POP Art• Artists are interested in the images of mass media,

advertising, comics and consumer products. • The 1950s were a period of optimism following the end

of war-time rationing, and a consumer boom took place. • It was influenced by American artists such as Jasper

Johns and Robert Rauschenberg, and British artists such as Richard Hamilton.

• These artists wanted a more popular, less academic art. • Pop Art therefore coincided with the youth and pop

music phenomenon of the 1950s and '60s, and became very much a part of the image of a fashionable, 'swinging' crowd.

POP Art• After the popularity of abstract

Expressionism this is a return to pictorial (recognizable) subjects.

• The paintings are slick; the mark of the maker (brushstrokes, etc.) are absent.

• The images are presented in a cool detached manner.

Richard Hamilton

Just What Is It That makes today's Homes So Different, So Appealing? 1956

• Richard Hamilton wrote down a prescription for Pop in 1957; he declared that Pop should be:

• Popular• Transient (short term

solution)• Expendable (easily

forgotten)• Low-cost• Mass-produced• Young (aimed at youth)• Witty• Sexy• Gimmicky• Glamorous• Big Business ...

• Part of pioneering exhibition "This is Tomorrow" by a group of Brits.

• Word Pop makes first appearance

• Chief images of later pop are compressed into the collage.

• Young Romance comic,& image borrowed from Art History (Lichtenstein)

• Package of ham (Oldenburg)

• Celebs. like Al Jolson (Warhol)

Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol

• Worked as illustrator for shoes. • As designer he understands how ads. create & satisfy

consumer needs.• Son of Czech immigrants in depression• Yearned for American dream of fame & fortune• Reflected in choice of subject matter (Glamour mags.,

Celebs. Commodities)• Influenced by J.J & R.R. & appropriation of mass

produced images.• Zeros in on mass production & boring repetition.

"I think everybody should be a machine."

Marilyn1962

• Photo silkscreen on canvas.

• Combines theme of Celebrity & Death.

• Marilyn image loaded with sexuality.

• She is an Object of desire, strengthened through repetition.

• Completed shortly after her death

• The doomed Beauty died at 36 of an overdose.

Saturday Disaster

1964

"When you see a gruesome scene over and over again it doesn't have an effect."

Tragedy is depersonalized through repetition.

• Picks up on subject of the public’s morbid fascination with disaster & death.

• The media's obsession with this topic satisfies a need. They exploit it.

• Warhol too exploits, but also gives cause for reflection by removing it from its context, & making it art.

Roy Lichtenstein

Roy Lichtenstein

• Focus is print, specifically the comic books of the 40's & 50's

• Uses limited, flat colour, and hard edged drawing.

• Fond of subtle parody & irony• He reproduces the Ben Day printing dots

used in the commercial printing of comics• He uses themes of violent action &

sentimental romance.

Lichtenstein, Masterpiece, 1962

• Meant to be humorous and self referential• Parodies the romantic notion of an artist life• Increased size of B.D. dots & outlines creates new formal concerns

requiring transformations, and manipulations that separate this from the low art sources..

• Amplifies the intrinsic artificiality• Single frame unresolved

                                                                             

Coarse Medium Fine

The Benday Dot printing process combines two (or more) different small, coloured dots to create a third colour. The process was named after US illustrator and printer Benjamin Day.

Whaam!1963

• From comic American Armed Forces at War• Uses clichés of comic: speech bubbles,

emphatic lettering, stylized explosions, & bright colour.

• He combines the Renaissance tradition of a diptych, with a comic.• The 13' X 5' size amplifies the American obsession with violence’

war & killing.• IIt is painted during the Vietnam & Cold war.• He depicts a moment of crisis & tension with no indication of

resolution.

Claus Oldenburg

Ice Bag

1966

• The medium is vinyl that has been sewn together. • This is a material that is more commonly used in the

manufacturing of commercial products, than it is in art objects.

• By greatly increasing the scale of the object, he changes the way we look at it; it somehow gains greater importance than it deserves.

• The soft sculpture inflates and deflates, making real movement a part of the experience of looking at it.

• The lifelike breathing effect is amusing, but disturbing at the same time.