2. THE HISTORY
Pop art begun in the mid 1950’s and was the creation of several young
adults in Britain with the aim of bringing a new creative, fun and bright
movement to the world. Pop art focuses on what is popular in culture
and was around after the war which characterised a sense optimism
during the post was consumer boom of the 50’s and 60’s. This is where
the name pop art comes from, being popular culture. Pop art was big
during the globalisation of pop music and youth culture. The British
artists behind pop art grew up in a very dull world of ration books and
utility design. They saw America as a land of freedom, a more inclusive
and youthful culture that embraced social influence of mass media and
mass production. Pop art was greatly influenced by dada collages
which was combinations of random images to gain a reaction from the
establishment of that time. Pop art was similar to this although focused
instead on popular culture. A movement that is similar to pop art is
surrealism. Surrealism combined the collage and unique style of pop
art/photo illustration where photos are edited or illustrated which also
uses the contrasting colors.
3. ANDY WARHOL
Andy Warhol was probably the most famous pop art
photographer and artist. He was born in 1928 in the
United States and died in 1987 unexpectedly after a
gall bladder operation. He was the pioneer of popular
culture and explored the relationship between artistic
expression, celebrity culture, advertising and massproduction, all of which flourished in the 1960’s. His
work was often created with a range of other copies in
different styles. One of his most famous pieces was a
series of portraits of Marilyn Monroe. His work was
very unique and he photographed some of the most
famous and influential people in the world. All of his
work uses the portrait of the person edited into bright
and vibrant contrasting pieces, which are set onto a
bright background. The photo of Marilyn Monroe
reflects the symbol that she was at the time, with her
mouth slightly open it shows purity and her iconic
blonde hair. Most of his photographs are very simple
and basic focusing on mainly the head and excluding
the rest of the body. He also took a range of self
portraits where in each one the actual photo of his self
is contrasting to the background. This puts emphasis
onto the subject which is effective in every piece that
he creates. The colors used in the photos also create
the overall mood of the photo and the colors alone
reflect the person for example red white and blue to
represent the Queen of England. He used silk
screening to absorb the ink and create the contrasting
colored effect.
4. DAVID SIQUEIROS
David Siqueiros is an American photographer
who does a range of styles but he's mostly
known for his pop art work and his work with
Andy Warhol which are a series of portraits. The
photos that David takes all I believe capture what
the person is like and their inner selves. David is
similar to Andy Warhol with the use of bright and
contrasting colors. With Davids work you can
actually learn a lot about the person in the
photograph, as with the photo to the right of the
large house behind the people it portrays that
they are wealthy and so with the colors of
countries behind the subjects. These photos are
clearly edited on the computer opposed to Andy
Warhol’s style of using silk screening although
they both have a similar affect. Where as with
Warhol the backgrounds were mostly
plain, David’s represent the person in a unique
way. Again the composition for his portrait pop
art is very simple and doesn’t show the full body.
He doesn’t just create pop art pieces of
people, as you can see he has done landscapes
which is a unique way of seeing the world and
also promotional material.
5. BUDI KWAN
Budi Kwan mostly focuses his work on graphics
pieces, although he also does some photo
illustration. I really like how he incorporates
illustration and graphics into some of his
photographs. In these photos again like other pop
art artists the actual photograph is very
simplistic, but it’s the contrast in colors, for
example the blue and orange butterfly on the
head that contrasts with the dull colors of the
actual photograph. Also you are immediately
drawn to the head on the photo of the astronaut
down to the bright blue and contrasting orange.
Blue and orange are used in many of his photos
as they are contrasting colors, being cold and
warm and colors that naturally draw the eye. His
photos are very unique and intriguing. These
photos also reflects the persons personality in
the photograph, the photo with the person
covering up his face represents that they could be
shy and quiet, but always aware, this photo could
also be influenced by the work of Herbert Bayer.
6. JOHAN THÖRNQVIST
I really like Johan Thörnqvist’s style of work
and I think that it’s a really unique way to look
at the world. The photos that he takes are
actually very simple and the photos to the
right are only taken on his phone. But the
simple images that they are to begin with are
made into beautiful and creative pieces that
create a new world within the world of the
photo its self. He generally takes pictures of
landscapes and just what's around him, not
only are the pieces that he creates really nice
but so are the photos that he takes. The
composition of the yellow fields photograph is
perfect with the bright yellows and dramatic
sky. That would be a nice photograph as it is
although Johan’s illustrations add another
dimension to the photograph. Johan also uses
pastille colors as do other pop art
photographers in their photographs, this adds
color to the photographs but doesn’t take
away the focus of the actual photo its self.
