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Pop art immortalizes the mundane, popularizes consumerism, and challenges the meaning of “art.”

Pop Art, getting its name from “popular culture,” is supposed to be so objective that there shouldn't be any connection or influence to the artist involved. Despite this, we do eventually see this idea broken with some very popular artists who can't help but have a noticeable stamp on their work.

Though this art movement is thought to be identified as American, it actually started in England in the 1950s. Better yet, it is still practiced today, even 70 years later. Even in the 21st century, it lives on to continually break the barriers of what objects we could or should paint and memorialize. Whether it's a print of Campbell soup cans, a giant clothespin, or a collage of kitchen items, these Pop Art artists have changed the definition of what's acceptable to paint or create, making us appreciate the big and small things in our everyday lives.

Check out this link to Google's Arts and Culture page about Pop Art to view their timeline of this movement since its creation in the 1950's to present day.

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International movement in painting, sculpture and printmaking. The term originated in the mid-1950s at the ICA, London, in the discussions held by the Independent Group concerning the artefacts of popular culture. This small group included the artists Richard Hamilton and Eduardo Paolozzi as well as architects and critics. Lawrence Alloway (1926–1990), the critic who first used the term in print in 1958, conceived of Pop art as the lower end of a popular-art to fine-art continuum, encompassing such forms as advertising, science-fiction illustration and automobile styling. Hamilton defined Pop in 1957 as: ‘Popular (designed for a mass audience); Transient (short term solution); Expendable (easily forgotten); Low Cost; Mass Produced; Young (aimed at Youth); Witty; Sexy; Gimmicky; Glamorous; and Big Business’. Hamilton set out, in paintings such as $he (1958–61; London, Tate), to explore the hidden connotations of imagery taken directly from advertising and popular culture, making reference in the same work to pin-ups and domestic appliances as a means of commenting on the covert eroticism of much advertising presentation.

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Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the United Kingdom and the United States during the mid- to late-1950s.

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Untitled from American Supermarket by Andy Warhol, Robert Watts, and Billy Apple

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Oftentimes when we think of art in a gallery or a museum, we think of it being in a different ballpark than what we see on billboards, in magazines, or on TV. For Pop Art artists, who strive to question what should or should not be considered “art,” this becomes the very influence to draw their creativity from.

So many items in our lives seem to fly under the radar without us even realizing its potential artistic meaning: would you ever consider a Tootsie Pop to be a work of art? Or a comic book? How about a picture of a movie star? This photo from the 1964 exhibition “American Supermarket” both romanticizes and criticizes what typical Americans were buying at that time, including the popular subject of Andy Warhol's “Campbell Soup” prints.

These Pop Art artists challenge the typical subject of something “beautiful” or “meaningful,” saying that even things that aren't necessarily eye-catching are worth calling attention to because they're things that we innovated and use.

Just like how archeologists will dig for anything in an ancient site to learn about the people who lived there, so too does Pop Art act as a time capsule for what humanity has viewed and consumed in the last 70 years.

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The widespread consumerism of this era made it so that almost every American family could have a TV in their home.

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Since Pop Art emerges in America not long after the Second World War, the economy was excelling better than ever. New businesses were opening left and right, advertisers were experimenting with new ways to catch consumers' eyes, and the typical American was wealthy enough to enjoy these new products. Not to mention that TVs and cars were booming in sales, so much so that almost every American of any economic status had a TV in their home.

Basically, consumerism was thriving more than ever.

This is where this appreciation, yet slight ridicule, came into play with Pop Art. Artists were unknowingly creating time capsules for the products that were selling during this era, such as Campbell Soup and Tootsie Pops. In doing so, they seemed to appreciate the creativity and innovation of humanity at this point, in that they're able to come up with such unique and popular products.

Yet at the same time, these artists seemed to mock some of the advertising tactics companies would use, such as painting pin-up girls next to the products they were selling. They would also sneer at the shallowness of “the American Dream,” almost saying “this is what you aspire to? Canned ham and vacuum cleaners?” By also idolizing popular figures with almost unobtainable status, such as Marilyn Monroe and Jackie Kennedy, it testified to the growth in trying to live perfect and stylish lives.

