Characteristics Of Lowbrow Art

Graffiti portrays contemporary sub-cultured art through its versatility and bold attractiveness on the communal grounds. In the 1970s, graffiti was blatantly acknowledged as territorial graffiti where

Pop Art emerged in Britain in the late 50’s and the United States in the early 60’s.(Mamiya 1992) Pop Art is generally known today as a representation of celebrating popular culture and consumerism, however it’s background and origins are far more broad and extensive. There are many factors and influences that lead to the creation of the Pop Art movement such as adjusting to life after World War II, new technological advances that lead to mass cooperate growth, the evolution of Abstract Expressionism and also social issues in the media such as feminism. (Smith 2001; Mamiya 1992) Many of these factors overlap and act as a catalyst in the creation of Neodadaism and eventually Pop Art. (Livingstone 1992) Pop Art does not have a soul distinct style nor just one major influence and this can be proven by looking at key artists of the movement such as Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg and James Rosenquist as well as female Pop artists such as Martha Rosler. (Brauer, Edwards, Finch & Hopps 2001) Exploring these artists and the major influences of their work will break down Pop Art and establish the movement’s purpose as well as its evolution.

The intersection of social movements and Art is one that can be observed throughout the civil right movements of America in the 1960’s and early 1970’s. The sixties in America saw a substantial cultural and social change through activism against the Vietnam war, women’s right and against the segregation of the African - American communities. Art became a prominent method of activism to advocate the civil rights movement. It was a way to express self-identity as well as the struggle that people went through and by means of visual imagery a way to show political ideals and forms of resistance. To examine how a specific movement can have a profound effects on the visual art, this essay will focus on the black art movement of the 1960s and

Artist Drew Hamilton’s, Street Corner Project exhibits the transformation of the view of American art and aesthetics. What was once viewed as beautiful art has changed with out modern art. The artist chose to exhibit his very own Bushwick apartment over the neighborhood bodega in Brooklyn. The artist Drew Hamilton’s artistic choice to change the standard view on aesthetic artwork depicting a true view of the neighborhood through his mini model. Drew Hamilton’s creation of the mini model that mimics the scene of everyday life of Brooklyn residents. Hamilton refashions the basic norms of aesthetics by inventing a new form of imperfect perfection and reaming true to the actual view of his apartment.

Jean-Michel Basquiat emerged from the punk scene in New York as a street-smart graffiti artist. He successfully crossed over his downtown origins to the international art gallery circuit. Basquiat’s work is one of the few examples of how an early 1980’s American graffiti-based could become a fully recognized artist. Despite his work’s unstudied appearance, Basquiat very skillfully and purposefully brought together in his art a host of disparate traditions, practices and styles to create a unique kind of visual collage. His work is an example of how American artists of the 1980’s could reintroduce the human figure in their work after the wide success of minimalism and conceptualism.

America’s infatuation with labels was a relatively new trend in postmodern society. Andy Warhol’s “Silver Liz as Cleopatra” as well as his other pieces impacted societal views on modern art in relationship to value. Warhol had a strong belief that the loss of something in replicating an image was over powered by something of new value being created.

The artwork during this time was influenced by Art Nouveau which included “curvilinear shapes, illegible hand-drawn type, and intense optical color vibration inspired by the pop art movement” (Psychedelic 60s). Pieces included abstracts swirls, intense colors, and bending

A massive artistic change begins with a sense of something about this is wrong. The next step is anger against the wrong and a decision to rectify it. Later, the anger and need for change bleed into every artistic form to revolutionize culture itself. There is no better example of a counter-culture movement than America in the 1960’s, as defiance of previous social norms took place in the Civil Rights movement, the beginning of feminism, and the construction of a radical “hippie” lifestyle. Through cultural changes came rapid controversial evolution in the arts, particularly in music and fashion.

