-Summarising the style and period.
The term known as Pop Art was coined by a British custodian, known as Lawrence Alloway, in 1955. And it was mostly created to give description to a new form of Popular art. It’s a kind of movement that has been distinguished by the image of consumerism and most of the popular culture. It emerged in both London and New York. And it did so during the middle of 1950s, and as such it became a very strong and powerful avant-garde style, all the way until somewhere near the end of 1960.
It’s shown by simple, and extremely strong, everyday imagery, and rather energetic blocky colours.
Dominant colours are blue, yellow and red. Bright colours help with emphasising a certain element of contemporary art and it reduces the gap between commercial and fine arts. The most common theme was food, house appliances, and furniture. They applied everyday motifs, stylised, flat characters, cheap way of making (silk screening) and cheap material (in a sculpture of gypsum and foam plastic). That’s why pop art during the initial shock mockingly called art that is dropped to the level of everyday life.
-What colours , themes etc. typify this periods ?
Pop-art, like the majority of most significant art styles, was, you could say, a reaction against the current state in the world. In 1950s America, the style favoured by the majority was most definitely Abstract Expressionism. A magical nonrealistic style of painting that, while liked by critics, art-lovers, and people who often visit museums, was not in connection with it’s general public, or with many other artists for that matter. It’s quite the style of a painter, the less figurative and non-eloquent it would become, the bigger the possibility for a new style, which used more metaphorical, and more realistic analogy: viz, something that the wider artist fellowship could get into and that viewers could understand better. As such Pop-art, which eventually became a well-known art style, and which in turn was supplanted by other schools post 1970, was defined by rather simplistic, everyday allegory, and powerful blocky colours, and as such was always nice to see, and also had a modern new feel to it. The vibrant colour palettes also allowed this form of avant-garde art to enhance specific parts in the current culture and helped to limit down the separation between all sorts of arts, whether commercial or fine. It was the very first ever Post-Modernist movement, and also the first art school that showed the potential of filmography, as well as television, out of which most of its very well-known images obtained their fame. Most of the usual origin points of Pop iconography were ads, photos of major celebrities all across the world, and many other important people, as well as parts of comics.
-Who are the main practitioners of the period ?
Peter Blake, Richard Hamilton, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein….
-What would you like clarification on ?
Pop artists look to the world through reproduction. The first pop artists, like all of the
artists before them who made something new, they changed the way of looks on which we are seeing a world, creating art that rejects decorative security. Pop
art for artists was an easy way to start with personal, artistic
and to counteract the Western way of life in its “new
world “. Pop art undoubtedly points to the phenomenon of wiping the boundaries between
art and mass media. The surface and mass of pop art productions are
a reflection of the image of society as a whole of that lost individual. The most important feature
pop art is not used for everyday things and a mere re-examination of reality
but rather accepted the advertising conventions as part of a commercial background and introduced it them in art. Although initially, we have a completely disregarded direction, we can say that pop art is certainly one of the influential artistic direction.
-Think of the social , political and cultural contex – what forces shaped the design/art ?
Up till the 20th century, classical fine art painting was normally made in oils: sculpture in bronze, stone or wood. Moreover, typically subjects were considered worthy of aesthetic treatment: the human nude, the human face, the classic landscape, genre-scene or still life. Even Cubism, despite its revolutionary nature, managed to observe many of these artistic conventions. Then began the First World War and the anti-art movement known as Dada. This movement launched the idea that art can be created from all sorts of stuff, including the banalest everyday scraps of material. Pop-artists maintained.
-Any additional observations ?
No international movement of art that lasts any more than 15 years and reaches most known art types, genres and types of media, or even entirely new forms, can be summed up in but a few sentences. Even so, no understanding of Pop-art is possible without taking into account the following concepts which help to characterise its core.
-Dose the work remind you of any contemporary designers or design ?
Jeff Koons is renowned for putting a playful spin on familiar subjects. Experimenting with colour, scale, and material, he crafts glossy, polychromatic sculptures of pop culture icons, from famous figures like Michael Jackson and Marilyn Monroe to ballerina figurines and balloon animals. Though steel is his medium of choice, he also works in porcelain, polyethylene, and even plants.
Alex Katz, unlike other contemporary artists who find inspiration in Pop Art, American artist Alex Katz actually played a pivotal role in pioneering the movement. With their simple subject matter and solid planes of bold color, his large-scale oil paintings are often viewed as a key Pop Art precursor. Today, Katz continues to create these iconic pieces, as well as sculptures, installations, and prints. Like his paintings, these additional works typically showcase his simplified style and interest in portraiture as well as his enduring Pop Art aesthetic.
Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama creates immersive environments and interactive installations. Predominantly known for her multimedia Mirror Room series, Kusama has also produced patterned paintings, textured drawings, and stand-alone sculptures throughout her career. Kusama has been celebrated for her avant-garde art since the 1950s. Initially associated with New York Citys Abstract Expressionists, she soon shifted toward the Pop Art style. Since then, she has continued to captivate audiences with her bold style and inventive visuals, which are both on full display in the brand new Yayoi Kusama Museum in Tokyo.
* Janson, Horst Woldemar: Janson, Anthony, Povijest umjetnosti, Varazdin : Stanek,2003
*https://m.theartstory.org/movement-pop-art.htm
Nika 