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Richard Hamilton, Just What Is it That Makes Today's Homes so Different, so Appealing?, 1956

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Key Figure Richard Hamilton: Just What Is it That Makes Today's Homes so Different, so Appealing?

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Key Figure Richard Hamilton: Just What Is it That Makes Today's Homes so Different, so Appealing?

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As one of the first Pop Art artists, Richard Hamilton defined what Pop Art represents: bringing meaning to the mundane. He identified how popular trends were affecting the home (thus, the title of his painting). He specifically seemed to criticize the American Dream, saying “is this really what you're aspiring to? The shallowness depicted here?”

Yet, in using all these familiar items his viewers would've identified at the time, he immortalizes them—intentionally or not—letting us understand the innerworkings, emotions, and goals of the people from this era.

It's especially interesting to identify the fact that Hamilton was English, meaning this was an outside perspective on what the American Dream entailed. Yet, the American Dream caught on all over the world, meaning his “outside perspective” was probably not far from the truth.

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Just What Is it That Makes Today's Homes so Different, so Appealing

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What started as a Christmas card for the MoMA became one of the most iconic pieces of Pop Art ever created. Robert Indiana made LOVE with the intention to mean religious and familial love, not romantic love. But just as love has many different meanings, so too does this work of art's simple design invite the viewer to interpret it based on their own perspective

This monument is so popular in fact, that its design has been used everywhere: from sculptures (like the one in New York City and our very own BYU MOA), to sculptures in different languages, to stamps, to prints, to parodies, and so forth.

While this piece started as a simple, seemingly mundane idea, it's struck a chord with many audiences, to the point where it became too popular for Indiana's liking. Yet, this art has made a difference for people in an art form that many ridiculed for being bland and dull. Indiana has proved the opposite: that art really can be for the masses, not just for the select few; that by emphasizing the uninteresting, you can influence the world for the better and make an impact on people's definition of art.

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Andy Warhol is one of those Pop Art artists who started with no personal stamp on his paintings, trying to focus on the objectivity of his work. But he became so popular, it was impossible to separate his work from himself.

Part of Andy Warhol's inspiration for his Campbell Soup work, as well as some of his other advertising pieces that were criticized for being “bland” came from his background in designing packages and Christmas cards. Because when you think of it, someone with some level of artistic skill had to have designed every brand on a product ever made—why should their art be considered inferior to the art in galleries?

While Andy Warhol was at first shunned for his usage of Campbell Soup and Coca Cola designs, many praised him for his revolutionary approach to defining art. He's even been known to say that he thinks art should be for the masses, not the select few—which is why he painted such popular pieces for everyone to relate to and understand.

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This 45-ft clothespin is a perfect example of taking Pop Art, where you take an ordinary object most won't look twice at and bringing meaning to it. Since this sculpture was put up in the 70's, it's become a historic monument in Philadelphia, both for the humor it inspires and the Pop Art is represents.

This isn't Claes Oldenburg's only enlarged piece he's made—in fact, it became his signature move. By changing the way his viewers interact with these ordinary objects, not only by making them bigger but also placing them in areas you would never expect to see them, he invites us to think of everything in our lives from a different perspective—even if it's a clothespin or a toilet.

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Roy Lichtenstein's signature art style is to take popular comic panels, slightly redraw them, and enlarge them on a canvas. In doing so, he's taking an out-of-context snippet of a story to show the drama in the mundane, giving meaning to the seemingly meaningless.

Without showing the speech bubble he took this panel from, Lichtenstein makes us come up with our own context for what's going on in this piece, becoming both personal yet distant at the same time.

He also depicts two very stylish, American, popular stereotypes at the time: a blonde woman and a square-jawed man, in a romantic and dramatic setting, driving in what is probably a trendy car. In doing so, he immortalizes what was seen as desirable at the time.