Introduction
Pop art started as a movement in America in the 1950s; it was first met with stiff opposition but was embraced later. Commercial and popular culture influenced this type of art in Western countries and began as a rebellion against traditional arts. Furthermore, pop artists were driven by the desire to run from traditional museum arts that failed to respond to real-world needs. Therefore, pop art was regarded as anti-art due to its misalignment with the principles at the time. This paper will outline the development of this type of art in America, review several pop artists and their works, and discuss its media and imagery.
The Development of Pop Art in America
In the early 1950s, American artists met to assess mass culture’s place in science and fine art. Britain was recovering from the post-war period during this period, which made its citizens ambivalent about American culture. At the same time, most artists in New York encountered a critical moment from rebel groups and formed a popular Neo-Dada movement to protect their interests.
Pop art experienced massive opposition in the 1970s due to the shifting of focus from object art to performances, installations, and other less tangible art forms. With the revival of paintings in the 1970s-1980s, pop art gained its place in popular culture because its subject matters were easy to understand and identify with. This led to the formation of the Neo-Pop movement, with Jeff Koons being one of the key leaders who set higher art boundaries.
Most art movements were impelled by the cultural uprising initiated by artists and thinkers who focused on the means of initiating a social conformity order rule. Moreover, the emerging groups of artists were significantly inspired by the introduction of the mid-century style. In the 1980s, artists followed the Neo-Pop movement, meaning they incorporated daily life items in their works (Considine, 2019). Today, pop art is usually easily recognized due to its bright colors, innovative techniques, and the use of different media.
Pop Art Artists and Artworks
Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans
Andy Warhol was among the most influential pop art figures who had a distinct artistic style. He helped to give voice to celebrities through his art. The artist brought an understanding of the so-called star culture, which was useful in advertising and was the artist’s major occupation.
His artwork, entitled Campbell’s Soup Cans, aimed at creating a visually stimulating and recognizable image (Considine, 2019). It depicts thirty-two cans – one can for each flavor of Campbell’s soup. Warhol (1962) chose this imagery because he consumed this product regularly for twenty years, and his artwork intended to “subvert the idea of painting as a medium of invention and originality” (para. 1). Hence, this work demonstrates the idea that pop art was developed as the opposition to traditional art.
Keith Haring’s Rebel with Many Causes
Keith Haring is known for his immense contribution to pop art through popular street art. This practice was facilitated by the political conditions that existed in New York during the 1980s (El Kanany & Yasser, 2018). In his work, Haring addressed various political and social topics that existed during the period, including apartheid and AIDS. For this reason, he is commonly known as a revolutionary legend who employed street works to raise awareness of contemporary social issues. Haring’s major goal was to enhance knowledge and understanding of the existing social problems to help citizens take the necessary precautions.
In his creative work, Haring used mostly murals and graffiti. One of his famous artworks is called Rebel with Many Causes. It depicts three figures: one that cannot talk, one that cannot speak, and one that cannot hear. This artwork aimed to criticize those who ignored social issues like the AIDS crisis (El Kanany & Yasser, 2018). Through his art, Haring promoted social activism and drew attention to human rights and other social issues affecting people.
Although Haring did not receive permission from authorities to create and spread murals, he continued to make them despite the hindrances to what he considered a meaningful endeavor. He believed that the use of visuals acted as a warning about the dangerous pandemic AIDS that had the potential to reduce the youth population (El Kanany & Yasser, 2018). Haring’s efforts were guided by the fact that the pandemic was a serious problem among the destitute and working-class communities.
Jasper Johns’s False Start
Jasper Johns is known for the use of flags in most of his artworks, making them easily identifiable. His work in pop art influenced subsequent movements like Neo-Dada. Utilizing common symbols in his art also helped him establish the ideological groundwork of pop art. When Johns created his first art exhibition, he followed his longtime dream for the American flag (El Kanany & Yasser, 2018). Overall, he created more than forty artworks, the theme of which was the American flag.
One of his famous artworks is a lithograph entitled False Start. In this work, the artist used vivid colors and language, enabling the interaction between these two elements. However, the distinctive feature of this painting is that the words designating colors are dissonant with the colors in which they are painted. Hence, the lithograph conveys the idea of conflict and the sense of wrongness. Although pop art has sometimes been criticized for being unaesthetic, Johns’s painting shows that it is an effective means of illuminating ideas with a visual form.
The Media and Imagery of Pop Art
Initially, most pop artists used to question some of the common elitist art traditions. For this reason, artists started to use new approaches to painting and imagery (Baetens & Frey, 2019). These new techniques originated from the business world of media culture. Some of the common methods included silk screening, printing, and mixed media.
Pop artists preferred to create artwork using bold colors, which were totally different from the background. Many artists gathered images from various sources, such as newspapers and magazines, and utilized them in their artworks to produce the desired impression. Thus, artists used popular culture images and non-traditional media to express themselves.
Conclusion
In conclusion, American pop art followed the British post-war art movement that involved raising everyday objects to the level of fine art. In their works, pop artists such as Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, and Jasper Johns used objects from popular culture to convey their creative messages. As the reviewed works show, artists often contrasted pop art with traditional art and employed artistic methods to advocate social change and promote social activism directed toward addressing pressing societal issues.
References
Baetens, J., & Frey, H. (2019). Comics’ culture and Roy Lichtenstein revisited: Analyzing a forgotten ‘feedback loop.’ Art History, 42(1), 126-153.
Considine, L. (2019). American pop art in France: Politics of the transatlantic image. Routledge.
El Kanany, M. G. G., & Yasser, A. K. (2018). Transformer technician in pop art (study in techniques of show). Al-Academy Journal, (89), 5-22.
Warhol, A. (1962). Campbell’s soup cans. The Museum of Modern Art. Web.