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Pop art, also known as "popular art" is the redefining of traditional art by incorporating aspects of modern culture such as imagery from comic books, name-brand faces and/or logos, and advertisements. Pop art began as a playful and happy thing in Great Britain after World War II, and is still representational of things that society deems as important to our happiness.

Pop art is often described as "representational visual communication" and is compared to The American Dream--defined as "optimistic, generous, and naïve."

Pop art often challenges conventional values presented by the mass media--revolving around feminism, patriotism, and consumerism. This is strongly due to the pent up feelings of annoyance towards own governments as well as other countries following World War II.

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Initial influences for the Pop Art movement

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Initial influences for the Pop Art movement

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“Pop Art” first emerged in Great Britain as a result of their great sufferings from hardships during the war. Amidst the rampage of postwar socio-political climate, a group of artists from the "Independent Group" in Great Britain wanted to idealize the American lifestyle in an effort to critique the British lifestyle.

A lot of the more famous works of pop art are credited to be heavily influenced by ideals and things that people didn't realize they were so attached to. The influence derived from this thought of reliance on branding and certain aspects of life that people were not realizing they were so subconsciously attached to.

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Pop art was a way to return to representational art in the United States following Word War II. Hard edges and distinct forms were used with the incorporation of impersonal and mundane imagery. Pop art wanted to move away from personal feelings and personal symbolism in the United States.

In Great Britain, there was more of an academic approach to pop art. Great Britain used pop art as a way of mockery to the United States' approach on popular culture as an act of rebellion after the war.

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Just What Is It That Makes Today's Homes So Different, So Appealing?, Richard Hamilton, 1956.

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Richard Hamilton's contribution to the "this is tomorrow" exhibition

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Richard Hamilton's contribution to the "this is tomorrow" exhibition

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This piece by Richard Hamilton is credited to be one of, if not the first works of the pop art movement. In what can only be described as a knock-off of American materialism, this collage paved the way for many post-war creations in England.

To create this piece, Hamilton used images from American magazines and cut them out in an ordered fashion to create a wildly unrealistic biblical depiction of Adam and Eve. Hamilton described his creation as a combination of "comics, words, and tape recordings" to depict a contemporary version of Adam and Eve in a crowded space (presumed to be influenced by the economic post-war economic recession that people were undergoing in England at the time).

This piece was also featured in the "This is Tomorrow" exhibition.

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Ed Ruscha was a prominent person of influence for the development of pop art on the west coast. Much like Andy Warhol's "Campbell's Soup I," Ed Ruscha's "Standard Station" also highlights the symbolic consumer culture of America. While this proceeds Warhol's famous work, this piece is still a very influential demonstration of pop culture as the automotive industry boomed. Ruscha used the medium of screenprinting to capture the symbolism of this piece, and paved the way for a template for an aesthetic format for advertising.

This piece was especially influential at the time for pop art because as the automotive industry was on the rise, many people gravitated towards this "picket-fence" lifestyle that promoted the use of automobiles (which was still considered a fairly luxurious asset to own at the time). This art piece acknowledges the use of leading lines, directing us down this path of following our eyes to an endless view of this gas station, promoting the idea that automobiles would likely be part of our society for a long time to come.

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This piece began a movement of realization amongst people at the end of the 60's: worth. The intention of this image was not to highlight the popularity of a name-brand household item, but rather to invite viewers to consider the contemporary factors of how humans have put themselves in the position to be susceptible to these name brand commodities that are bought and sold in an ever changing economical world.

Questions presented from this piece include: "How do we view ourselves as a society? Why are we drawn to the idea of idolizing a certain lifestyle?" Warhol paved the way for modern art to be viewed from a realistic perspective and acted as a psychological evaluation of the human tendencies to favor the popular brands.

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Claes Oldenburg, "Pastry Case, I" 1961-62

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Claes Oldenburg is cited as one of the few sculptors from the Pop Art era. Oldenburg was known for making whacky and weird creations of various inanimate objects and food.

Depicted here, a variety of desirable popular foods were sculpted.To make this specific piece called "Pastry Case, I" he molded to food out of plaster onto ceramic plates, metal platter cups, and cups that were encased with glass and metal.

Oldenburg was famous for his expressive brush strokes in this specific piece, and was intended to mock the seriousness of Abstract Expressionism (which had become a fairly common theme in Pop Art).

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Eduardo Paolozzi "I was a rich man's plaything" 

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While not the most notable piece from the pop art movement, I wanted to note this collage as it highlights a strong push for British post-war feminist movements (as fairly obviously noted by the title). This piece also illustrates the gap between the glamor of military recruitment of the United States and the crippling economical status of Great Britain at the time.

Some sources also acknowledge that this piece also displayed how women were used as a "bait" of sorts for men to do do better in society following the war.

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Just as an added bonus, I have included Disney World's "Pop century" resort as an application of pop art in modern society. This resort has a plethora of representation of pop art, and headlines the colorful palette depicted in pop art. This resort also features large sculptures of bowling pins, flowers, and various other pieces of popular cultural elements from the 50's-2000's.

Some other aspects of pop art that are thrown in here include the vibrant colors, outlandish design patters, and present little to no actual set structure (see above for the mismatch of shapes)