Original: Characterized by themes and techniques drawn from popular mass culture , such as advertising , comic books and mundane cultural objects , pop art is widely interpreted as a reaction to the then-dominant ideas of abstract expressionism , as well as an expansion upon them .
Simplified: Characterized by themes and techniques drawn from popular mass culture , such as advertising and comic books , pop art is widely interpreted as either a reaction to the then-dominant ideas of abstract expressionism or an expansion upon them .