HOW HAS GRAPHIC DESIGN
INFLUENCED POP ART TODAY
In this essay I will be talking about the background of Pop Art and two of the
main artists of its time. I will also be talking about mass production as this did
take a big role in the Pop Art movement. I also will be touching up on the punk
movement and the artists who helped influence this. In the last part of the essay I
will go onto answering the question of how is Pop Art used in Graphic Design
today.
Mass production is known to be a system of manufacturing based on principles
such as the use of interchangeable parts, large scale production and of course the
high-volume assembly line. It’s a diverse field, but it can also be contrasted with
also craft production or distributed manufacturing. Even though a lot of ideas
analogue to mass production, it had existed in many industrialized nations
dating back to the eighteenth century. Mass production then had become one of
the dominant forms of manufacturing around the world. Also becoming the
biggest impact on popular culture. Many artists, writers, and filmmakers had
used the image of the assembly line to which they symbolized the good or the
evil of the modern society and technological prowess. Most parts that are used in
mass production are often manufactured elsewhere and then put together on a
moving production facility, which is known as the assembly line. During this the
assembly line was known to have started the industrial revolution. In this mass
production played a lead role in this. Even though it didn’t just run itself, the era
was inspired through many inventions through out the century. The industrial
revolution had begun around the 1800’s and the 1900’s. It was known to have
change the ways that things were produced, as new machines were then
produced, which then made it possible to produce large amounts of materials in
factories. Even though mass production was a big thing, the First World War
turned some people against mass production for a while, with its connotations
for merchandise.
Idea: Mass production | The Economist. 2014. Idea: Mass
production | The Economist. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.economist.com/node/14299820. [Accessed
08 December 2014].
Mass production Facts, information, pictures |
Encyclopedia.com articles about Mass production. 2014.
Mass production Facts, information, pictures |
Encyclopedia.com articles about Mass production.
[ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Mass_production.asp
x. [Accessed 08 December 2014].
Pop art was an art movement that had emerged in the mid-1950s in Britain and
in the late 1950’s in the United States. It was known to have used mass
productions. It represented a challenge to traditions of fine art by using the use
of images from popular culture such as advertising and news. Pop art employs
aspects of mass culture, Such as advertising, comic books and mundane cultural
objects. It had been aimed to employ images of popular as opposed to elitist
culture in art. Pop art was considered as incongruent, as the conceptual practices
that were often used had made it difficult for some to comprehend. A key-point
of Pop Art would be creating paintings or sculptures of mass culture objects and
media stars, The Pop Art movement had often aimed to blur the boundaries
between the high art and the low culture. The idea being that there is no
hierarchy of culture and the fact that art borrows from any source has been the
utter most influential characteristics of Pop Art. The Pop Artists have apparently
embraced the post WW-II manufacturing and media boom. Most of the Pop
Artists began their careers in commercial art. Even though it is known that Pop
art encompasses a wide variety of work with different attitudes and postures.
Most of this is somewhat emotionally removed. It is arguably known that the
abstract expressionists had searched for trauma in the soul while, Pop Artists
often searched for traces in the same trauma in the mediated world of
advertising, Cartoons, and also proper imagery at large. Perhaps it is more
precise to say that Pop Artists were the first to recognize that there is no
unmediated access to anything. The Pop Artists had often believed that
everything is interconnected, and therefore sought to make those connections
literal in their work. Those Pop Artists who drew on popular imagery were seen
to be a part of an international phenomenon in a number of various cities from
the mid 1950’s onwards. Now following the popularity of the abstract
expressionists, Pop Arts Reintroduction of particular imagery was a major shift
for the direction of modernism. Pop Artists had tended to celebrate
commonplace objects and the people of everyday life, in this particular way they
were seeking to elevate popular culture to the level of fine art.
Pop Art - the art of popular culture. 2014. Pop Art - the
art of popular culture. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.artyfactory.com/art_appreciation/art_moveme
nts/pop_art.htm. [Accessed 08 December 2014].
Pop Art Movement, Artists and Major Works | The Art
Story. 2014. Pop Art Movement, Artists and Major
Works | The Art Story. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.theartstory.org/movement-pop-art.htm.
[Accessed 08 December 2014].
Andy Warhol was an American artist; he was a leading figure in the visual art
movement known as Pop Art. His work often explored the relationship between
artistic expression, celebrity culture and advertisement. He had a successful
career as a commercial illustrator. Warhol had become a renowned and
sometimes a controversial artist. As an artist his work encompassed many forms
of media including, Hand drawing, Painting, Printmaking, Photography, Silk
Screening, Sculpture, Film and music. Warhol was an early adaptor of the
silkscreen printmaking process as a technique for making paintings. Even though
he had entered the field of fine art, his commercial background had also involved
innovative techniques for image making that were somewhat related to the print
making skills.
Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans, which is also sometimes referred to as 32
Campbell’s Soup cans, were produced in 1962. Which had consisted of 32
canvases each measuring 20 inches. Each of the canned soups had varied of the
company offered at the time. Campbell’s Soup Cans were produced by a print
making method. Known as a semi- merchandized screen printing process, using
a non- painterly style. His soup cans had reliance themes from the popular
culture, which had helped usher on Pop Art as a major art movement in the
United States. Combination of the semi-merchandised process and also the none
painterly style and the commercial subject had initially caused offence as the
work had blatantly mundane commercialism, represented a direct affront to the
technique and philosophy of abstract expressionism. Campbell’s soup can series
alongside with his other series provide Warhol with a chance to express his
positive view of modern culture. His productions of Campbell’s Soup Can works
had under went three distinct phases. The first had taken place in 1962, during
which he created realistic images, and then had also produced numerous pencil
drawings of the subject. Andy Warhol’s career catapulted due to the production
of Campbell’s Soup Can. After his paintings of the soup can he had switched
almost completely to silkscreen printing. During this time his art was totally
mass-produced, where he closely mimicked the mass produced products he
often depicted
Andy Warhol’s efforts to complement the message of his artwork, left him
developing a Pop persona after the mass media took note of his Pop Art. His
work is seen to be more retro, he wasn’t just another Pop Artist; he is the actual
one reason that art is so diverse today.
10 Facts About Andy Warhol:
1. Warhol Was born the 6th of august 1928 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
2. Andy Warhol was known for his Pop Art, and the work focuses of the
crossover between Celebrity, Advertising and artistic Expression
3. He worked with controversial types of media including: Painting,
Printmaking, Photography, Drawing, Sculpture and music, he had then
started a magazine and created several books
4. His studio was named ‘The Factory’ And had become a famous meeting
place for creative people and celebrities
5. He was scared of hospitals and doctors, also suffered from being a
hypochondriac
6. In the 1960’s Warhol had used iconic American Images and Objects, to
which he produced a series of paintings
7. On the 3rd of June 1968 Warhol was shot by Valerie Solana’s and nearly
died
8. Warhol produced many pieces of Art work for many celebrities in the
1970’s
9. He had founded the New York academy of art in 1979
10. Warhol Had died 22nd February 1987, following complications in surgery
for post gallbladder
The Twentieth Century: Andy Warhol | Tate. 2014. The
Twentieth Century: Andy Warhol | Tate. [ONLINE]
Available at: http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tateliverpool/exhibition/dla-piper-series-twentiethcentury/twentieth-century-exhibition-8. [Accessed 08
December 2014].
Campbell's Soup Cans - Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia. 2014. Campbell's Soup Cans Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [ONLINE] Available
at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campbell's_Soup_Cans.
[Accessed 08 December 2014].
10 Andy Warhol Facts. 2014. 10 Andy Warhol Facts.
[ONLINE] Available at:
http://primaryfacts.com/818/10-andy-warhol-facts/.
[Accessed 08 December 2014].
Roy Lichtenstein was born October 27, 1923 and died September 29th 1997. He
was also an American Pop Artist. Lichtenstein was the leading figure in the new
art movement. The early 1960’s he had reproduced masterpieces by Cezanne,
Mondrian and Picasso before then embarking on the brushstroke series in 1925.
Roy Lichtenstein developed a Pop Art style that had been based on the visual
vernacular of mass- communication. It had been a style that was fixed in its
format: Black outlines, bold colours and tones rendered by Ben Day dots. Some
of the changes he had made to his work, were the subject matter which often
started from comic strips to an exploration of modernist art styles such as;
Cubism, Futurism, Art deco, De Stijl, Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism.
Lichtenstein had left New York to study at the Ohio state university, which
offered studio courses and a degree in fine arts. This was then interrupted by a
three-year stint with in the army and after World War II between 1943 and
1946. He had started his first Pop Paintings In 1961 using cartoon images and
techniques derived from the appearance of commercial printing. This phase then
continued in 1965, which now included the use of advertising imagery
suggesting consumerism and homemaking. Lichtenstein work had defined the
basic premise of pop art through parody. As favouring the comic strip as his
main inspiration, he had then produced hard-edged, precise compositions that
had documented while it parodied in an often-humorous manner. Both popular
advertising and the comic book style often heavily influenced Roy Lichtenstein’s
work.
