Pop Art – Pictures, Paintings, Posters, Andy Warhol Prints at Imagekind

Pop Art began in the 1950’s but gained its true prominence in the 60s. Inspired from images and ideas of popular culture in America and Britain, Pop Art is often characterized by the use of common images found in advertising, consumer products, mass media, comics and other such sources. The images found within pop art pictures are easily and quickly recognizable to those living within the period of the arts inception, but because trends and fads constantly change, the understanding of the cultural significance of such images is often confusing to later generations.

Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Keith Haring, Lichtenstein and the British artist Richard Hamilton are just a few of the many popular artists; however, it is Andy Warhol who is most iconic within this genre. The style of Andy Warhol's Pop Art draws on images of popular celebrities and advertisements taking simplistic inspiration from a Campbell’s soup can or popular celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor to create some of his most famous pieces.

Pop Art is best understood in light of the previous popular ideas of Abstract Expressionism and sought not only to focus the genre on iconic images popular of the time, but, in so doing, allow art to be enjoyed and more easily understood by all. By taking images and ideas of common society, Pop Art was a direct reaction to the more elitist culture of previous art forms and allowed for a much broader audience. However, as the beginning is inspired by the ending one, so too, the ending often inspires the beginning of other forms of art. Thus, Pop Art is thought to be one of the last great movements of Modern Art, thus issuing in an age of Contemporary or Postmodern Art.

The quick attraction and ease of accessibility that Pop Art allowed its audience soon created a demand that required new ideas of production for the growing consumption of the artwork. An irony of Pop Art is that a form of art which dealt with the nature of mass-produced items, such as Campbell’s soup cans and Coca-Cola, was soon mass-produced themselves. The mass-producing of Pop Art paintings caused a bit of controversy within the art community by requiring the ability to duplicate the art easily, thus, as some felt, taking away the true inspiration of the art, and making it nothing more than a consumer product. The artists recognized and even capitalized on this idea by allowing the art to be available as Pop Art posters.

Pop art has changed the way art is understood, appreciated and consumed. Imagekind understands the importance of allowing as many people to enjoy the art as possible, not keeping it for a select few, but permitting all to access and enjoy. Peruse our pop art gallery paying special attention to the significance of the somewhat simplistic images of popular advertisements, celebrities and products brought to the true consumer, the art consumer, in a completely different light.