Pop Art vs. Abstract Expressionism

Though this Pop Art movement happened in a few other countries other than the United States and Britain; the movement was also reflected in the country, France. Though in France their movement was known as “Nouveau Réalisme, which is the equivalent to the Pop art movement” (The Art Story Foundation ). This movement reflected the Pop art movement both focused on commercial culture, the Nouveau Réalisme and its artists focused more on their “concerned with objects than with painting” (The Art Story Foundation ).Another movement that the pop art movement was link to in a way was its counterpart in Germany known as Capitalist Realism. Though this movement was a “movement that focused on subjects taken from commodity culture and utilized an aesthetic based in the mass media” (The Art Story Foundation ).The artist within this movement wanted to “expose consumerism and superficiality of contemporary capitalist society by using the imagery and aesthetic of popular art and advertising within their work” (The Art Story Foundation ). These two movements were two movement that were linked to the Pop Art movement.

The art of this era falls under the category of “psychedelic art.” Psychedelic can be defined as “of or noting a mental state characterized by a profound sense of intensified sensory perception, sometimes accompanied by severe perceptual distortion and hallucinations and by extreme feelings of either euphoria or despair,”8 and was usually influenced by the use of drugs. This kind of art was characterized by bright colors and unusual contrasts. Op art and pop art fall under this category of psychedelic art. “Op art, short for Optical art, is a style of abstraction that relies on geometric shapes, lines, and color juxtapositions to create optical illusions for the viewer.”9 Often looking at Op art makes one feel dizzy or disillusioned, which is the goal of the artist. Pop art was popular for commercial use, often seen in advertisements or on

The concept of pop art started to become popular during this time as it was described using simple, bright colors and images to symbolize everyday life.

Does Pop Art form a critique of post-WWII society and culture or is it a celebration of high

Kandinsky transformed colour into a completely abstract art absolutely divorced from subject matter. The fauvists and expressionists shared an appreciation of the pure and simplified shapes of various examples of primitive art, an enthusiasm that was generated by Gauguin and extended to Picasso, Brancusi, Modigliani, Derain, and others.

Color field painters used a different abstract strategy and focused on controlled shapes rather than a randomized effect. Abstractism in the 1940’s paved the way for Pop Art in the 1950’s by challenging traditional values and definitions of art work. Abstract Expressionism inspired the entire creative community, including sculptors, poets, photographers, and film-makers.

Jackson Pollock was a legendary, novel, abstract expressionist who has created numerous paintings through his drip-style, action painting technique (Goodnough, 2012). Theosophical influence arose from Phillip Guston and Thomas Hart Benton, while in the early stages of the artist’s life. Muralists, such as Jose Clemente Orozco and Diego Rivera were also admired and studied by Pollock. He was captivated by the unorthodox techniques of David Alfaro Siqueiros which contributed to the abstract style of Jackson Pollock (Solomon, 1987).

The innovative and passionate presence in both Jackson Pollock’s and Wassily Kandinsky avant-garde paintings exemplifies the redefinition of boundaries throughout their art making practices. Both artists challenged traditions both materially and conceptually using innovative and diverse approaches to materials and techniques when painting. Wassily Kandinsky goes against traditions and academies to create vivid, sensual and symbolic large-scale semi abstract expressionist oil paintings in a heightened state of mind. Many artworks of his convey bright and cheerful spontaneous colours that make the audience fully consumed within his works due to hypnotic and distorted semi realist shapes. Consequently, Jackson Pollock also goes against

Art has evolved and regenerated itself many times during our human existence. These differences are defined through changes in styles under various theories. During the nineteenth and early twentieth century, a style known as Expressionism became popular. During this movement the artists were trying to use their artwork as a tool of expression toward life. It was mainly dominant in the nonrepresentational arts, such as abstract visual arts and music. It also was probably one of the most difficult movements to understand because the whole point of the piece lay within the artist. Not only was it a movement, it defined the act of art as a whole. From the beginning of time, each work of art, excluding replicas, show a way of expressing

During the 1950’s art took a major turn in history from traditional styles depicting people and scenes of everyday life to abstract thoughts and ideas that were transformed onto a canvas to express emotions and ideals in society. People, events, and society have always impacted several styles of art, but the consumer culture in the 1950’s impacted art in a new completely unique way. Post WWII society was more industrialized and more focused on developing and selling new products. The postwar generation had more disposable income to spend on the latest and greatest products and the market turned to advertisements in mass media to get their products out there to consumers. With televisions and films increasing in popularity the market flooded these forms of media with catchy flashy ads that showed favorable people like movie stars using products. With the increasing use of mass media, the culture shifted to consumerism which effectively shifted art as well. Art was directly impacted by the consumer culture because of society’s use of advertisements, photographs, and films which artists like Richard Hamilton and Andy Warhol used those elements in their own works to portray the change of societal standards in a new modern style of art called pop art.

Taking following extreme cases of abstraction, when speaking of Pollock’s work such as his ”Autumn Rhythm” (1950), we realize how the visual formed is fully based on science and gravity that permits the dripping and pouring of the paint on the horizontal canvas. But, by walking around/on the canvas we can argue Greenberg’s analysis and suppose that the painter possibly connects with it, he gets drowned in the act and merges inside the painting while mechanically pouring paint on the canvas. This means that even though the painter tries to focus on the flatness of the painting rather than the content and is physically detached from the canvas, this focus cannot erase an emotional

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

The Pop Art movement “uses elements of popular culture, such as magazines, movies, … and even [brand name] bottles and cans” to convey a message about the artist’s views on society. Using bold coloured paintings, soft sculptures, and printmaking, artists would create facsimiles, similar reproductions of popular merchandise and collages. The purpose was to emphasize the banality of any given mass culture. This was a response the post-war conservative society which focused on consumerism and the consumption of name-brand products. The American economy had significantly risen for the first time in 30 years which lead to the mass consumption of goods and conformity of the majority.

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”.

Before minimalism in the 1950s, the dominant art movement in the United States was Abstract Expressionism. The artists at that time’s goal were to express their personal emotions through their artwork (“Introduction to Minimal Art”). One popular branch of Abstract Expressionism was called Action Painting. This style of painting was spontaneous; paint would be