In his better-known works Lichtenstein used oil and magna, which was known as
early acrylic paint in his better-known works. He used this in his works such as
drowning girl, which was appropriated from the lead story in DC Comics ‘Secret
hearts’. His best-known work Drowning Girl also features Thick outlines, bold
colours and Ben Day dots, as if it had been created by a photographic
reproduction. Instead of attempting to reproduce his subject matter,
Lichtenstein’s work was often portrayed and tackled by how the mass media
perceived it. Lichtenstein would often say that the Abstract Expressionists often
put things down on the canvas and respond to what they have done, to the
colour positions and sizes. One of the most celebrated images of his would
arguably be ‘WHAAM’, one of the earliest known examples of pop art. The
painting describes to be a fighter aircraft firing a rocket into an enemy plane,
with a red-yellow explosion. Whaam then follows onto his comic strip based
themes of his previous paintings and is part of a body of war themed work
created between 1962 and 1964. It is known to be one of his two notable large
war-themed paintings. Lichtenstein’s works are seen to be relatively close, but
not exact, copies of comic book panels, a big subject that he largely decided to
abandon in 1965, Which he then would occasionally incorporate comics into his
work in different ways in later decades.
Popeye was created in 1961 in the summer. It was known to have been one of
Lichtenstein’s first paintings. In a later stage he had began to focus on generic
human figures that had often appeared in the cartoons of that time period.
Before that Lichtenstein had chosen to use immediately recognizable characters
such as Mickey Mouse and Popeye. Many people have suggested that Popeye’s
punch was an intentional sly response to one of the reigning ideas in the
contemporary art criticism that a picture’s design which should often make an
immediate visual impact. Most people believed that this should be achieved by
and with abstract art, Lichtenstein had here demonstrated that one person could
achieve it, just as well by being able to borrow from low culture.
Lichtenstein had played this critical role in subverting the sceptical view of
commercial styles and subjects, which were established by the Abstract
Expressionists. Being able to embrace low art such as Comic Books and popular
Illustration had made Lichtenstein become one of the most important figures in
the pop art movement. Even though his paintings of cartoons and comics are his
most recognizable works, he had a somewhat interesting career that had drawn
from Cubism, Surrealism and Expressionism. But its his art work re-imaging of
the popular culture through the lens of the traditional art history, that now has
remained to be a considerable influence to later generations of artists, as Pop Art
has now gone onto significantly inform Post-Modernism.
The Drowning girl was created in 1963. It is a painting made of oil and synthetic
polymer paint on canvas. The image is utilizing the conventions of comic book
art; the thought bubble conveys the thought of the figure, whilst the use of Ben
Day dots echo the effect of the merchandized printing process. This technique is
one of the popular representative paintings of the Pop Art movement. This
painting is amongst one of the most significant works Roy Lichtenstein had done.
This painting shows a teary- eyed woman on a turbulent sea. It is seemed to have
looked liked she is in an emotional way, seemingly from a romance. In the speech
bubble it declares that she would rather sink in the ocean than call brad. This
work is taken from a 1962 DC comic’s panel. This image is one of the several
Lichtenstein works that mentions a hero named Brad who is absent from the
picture. The drowning girls subject is an example of Lichtenstein’s post-1963
comics based on women who “look, hard, crisp, brittle, and uniformly stylish in
appearance.
10 Facts about Lichtenstein
1.
2.
3.
4.
He was initially a comic book enthusiast
Originally started out as an cubist artist
It was his son that stirred him towards Pop Art
His work was severely criticised by art critics, to which extent they
called him a copycat.
5. His wham painting is his most famous
6. The Artists used in the painting of wham had helped Roy during
his stint in the army
7. Roy Lichtenstein had produced a film
8. One of his highest selling paintings was ‘Woman with flowered hat’
9. His Art piece ‘Drowning girl’ is considered to be a ‘Masterpiece of
Melodrama’
10. Roy was in ‘Awe of woman’
Roy Lichtenstein - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
2014. Roy Lichtenstein - Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Lichtenstein. [Accessed
08 December 2014].
Roy Lichtenstein | 10 Interesting Facts about the Pop
Artist | Learnodo Newtonic. 2014. Roy Lichtenstein | 10
Interesting Facts about the Pop Artist | Learnodo
Newtonic. [ONLINE] Available at: http://learnodonewtonic.com/roy-lichtenstein-facts. [Accessed 08
December 2014]
Roy Lichtenstein Biography, Art, and Analysis of Works |
The Art Story. 2014. Roy Lichtenstein Biography, Art, and
Analysis of Works | The Art Story. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.theartstory.org/artist-lichtenstein-roy.htm#.
