pop art (jan 1, 1958 – jan 1, 1972)

Description:

involved cultural references and well-known figures presented in comic-book style imagery. other pop art works included repeating patterns and images to mock mass consumerism.

communication design (2nd image) -
'campbell's soup cans' by andy warhol.

warhol completed the paintings in 1962 while he was living in america.

the intended audience for the soup cans were the people that, like warhol, disagreed with mass consumerism. the work was hung in a gallery.

each can is an individual painting on a 50.8 x 40.6 cm canvas, and there are 32 cans in total. each is hand-painted using synthetic polymer paints.

at the time, art's definition was becoming so broad that artists like roy lichtenstein wanted to find some way to make art "despicable." the only way they could think to do this was by imitating commercial and mainstream media but in a subtly mocking way, and astonishingly, it became a hit.

warhol was inspired by not only mass consumerism, but also his own love of campbell's soup. he stated, “i used to drink it. i used to have the same lunch every day, for 20 years, i guess, the same thing over and over again,” and by painting 32 cans he emphasised the idea that being constantly exposed to an image or product means its meaning is lost: overexposure and commercialism were the key themes behind pop art.

'campbell's soup cans' had an influence above astronomical. though at first the work was hated and laughed at, eventually people took a liking to it and before long the pattern was being printed on throwaway dresses and campbell's were selling cans autographed by warhol for a price 2900% higher than an unsigned can. it projected not only warhol to fame, but the pop art movement as a whole.

sources:
https://www.artfund.org/news-pages/popart-timeline/index.php
http://mentalfloss.com/article/71814/16-things-you-might-not-know-about-andy-warhols-campbells-soup-cans
https://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/tag/ferus-gallery/
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/79778
http://au.phaidon.com/agenda/art/articles/2013/february/22/the-fascinating-story-behind-andy-warhols-soup-cans/
https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/andy-warhol-campbells-soup-cans-1962

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