Pop Art is, at its root, commercial art, a reproducible art form with apparently everlasting icons for the public, generated on the streets, outside of elite galleries, and from everyday symbols.
Artists began to employ symbols and references that were direct references to commonplace objects, brands, and mass symbols – the ‘culture’ that was impacting people’s lives, opinions, and habits. The milieu in which these artists — and people in general – grew up was represented by these ‘icons of modern-day society.’
The logos, pictures, and faces of Hollywood stars could be seen everywhere, in advertisements, grocery shelves, and kitchen cupboards. They were the visual icons of ‘Pop Culture’ that were everywhere.
Artists quickly became celebrities as they began to employ common symbols and emblems and realized the power of these powerful pictures. The Art Realm was a world of celebrities more than ever before.
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Who are the most influential Pop Art artists?
Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol is perhaps Pop Art’s most significant person. He went on to become a well-known star in his own right. He made ‘star-culture,’ advertising, and the impact of the media the center of his work – and his existence as an artist. His Factory, also known as Andy Warhol’s studio, became a hive for artistic luminaries of the time, drawing other strong figures and amplifying the ‘brand’ of Andy Warhol.
We might think of him as the embodiment of this culture and movement. Warhol’s distinct and extremely personal style offered celebrity culture a voice like no other, and his works continue to impact art, fashion, and design today.
Director Gus Van Sant, for example, just declared that he is working on a musical called “Andy” to honor this great man! It will also feature a duet between Warhol and Art Critic Clement Greenberg, as if to emphasize Warhol’s unconventional nature and significance in the art world. As a consequence of a cooperation between The Andy Warhol Foundation and Christie’s auction house, five Andy Warhol works were sold at auction in the form of NFTs in May 2021.
Keith Haring
Keith Allen Haring began his career as a street artist in New York, leaving markings and messages on the streets and in the subway. “My dad produced cartoon figures for me,” he explained, “and they were quite similar to how I started to draw—with one line and a cartoon outline.”
Tagfineart told us that he studied Commercial Art in Pittsburgh at first, but felt compelled to leave, so he dropped out and moved to New York City, where he became regarded as one of the major characters of Graffiti and Pop Art. His instantly recognizable graphics represented the 1980s counterculture, fighting for AIDS awareness and drug misuse. His work has been shown at the Whitney Biennial and the Venice Biennale,
Roy Lichtenstein
One of the founding pioneers of the Pop Art movement is Roy Fox Lichtenstein. His paintings have a distinct style that distinguishes him as one of the most prominent painters. Christie’s sold Lichtenstein’s ‘Nurse’ for a record $95.4 million in November 2015.
We can observe how the expanded imagery of advertisements and comics with recognizable characters accentuates the irony of the pictures and settings that falsely portray everyday life in this artwork, as well as in other works.
This artist classified Pop art as “Industrial” painting rather than “American” painting. It was jarring, influenced by war and romance comics, and “whatever I could use as a subject that was emotionally intense.
Tom Wesselmann
Tom Wesselmann was an American sculptor, painter, and collage artist whose work has received fresh recognition in the years since his death. He gave the usual topics of Pop Art a powerful lyrical touch. He combined conventional topics like the nudist, still life, and landscape with publicity and daily things in his work. His art uses strong colorful surfaces to merge genuine things with surreal, dreamlike, and illusionistic settings.
Mimmo Rotella
Domenico Rotella, often known as Mimmo Rotella, was a prolific artist in Italy during the second part of the twentieth century. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential personalities in postwar European art.
He used fragments of advertisements and posters in his décollage works, which he was close to Ultra-Lettrists, Nouveau Réalisme, and even the Pop Art movement. He used a series of shredded and stripped posters for this approach, arranging them to produce a very emotive and strong look.
Robert Rauschenberg
Robert Rauschenberg was an American artist who worked as a graphic designer, photographer, printer, painter, and performer. Some say he foresaw the Pop Art trend, although he’s been labeled a ‘Neo-Dadaist’ by others.
“Painting links to both art and life,” he claims, and his goal was to create “in the space between the two.” Rauschenberg gathered trash on the streets of New York City and used it into his work. He even employed serigraphy to transfer discovered photos on the canvas in his paintings, a technique popular among Pop Artists at the time.
Richard Hamilton
Richard Hamilton was a prominent member of the British Pop Art generation. His roots in Commercial Art, like those of many other artists in this movement, had a significant influence on his work.
“What is it that makes today’s homes so distinct, so appealing?” he asks in his collage. (1956) was chosen as the primary picture for the poster and book of a show at the Whitechapel Gallery, putting him in front of a large audience and emphasizing the significance of his work. He was also a member of the ‘Independent Group,’ a prominent figure in British Pop Art.
Mel Ramos
Artist Mel Ramos was an American figurative painter of a Portuguese-Azorean ancestry. His works generally depicted the female nude, combining abstract and naturalistic elements. He was a proponent of Pop Art and a university lecturer.
His work was shown alongside those of Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol in a number of group exhibits. He was one of the first artists to depict comic strips. His works include a particular sarcasm that sets him apart from other Pop artists. His symbols and motifs, in fact, have a little different meaning than those found in other artists‘ works.
