Contextual Reference in Art and Design

Pop Art

Pop Art was a movement that was born in Britain in the 1950's. It was the creation of several artists who named themselves The Independent Group. They came up with the idea of Pop Art during a group discussion.Pop Art was the visual art movement that characterised a sense of optimism during the post war consumer boom of the 1950's and 1960's. Pop Art uses images and icons that are popular in the modern world such as celebrities, commercial items like soup cans, soft drinks, comic books and other items that are popular in the commercial world. Pop Art included different styles of painting and using collages, changing the colour or texture, uses very bright hues and putting different items together to make a picture. It was a reaction against the seriousness of the abstract expressionist art movement. Pop Art was used in advertising an example would be Andy Warhol's famous design of the Campbell's tomato soup which was very appealing to the eye due to the bright hues.