7. HERBERT BAYER
Herbert Bayer was an Austrian American graphic
designer and photographer, sculptor and art
director of Vogue magazine in Paris. He was born
in April 1900 and died in September 1985. He
studied for four years at the Bauhaus. Herbert’s
photographs were very influential at the time and
unique. His photography work was set around the
movement of surrealism and at that time photo’s
like this wouldn’t have seen before. The Bazaar
piece in the top right features very simplistic
photographs of faces, although actually looks
really good and stands out by the bright colors
on the lips. As the photos are black and white the
lighting is actually really important as you can
see the light and dark tones, you can see this in
the photograph of the trees. The mood created by
his photos is very mysterious and gothic. Overall
his photos are very simplistic so the backgrounds
in his photos are often plain as it’s the subject in
the foreground where he wants the viewer to
focus.
8. RICHARD HAMILTON
Richard Hamilton was born in 1922 and died
in 2011. He was born in London and was a
member of the Independent group formed in
the 1950’s by a group of artists and writers,
who’s group contributed to the development
of pop art in Britain. One of his most famous
pieces was his 1956 collage, “Just what is it
that makes todays homes so different, so
appealing”, produced for the “This is
tomorrow” exhibition for the Independent
group. He also created a number of different
pieces of the two people in different colors.
The “Just What Is It That Makes Today's
Homes So Different, So Appealing?” piece
reflected what the average British
household was like at the time. Richard
Hamilton was also commissioned in 1992 by
the BBC to recreate this piece and this time
instead of the male body builder he placed a
male accountant working at a desk and a
female body worker, which is on the right of
the screen.
9. EDUARDO PAOLOZZI
Eduardo Paolozzi was a Scottish sculptor and
artist. He was born in 1924 and died in 2005 and
his work was around his vision of the world. His
graphic and photographic work in the sixties was
very innovative. Paolozzi also experimented with
silk screening to find the possibilities and limits
of it. The pieces that he created were
characterised by the pop culture movement and
reflected society. In 1968 he was awarded a CBE
which during this time he worked on Ambit the
magazine which he contributed to for a long time
of his life and created some of his most well
known pieces. Another of his well known pieces
was the Paul McCartney, Red Rose Speedway
album cover. His sculptor work was inspired by
surrealism, which was also incorporated into his
collages with the addition of his interests in
modern machinery. He also used bright pastille
colors in his work with the relation to pop art.
10. HUGH KRETSCHMER
Hugh Kretschmer is a surrealism photographer of
the modern day. He is from Los Angeles and
discovered photography at the age of 13 under
the guidance of his father. He is famous for his
trick of the eye photography and also works as an
editorial photographer and advertising for both
art and commerce. His work is very unique and
like a metaphor for photography. Surrealism is an
important influence to pop art as it offers a
different view to the world. You can see how pop
art is inspired by surrealism through the bright
colors in some of Hugh’s work and the simple
portrait photographs that show a lot and have a
bigger message behind them. His work is
described as
curious, imaginative, unusual, conceptual and a
little dark, but dark in a good way. He says that
his ideas are “conjured-up by my dreams and
desires of what life would be, if only…”. His work
reflects society at the time as does pop art and is
also commercial.
11. RANDY SCOTT SLAVIN
Randy Scott Slavin is based in New York City and
is an award winning director and surrealist
photographer. He channels the energy of pop
culture within his work which is where pop are
came from. His photographs let us view the world
from a different perspective and ways that we
have never seen before. What's different about
Randy to the other photographers is that he takes
photos of landscapes rather than portraits. An
important part of landscape photography is
choosing the right location and getting the
perfect composition, this I think Randy finds and
captures perfectly. What also stands out in
Randy’s photos is that he perfects the lighting, as
photographing landscapes means that you cant
control the lighting you need to wait and capture
the image just at the right time. The colors in his
photos work perfectly as you can see with the
photo in the bottom right, the contrast between
the green and blue with the sun shining on the
ground creating a yellow. The circles that the
effect creates, creates a focal point on the photo
and leads your eye around the photograph.
12. JAMES PORTO
James Porto is a surrealist photographer based
in New York. He loves the manipulation of images
and spent his childhood in love with the
darkroom process experimenting with negatives
and printing multiple images on the same film
way before Photoshop came out. Once
Photoshop was released the barriers to making
the images from his mind were gone and he
could produce anything he wanted. He now
produces work for advertising and editorial
purposes and has worked for companies such as
Adidas, Kodak, IBM and Verizon. His work is
thought provoking and you can really see the
emotion coming through the photograph. He has
been called “One of the reigning masters of
computer manipulation.” by Communication Arts.
As you can see in the photos to the right, lighting
is really important to James Porto and through
out his work you can see how he’s a keen
experimenter with lighting and making subjects
look really dramatic through the use of lighting.
James Porto was one of the pioneers of computer
manipulation which is now how pop art is
produced and an example of how surrealism had
an influence on pop art.
