Comparing Dada to Pop Art Essays

Attention Getter: The American culture is so engulfed into consumerism that we take every day items and objects for granted we don 't necessarily realize the impact and importance to have on our life and how we live vicariously through them. Today I 'm going to talk about one man that took these concepts into his artistic ability and thereby created a whole new culture in what we see is art today. This man who is considered one of the fathers of pop art goes by the name of Andy Warhol.

Pop art got its name from Lawrence Alloway, who was a British art critic in 1950’s. The name “Pop Art” reflected on the “familiar imagery of the contemporary urban environment” (kleiner, 981). This art form was popular for its bold and simple looks plus its bright and vibrant colors. An example of this type of art is the oil painting done by Andy Warhol, “Marilyn Diptych” (Warhol, Marilyn Diptych) in 1962. The Pop art movement became known in the mid-1950 and continued as main type of art form until the late 1960’s. The Pop art movement, was a movement where medium played a huge part in the society, with it reflecting on advertisements, comic strips and even celebrities, like Marilyn. This movement also has a large

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.

Impactful across the globe, both Dada and Surrealism were artistic movements created in the early 20th century that were significant in redefining modern art today. The Dada movement came about in 1916 through the performance of Hugo Ball’s sound poem “Karawane” at the Cabaret Voltaire that he opened with his partner, nightclub singer Emmy Hennings, in Zurich, Switzerland. The poem made absolutely no sense, purposely, and it didn’t have to. Ball would also dress in wild costumes for his performances as seen below:

Although Pop art was originally stated to come from the revolt to Abstract Expressionism, and a jump off of Dadaism, my thoughts are that the similarities between Pop Art and Realism as extensive. They are related in the fact that they both are based on everyday life scenes. While Realism delved into everyday society, Pop Art did the same with the everyday mass media market. Realism was a jump from Romanticism- a fight of the unnatural belief that everything must be romanticized. Pop art was a jump from Abstract Expressionism- a fight of the unnatural belief that everything should spark emotional thought. Pop artists in Germany are referred to as Capitalist Realism artists and, in France, the Pop Art movement is called Nouveau Realisme, directly translated as New Realism.

From here, is where Pop Art made its grand entrance on the art scene. Originating in Great Britain in the 1950’s, Pop art made its way to the United States quickly. Pop Art stemmed from Abstract Expressionism, that was deemed as too elitist, and non-objective, and as well as celebrating postwar consumer culture, or as we know it, popular culture. The style of Pop Art was similar to media production such as billboards, comic strips, television, and advertisement. Also, containing bold shapes, loud, and bright colors. Pop Art was also in a sense a celebration of simple common objects. This differed extremely from past art that stemmed from spiritual, and psychological inspiration.

The Pop Art movement was named as a way to define the new form of popular

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.

Pop Art was a 20th century art movement that utilized the imagery and techniques of consumerism and popular culture as well as mass media and advertising

Dada was an artistic and literary movement, this arose as a reaction to World War one. Many citizens believed that Dada was actually the cause of World War one, this movement likes to take the form of ‘anti-art’. Therefore, how you can claim everything is art but in reality, nothing is art. For example, take the painting ‘Fountain’ by a Dadaist painter Marcel Duchamp it is a readymade painting of an unused urinal. Which is basically implying that he rejected art and thought that we should focus on the artist 's idea more rather than it being crafted. Therefore, using a urinal and labelling it as ‘art’, get’s Duchamp’s point across that a work of art should be the artists idea instead of it being crafted. When looking at Dadaism by Tristan Tzara, there were some interesting quotes. For example, “Like everything in life, Dada is useless. Dada is without pretension, as life should be.” (Tzara, 1918). This quote intrigues me, as Tzara is stating that all art is useless and that Dada is pretension and that is how life should be. This can be used as an example of how Dadaism was inspired by

Abstract Expressionism is making its comeback within the art world. Coined as an artist movement in the 1940’s and 1950’s, at the New York School, American Abstract Expressionist began to express many ideas relevant to humanity and the world around human civilization. However, the subject matters, contributing to artists, were not meant to represent the ever-changing world around them. Rather, how the world around them affected the artist themselves. The works swayed by such worldly influences, become an important article within the artists’ pieces. Subjectively, looking inward to express the artist psyche, artists within the Abstract Expressionism movement became a part of their paintings. Making the paintings more of a representation

Each artist of the Dada era had a new way of expressing Freud?s ideas. They also felt that art was a powerful means of self-revelation, and that the images came from ones subconscious mind had a truth of its own. As Marcel Duchamp mocked the Mona Lisa by drawing a Padilla 3 mustache on her, stated that the painting was a lewd message set by the conventional way of thinking. Since the Dada artist did not believe in western culture this made sense, because people only want believe what is told to them, instead of what is true. The Dada movement marked a meeting of people to have ?noise concerts? where they recited poems in a free association verse. In these poetry readings the artist perceived how they felt about the world. As World War I began the Dadaist perceived it as a world gone mad. Not only did they express their work in unconventional ways; they used the subconscious as a way of making their views true. Although the Dada era was short lived it influenced and questioned the traditional concepts of the western world. These techniques set an agenda for a new trial by error art form of this same era. The spirit of Freud in the Dadaist era never really died, it is shown today as ?Pop art? or sometimes known as neo-Dada art forms. Also this revolution of thinking and art paved the way for the Surrealist movement. The Surrealist movement of the 1920?s through 1930?s captivated the world with its bizarre way of thinking. Just as the Dadaist used

Pop art is an art development that emerged in the mid-1950s in Britain and in the late 1960s in the United States, which was inspired by consumerism and communal culture. (Raimes, Renow,2007)

The beginning of 20th century was a time of drastic change. New developments were made in the arenas of the classical sciences, social science, psychology and philosophy - each challenging traditional thought. Industrialization and the introduction of many new, challenging concepts in the fields of politics as well as the development of new technologies gave artist more freedom to innovate and break the rules of traditional art. By using new materials, techniques and the new approach artists were pushing boundaries of what has previously been accepted art practice in order to invent radically new styles.

Lowbrow art is a unique art movement that emerged in the 1970s in the shady corners of Los Angeles, California. Lowbrow art has many labels such as underground, Neo-pop, and Nobrow. Also known as pop surrealism, lowbrow art, was inspired by surf culture, punk music, underground comix, and most importantly, cartoon and comics. Lowbrow art is a movement for the millions of people who share a common culture. The movement has steadily grown since the 1970s and isn’t going anywhere soon. The pop culture prevalent in lowbrow art differs through each artist and is represented through their imagery. In this paper, I am going to elaborate on the characteristics of lowbrow art. Then, compare and contrast two contemporary lowbrow artist’s works, Isabel Samaras and Kenny Scharf (Esaak).