[Accessed 08 December 2014].
The history of the Punk Subculture involves the history of Punk Rock, Ideology,
Fashion, Visual Art, Literature, Dance and Film. Since developing in the United
States, The United Kingdom and Australia in the Mid-1970’s, the punk subculture
has increased around the globe and evolved, into a big number of different
forms. The Punk History does play an important part in the history of the
subculture in the 20th century. There were numerous numbers of philosophical
and artistic movements that had been influenced on and precursors to the punk
movement. It has said to been that several strains of modern art anticipated and
influenced the punk movement. One of the biggest sources of the punk’s
movement inception was Pop Art. The main Pop Artist of this time was Andy
Warhol and his studio had played a big major role in setting up, what then would
be seen to become the New York City Punk Scene. Pop Art was then also seen to
have influenced the look of Punk Visual art. Post Modernism has now made its
headway into the punk scene in more recent times. Youth subcultures had
previously influenced various appearance of the Punk subculture. What had then
began an artistic movement, as an expression of counter-cultural angst, crossed
continents into film studios, literature, poetry, theatres, art galleries and catwalk.
The Punk movement was a global commodity by the Mid-1990’s. The Pop Art
movement had come out as a way to turn the arts into something reachable to
anyone. It has now also been considered the transition from modern to post
modern in the arts. Pop Art has the ability to communicate openly to the people
using signs and symbols originating from the imaginary world so common on the
everyday life from the masses. The Modern arts opposite have considered the
denial of which Modern Art has separated Art from life. Andy Warhol was one of
the most representative names dated from this time, His use of saturated colours
and his images of Celebrity Myths like Marilyn Monroe and Elvis. An example of
this would be demonstrating, how the public personalities could be considered
impersonal and shallow through a mechanic reproduction instead of the manual.
Conclusively, other than the music, the punk movement can be considered a
good example of expressing the use of Pop Art.
History of the punk subculture - Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia. 2014. History of the punk subculture Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_punk_subcult
ure. [Accessed 08 December 2014].
Rockpulse article: Osaka Popstar : Pop Art and Punk
Rock for sure . 2014. Rockpulse article: Osaka Popstar :
Pop Art and Punk Rock for sure . [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.rockpulse.co.uk/articles/23/osaka-popstar--
pop-art-and-punk-rock-for-sure-5-2-2011/. [Accessed
08 December 2014].
Till this day in age the Pop Art movement in the 50’s didn’t just impress the
wealthy, it had changed the culture. The movement was so big that the
inspirations and meanings behind this movement is still featured and produced
to this day. Pop Art is still a big success to this day. It has now become clearer
that Pop Art was much more than just a statement and it is hard to just ignore it.
The Pop Art movement is everywhere you go, whether it be public places, or
even advertising. The features of the Pop Art movements are still used today in
such things as: Print design, Creating colourful birthday cards, and T-shirt
designs, Badges, Calendars, Posters and Canvases. The colours, the dots and the
characteristics of this art movement never faded this is why the art form of this
movement continues to fascinate our cultures of today.
A lot of people are curious to how Pop Art still has a strong presence, 47 years
after it had appeared. The reason for this is that Pop Art has gathered a large
number of supporters over the years, which had turned out to be a great
investment. Artists of today are still inspired by Pop Art, as you will be able to
recognise many of the features from this movement in there work. Whether it be
in Web-Design, Graphic Design or other creative fields. Till this day designer still
do Creative prints, Digital Illustrations, Posters using some of the features like:
Strong multiple colours, Dotted images, Series of images with one print, Home
utilities like Television, Radio, Camera and the faces of famous people. Andy
Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein works are known to be the most often used models
in Artists of todays work because of their contemporary style of work. Because
of the use of colour in Pop Art work, today it represents a great inspiration for
designers.
20 Things You Didn’t Know About Pop Art & Graphic
Design. 2014. 20 Things You Didn’t Know About Pop Art
& Graphic Design. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://speckyboy.com/2012/01/16/20-things-you-didn’tknow-about-pop-art-graphic-design/. [Accessed 08
December 2014].
In my conclusion I do feel that Pop art is used in different areas of design
work and especially in graphic design. Pop Art does continue to influence
the 21st century. Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol were used in u2’s 1997,
1998 pop mart tour and in an exhibition in 2007 at the British national
portrait gallery.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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