In Highbrow, Lowbrow, Levine argues that a distinction between high and low culture that did not exist in the first half of the 19th century emerged by the turn of the century and solidified during the 20th century, and that despite a move in the last few decades toward a more ecumenical interpretation of “culture,” the distinction between high art and popular entertainment and the revering of a canon of sacred, inalterable cultural works persists. In the prologue Levine states that one of his central arguments is that concepts of cultural boundaries have changed over the period he treats. Throughout Highbrow, Lowbrow, Levine defines culture as a process rather than a fixed entity,

In order to discuss pop art I have chosen to examine the work and to some extent lives of Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol who were two of the main forces behind the American movement. I intend to reflect the attitudes of the public and artists in America at this time, while examining the growing popularity of pop art from its rocky, abstract expressionist start in the 1950s through the height of consumer culture in the 60s and 70s to the present day.

Post-war Japanese society is a world where High and Low art is blurred together by otaku, such as anime, and social class. However, Takashi Murakami straddles the line. Murakami spills a mix of Nihanga and Otaku into the canvases, plastic toys, handbags, shoes, etc; endorsing his own theory/style named “Superflat”. Using strategical subject matter such as popular Japanese comic figures combined with ukiyo-e(traditional Japanese block prints), and addressing these contrasting qualities to outside cultures; Murakami intensifies what Pop Art accomplished, art versus material. On other feelings, one could argue that “Superflat” isn’t a unique, Japan-identified style, that “Superflat” is a humiliation to the Contemporary Art world because of its commercialism. Lastly, that is a continuation of the already well developed Pop Art. On the supporting side, Murakami’s “Superflat” is a high-energy, cross-culture style that serves as a new way to represent the high and low of art that is considerably unique to Japan. To support this, Murakami’s past and present artwork will have to be established chronologically to illustrate how the timeline affects his work.

Pop Art- defined as 'making impersonality a style' by using the imagery of commercial art and other mass media sources. (Hugh Honour and John Fleming, 1991) Pop Art, a movement in the 1950's and 1960's, is based on 'popular culture' and is concerned with such phenomena of modern life as commercial posters, packaged foods,

There were two major art movements during the 1960’s: Pop Art and Minimalism.The two movements are still relevant and influentiantial now in the 21st century. These two art movements do not meet the standard of arts original idea. Pop art represents popular culture, comic books, advertising and television. Pop art movement appeared in the mid 1950’s. It challenged traditional art, it is loud and aggressive, filled with vibrant colors. Once you are familiar with a some Pop art paintings, its unique style is easy to distinguish among the rest. It represented more everyday life than anything. Minimalism and Pop art can be very similar but yet have countless differences that vary from artist to artist. Minimalism isolates the material and blurs out any emotional content and personal expressivity. Minimalism reduces everything to its essential elements. The events that occurred during these movements, such as the Civil rights and the Vietnam War influenced artist to try to challenge other type of art forms and go beyond just “fine art”.

Minimalistic art had emerged in the early 1960’s and lasted mainly into the late 1960s and early 1970s. This type of art was created in order to make art totally objective, unexpressive, and non-referential. Minimalistic art was a response to Action Painting, which was personal and expressive. Two popular artists from this era are Dan Flavin and Carl Andre. Flavin used materials such as fluorescent light tubing to create art such as his work titled, “monument” for V. Tatlin, which was created in 1969. Also, Andre used unique manufactured industrial materials to create art. Some of the common materials he used were square plates or blocks made of aluminum, nickel, zinc, copper, steel, limestone, and wood. His art was created in how he lays the materials upon one another. An example of a piece of art created by Andre is “Sculpture as Place.” Minimalistic art was created in order to show materials as they are with little expressive or personal qualities, as artists Flavin and Andre did. Also, Minimalistic Art’s goal was to focus the viewer’s attention on the actual material rather than the artist’s emotion and influence.

This paper is an explanatory paper by a cultured gentleman on Avant-Garde art and the challenges facing Avant-Garde. More specifically, it comes off as a rant against the bourgeois and proletariat for failing to appreciate Avant-Garde art and instead preferring to art he calls the rear-guard art or Kitsch. This work was printed by the Parisian review during fall, 1939.