|
|
|
|
|
|
Pop Art
Pop Art first emerged in England in the mid-1950s and appeared in the
United States in the early 1960s. In many ways, Pop Art was a reaction
to and rejection of the seriousness and spiritual aspirations of the
Abstract Expressionist school which preceded it. This earlier mode of
painting was built on personal revelation, mythical content and a
surface expressiveness. In contrast, Pop artists embraced contemporary
subject matter, neutral surfaces, and mechanical, impersonal production
methods that left little trace of the artist's touch. Andy Warhol, for
example, used the commercially developed silkscreening process to create
many of his works, using assistants in a studio he called "the factory."
Pop art's familiar subject matter, its bright palette of colors, and its sometimes ironically humorous perspective has made it among the most accessible of contemporary art movements. On the surface, it appears to be quite different from Minimalism, another major art movement of the 1960s. Yet both Pop Art and Minimalism share a "cool," depersonalized attitude towards subject matter, style and production methods.
Minimalism
Minimalism, like Pop Art, grew up in the 1960s as a reaction to the
emotional intensity of Abstract Expressionism. The Minimalist movement
took abstraction to an austere extreme. Using plain geometric forms and
industrially processed materials, it is a style that rejected
representational subject matter, emotional expression, and fine
craftsmanship. Instead, the subject of Minimalist art is the Minimalist
artwork itself and the process through which it was made. Many Minimalist
works were conceived by the artist and then produced in a factory or
foundry by skilled workers.
Minimalism is a self-conscious art that strives to define the essence of art: it challenges us to think about what qualifies as art, and to consider how we respond to the way in which it alters our environment. It does so, however, in very measured, controlled ways. Minimalism, for example, makes extensive use of simple, geometric forms such as the grid, the square, the cube and the rectangle. Minimalist artists often worked in a serial fashion, working out mathematical or spatial problems within a theme. In this context, even the slightest variations yield what may been seen as significant differences in the outcome of each work of art.
Web LINKS
The Artchive
Pop Art
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/pop_art.html
Respree.com
Pop Art
http://www.respree.com/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/scstore/learn/pop_art.html?L+scstore+pfzv8856ff40cf40+1047767722
Minimalism
http://www.respree.com/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/scstore/learn/minimalist.html?E+scstore
Coral Coast Art Gallery
Minimalism
http://coralcoast.com/art/articles/Art.Styles/Minimalism.html
Niagra University Castellani Art Museum
Artwork of the 80’s: Landscape
http://www.niagara.edu/cam/special/Art_of_80s/Styles/landscape.html
Access ART
