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Pop art was a revolutionary art movement which came into being in the late 1950s in England and the United States Pop art drew its themes and icons from popular culture, such as advertising comic books and cartoon characters. Pop art can be seenas either a reaction to the prevalent ideas of those time- i.e. ideas of abstract expressionism, it can be also seen as an expansion upon them. Pop art,very much like pop music, was an attempt to employ images of popular as opposed to elitist culture in art, emphasizing the banal or kitschy elements of any given culture. It tried to play upon those images which were ingrained in the psyche of the people.
Graffiti as a Pop Art
Graffiti is synonymous with Popular culture and is closely associated with the Hip Hop culture (along with the MC the DJ and Break Dancing). ?However its definitely a misunderstood art form In fact, modern graffiti is a much older penomenon than the hip hop culture. Its roots are to be found in the late 1960’s French Student revolution. The cryptic phrases sprayed on walls were the perfect medium for this revolt. Slogans like “Demand the Impossible” or “Imagination is the seizing Power” inverted conventional logic: they made complex ideas suddenly seem very simple.
In the lates 70s and 80s a a new wave of creativity overtook the graffiti scene. Young intellectuals began actively using grafifiti as a creative medium. Graffiti quickly became a social scene. Friends often form crews of vandals.
Pop Art in Japan
Anime is a pop street art of Japan , and is mostly aimed at youth in Japan, and has made an idelible cultural impact. Some artists in Japan, like Yoshitomo Nara are famous for their Graffiti inspired art. Many pop artists in Japan use surreal or obscene, shocking images in their art, which is clearly taken from Japanese Hentai. The bizzare and provocative nature of the Art catches the eye of viewers young and old, and is extremely thought provoking, but not taken as offensive in Japan, even though they employ images of nude female figures and graphic representation of sex.
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