What are some characteristics of Pop Art?
Pop art is a reaction to abstract expressionism which strived to convey the emotion of the individual artist creating it. Pop art focused on the mass materialistic, consumerist culture of the 1960’s. The influential artists of this period reflected what they saw as life during this era. Society was not about individuality anymore, so they created art illustrating the images of what dominated their culture: popular culture such as movie stars (Marilyn Monroe) and other famous people (Jackie Kennedy) as well as household products (Campbell’s soup) and comic strips. By focusing on these rather mundane images, they were basically holding a mirror up to society and saying “this is what we have been reduced to”. People responded to it because they could identify with its images as opposed to the drips and splatters of the previous art movement (abstract expressionism). Additionally, the traditional painting methods were replaced by commercial printing methods such as silk-screen.
