For the Love of Pop Art

Posted by: Vanessa Hernandez on: January 14, 2011

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Let’s talk Pop Art.

Pop Art began in the 1950s in the US and Britain. Lucky for us, the 1950’s in the US was a time of optimism and consumer boom, which was reflected in the art. Think Mad Men.

Inspiration came from symbols and images from media and pop culture. Anything that was familiar and most people could recognize, stuff you would find in advertisements, television, photography, magazines, film and comic strips. The style of Pop Art is usually characterized by the bold, contrasting colors bound by hard edges. The style itself is very distinct but very simple (which is why everyone has turned a picture of themselves into Pop Art).

The rise of Pop Art was a response to the previous art movement, Abstract Expressionism. It’s a general rule that art periods reflect the social and political situation of the time . . .

Pop Art = Economic Boom, Rise of consumerism, suburbia and the nuclear family

Abstract Expressionism = Post World War I, economic and political instability

More importantly, Pop Art has become a great equalizer!! Think about it, art has always been for the elite, the wealthy, never really for the common man. Instead of being abstract, Pop Art has opened up the world of sculpture and painting to everyone.

Once you ‘got’ Pop, you could never see a sign again the same way again. And once you thought Pop, you could never see America the same way again.
-Andy Warhol