Running head: POP ART AND THE WAY IT HAS CHANGED DESIGN
Pop Art and the Way it has Changed Design
Cassandra Torda
California State University, Monterey Bay
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POP ART AND THE WAY IT HAS CHANGED DESIGN
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Cassie Torda
CST 300L
Assignment 1
Pop Art and the Way it has Changed Design
An image that consists of patterns of dots, brightly colored shapes, and black outlines is
assumed to be pop art, but pop art has a lot more meaning than just the comic-book look. Pop art was
one of the most original and unique art forms of its time. The production, composition and the way the
artwork was designed with no personal touch to make it seem as if the artist was anonymous and
extremely different. Not only were the production and composition techniques unconventional during
the time of the pop art movement, but the symbolism and interpretation of pop art were so blunt and
obvious, unlike the majority of art. Pop art was different in the way that it went against the traditional
views of fine art, and instead appealed to the general public. Artists during the movement took ordinary
objects such as food, cigarettes, and household items, and transformed them in a way that was
unnatural but enough for the audience to recognize it. In order to achieve this, artists used repetition,
grid formats, and other methods of composition to create the vision of the entire message.
There were many artists that helped create the pop art movement, but only a few that are still
remembered. One of the main artists during the pop art movement was Roy Lichtenstein. Roy was born
in New York, but lived in Ohio for the majority of his life. At age seventeen, he studied at the School of
Fine Arts at Ohio State University in Columbus. After he finished his studies there, he became the
Assistant Professor of Art at the State University of New York in Oswego (Livingstone, 2000). His big
break came with the discovery of pop art in 1958. He began creating ink drawings of comic-strip
characters, such as Mickey Mouse, by simply enlarging the character. His idea was very simplistic,
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modifying the character with no change to composition, drawing, style, or color. This technique was
depersonalizing because the enlarged characters showed nothing about the artist creating them. They
were basically images with flat color in black outlines that came directly from a printed source.
Tom Wesselman was another main pop artist during the movement. Wesselman didn’t start as an
artist, but instead began his ‘adult’ life when he was drafted into the army at age twenty-one in 1952.
(Livingstone, 2000). While he served his country, he drew sarcastic cartoons about the draft and the
army. After having served for 3 years, he decided to become a professional cartoonist. He then attended
the Art Academy of Cincinnati with the help from his G.I. bill. However, Wesselman didn’t become
popular for his cartoons. He was instead, better known for his mixed media and collage paintings. Most
of his collages were borderline provocative, where they featured a silhouette of a seductively posed
woman in a in a domestic setting. His paintings had the ‘still-life’ traditional feel to them, but with a
pop art twist. Wesselman took images from advertisements and mixed media and put them on a more
‘depersonalized’ surface, such as a bland table or living room.
Andy Warhol is the most known pop artist to this day. Warhol resided in New York after
graduating from Carnegie Institute Technology in Pittsburgh, 1949. He took a break from painting, but
later returned to it in 1960. While he wasn't painting, Warhol created a name for himself in the New
York advertising world. Like Lichtenstein, he too reproduced comic strips but soon realized it was too
similar to Lichtenstein’s work. Andy Warhol is most famous for his Cambell's Soup and Marilyn
Monroe creations. He is the artist that is best known for using repetition when creating art. This made
his work feel impersonal and detached to the artist.
The pop art movement was unique and original in the way that most of the artists’ work
appeared to be anonymous. With the techniques that they were using, most of the images reproduced by
pop artists seemed to be depersonalized, almost as if a machine had re-created it. By using techniques
such as reproduction and repetition, it freed the artist from having to make any decisions about
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composition, proportion, drawing, color or style. (Belz,1964). For most creations during the pop art
movement, artists had barely touched a brush, thus making it seem as if the image was re-created by
something other than themselves. This technique was very different from fine art during it’s time.
Pop art was the first of it's kind to go against the traditional views. Instead of appealing to the
fine art connoisseurs, they had appealed to the general public. Pop artists created artwork from existing
sources such as images and logos. Also, pop art wasn't apparent that it was made by hand. The artwork
looked almost anonymous, as if an artist took a machine and created it without any sort of hand motion
onto the canvas. (Livingstone, 2000). The pop art movement was known to be ‘Neo-Dada’. The word,
Dada, was created by its Zurich founders, and had the philosophy of complete nihilism. The movement
was called ‘neo-dada’ because it fought against the tradition of impressionism, cubism, and abstract
expressionism (Kuspit, 1976). Pop art went against useless social values and academic art techniques,
and instead appealed to the general public and reproduced images to call them art.
