A true revolution in the art world, Pop Art design subverted the traditional canon by appropriating images from popular culture, creating collages from a mishmash of sources and intensifying the colours to mirror advertising styles.
Iconic images from popular culture
Aiming to challenge the traditional boundaries between high art and popular culture, Pop Art artists made frequent use of images and icons from everyday media and products. This included commercial items like soup cans, photos of celebrities, newspapers, comics and even brand names and logos like Coca Cola or Campbell. The goal was to break away from the elitist art world and bring art to a wider audience.
Bright, poppy colours
Aiming to compete with other colourful and bold imagery found in popular culture, such as advertising and comic books, Pop Art used bright and poppy colours as a way for artists to create visually striking work that would grab the viewer's attention. Primary hues like red, yellow, and blue were prominent in many famous pieces, particularly in Roy Lichtenstein’s and Andy Warhol’s body of work, as a kind of commentary on the artificiality of consumer culture.
Collages and a blend of different media
Pop artists likeRobert Rauschenberg and Richard Hamilton combined images from a variety of media sources, e.g. photographs, magazine cut-outs, and advertising images, placing them onto a single canvas to create a collage. This approach quickly became a unique form of the Pop Art narrative. The goal was to challenge traditional art forms by breaking down the barriers between painting, sculpture, and printmaking.