncritical treatment in new ways can be seen as the first manifestations of postmodernism. 
The pop style in the United States was a return to representational art, the artist wanting to move away from the emphasis of personal feelings and symbolism in a recognizable way. In Britain, the approach was more academic, employing irony and parody, it focused more on what American imagery represented, and its power in manipulating people's lifestyles. The Independent Group (IG) from the 1950's is regarded as the precursor to the British Pop art movement. 


Comments

  1. Haha...Campbell's condensed soups= "salt bombs", but that cream of mushroom & cream of chicken are staples you can't part from. Good write-up.

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