The composition of pop art was very unique during the time of the movement. Some pop artists
took an image, and reproduced it to make it seem as if it was cut up and reassembled. This technique
was called fragmentation. An example of fragmentation is Lucky Strike by Stuart Davis. Davis took a
Lucky Strike tobacco case and reassembled it to the point where it wasn't in its original condition, but
could still be identified. Another technique that was used was condensation. Condensation was very
typical in pop art; artists would take a very complex scene and focus on one of its characteristics.
However, one of the more widely used techniques in pop art was multiplication. Andy Warhol used this
technique many times, and his Marilyn Monroe painting is a good example of this. The painting looks
like he took her face and reproduced it in a grid format. The meaning behind this image is to show the
‘mass production’ way of life in America and how easily something can be copied and reproduced.
Although, If you look closely enough, all the Monroes have a different aspect to them. One with more
makeup, less makeup, different eye shape, but far away they look similar. (Sandberg, 1967).
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Figure 1Lucky Strike by Stuart Davis http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?object_id=78934
Warhol was most widely known for using repetition. He created his work with hand-carved ‘artgum’, which resembled rubber stamps. Warhol enjoyed the fact that the artwork looked depersonalized,
where the viewer was unable to tell who the artist was. With this production technique, he was able to
use assistants to increase mass production of his work. This suggested that art could be created by
anyone for anyone, with commercial mass production. One image he used this technique for was OneDollar Bills, made in 1962. It was basically a grid of dollar bills that was given a grunge feel. It was
literally like printing money; it showed just how easy it is to reproduce a dollar bill ( Livingstone,
2000). It was also a metaphor for ‘money on the walls’, as fine art is quite expensive and hangs on a
wall. The One-Dollar Bills painting is very blunt and obvious to show the mass production and mass
consumption idea in America at the time.
POP ART AND THE WAY IT HAS CHANGED DESIGN
Figure 2Andy Warhol - Marilyn Monroe 1962 http://people.virginia.edu/~sfr/enam312/gallerys/amart15a.html
Figure 3Andy Warhol - Dollar Bills http://www.designassembly.org/2009/03/30/making-money/
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Lichtenstein’s technique was different, although still considered pop art. He would take an
already produced image and play with the distortion of it. He would enlarge an image, and instead of
restoring the color imbalances he would leave them ‘imperfect. One technique that came out of this
was the benday dot. The benday dot was first created when Lichtenstein would enlarge a comic strip
character and not alter the color (Livingstone, 2000) A good example of this was his painting, Mr.
Bellamy. The color came out in a pattern of dots because since the comic strip was printed so small, the
color variations actually came out to convey a pattern of dots in size and color density. Even though
the pop art movement only existed in the 1960's with artists like Lichtenstein, pop art techniques are
still being used today.
Figure 4 Roy Lichtenstein - Mr Bellamy - http://www.lichtensteinfoundation.org/0058.htm
Thanks to the style of Pop Art’s originality and composition, the pop art movement made a
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tremendous impact on the design world. Like Andy Warhol had suggested with his paintings and
techniques, anyone can make art. The effect Warhol did with Marilyn Monroe piece can is easily
recognized and is reused often by everyday people. Pop art is so easily re-created and admired by the
general public that it is used in everyday things. For example, the popular 'Hope' poster that made its
debut during President Obama's campaign can be considered as pop art. This popular movement helped
transition the world from the fine art that can only be appreciated by few, to the pop art that anyone can
enjoy.
POP ART AND THE WAY IT HAS CHANGED DESIGN
References
Belz, Carl I. (1964). Pop Art and the American Experience. Chicago Review,Vol. 17 No. 1. Retrieved
from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25293848
Kuspit, Donald B. (1976). Pop Art: A Reactionary Realism. Art Journal, Vol 36, No 1. Retrieved from:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/776112
Livingstone, Marco.(2000). Pop Art: A Continuing History. New York, NY: Thomas and Hudson Ink.
Sandberg, John. (1967). Traditional Aspects of Pop Art. Art Journal, Vol. 26, No. 3. Retrieved from:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/774918
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