Pop Art is apparently the name for the art of popular culture. Once upon a time, it took artists a hundred years to create something new. And then we entered the 20th century. In sixty years, Cubism, Futurism, Expressionism, Surrealism, Modernism, Dadaism, Abstract Art, Russian Avant-garde, Abstract Expressionism, happening, minimal art, instant image are also happening… However, during the last century, one direction stood out and overshadowed many of its predecessors. The art movement of Pop Art spread through the United States and the United Kingdom in the second half of the 50s. It was an art movement fascinated by post-war consumerism during the 1950s and 1960s. It coincided with the globalization of pop music, embodied in the popularity of Elvis Presley and the Beatles. It was a bold, fun, and youthful movement that turned against the values imposed by the art society. Although the artists used various forms of visual communication, they had a common interest in mass media, mass production, and culture for the masses. The movement posed a challenge to traditional decorative arts. In the field of painting and art, pop art has brought a lot of elements from mass and popular cultures, such as commercials, comics, and similar manifestos. One of the main goals of popular art is to express irony with artist commentary: it puts the kitsch of any art in the foreground, and brings out the banality of things imposed by popular culture, playing with “high art”. Pop art has found its realization in various artistic directions, including painting. It is the art that is easily recognizable, which is not surprising considering the vibration and the uniqueness of the characteristics of this artistic direction. Characterized by strong and bright colors, the primary colors most used in pop art are red, yellow, and blue. Humor is one of the main components of pop art. How is it to use popular subjects and objects to express someone’s views on current events, mocking the status quo atmosphere in society? In pop art, artists often took things from other spheres of mainstream culture and incorporated them into their work, either reworked or in their original form. Once upon a time, fine arts developed in a slow, steady way. The artists were artisans who received orders from rich patrons and whose style depended exclusively on the current aesthetic taste of society. There was little desire to change. However, from time to time, a group of artists would provoke a revolt by trying to radically deviate from outdated, academic norms.
From Warhol to Lichtenstein–
The Godfathers of Pop Art
Although the pop art movement was born twice (New York and in England), pop art is (seen as) an American phenomenon, probably because after his birth in New York he immediately became, not only attractive around the world but also synonymous with what pop art is and which was supposed to be at the time. The term “pop art” is attributed to Lawrence, who himself said, at the time when he coined the term, he did not have in mind works of art whose sources are in mass culture, but meant products of the mass media ( comics, billboards…), which, due to circumstances, have become the main subject of interest of pop art creators. Thanks to paintings, objects, underground films, private life, Andy Warhol remained remembered as the most famous pop art artist. Initially, he created images based on popular comic books but soon became interested in consumer goods – canned Campbell’s soup, Brilo cardboard boxes, and bottles of Coca-Cola. Although less known to the general public than Warhol, Liechtenstein is the artist who defined the postulates of pop art. His action was reproductive but also slightly parody. He gladly took performances that show action and sweet romance, introducing points that are used in photomechanical reproduction.
The impression passes into the unconscious without even passing through our consciousness. Andy Warhol, the godfather of pop art, used screen printing, a technique of printing by pushing ink through a printing form made of silk. Roy Liechtenstein, in contrast, used lithography, a graphic technique for flat printing from stone slabs. Born in Pennsylvania, the USA in 1928 in early childhood, he fell ill with a serious illness, so he spent his days listening to the radio, drawing and assembling pictures of movie stars. After completing his studies in commercial art and design in 1949, he moved to New York and began his career as an illustrator of marketing advertisements and magazines.
Andy Warhol was a pop art guru, the most prominent artist of his time, who promoted ordinary things from everyday use to art. When Campbell (founded in 1898) launched its old tomato soup with a new can with an attractive label in 1930, they had no idea that 30 years later it would become an attraction for a new visual art: pop art. Generations of artists have always known about this tomato soup. They just didn’t pay attention. The soup was there, in front of them, every day, on a store shelf, in a newspaper advertisement, in her own kitchen, or discarded in a dumpster… the artist was fascinated by the objects from the environment and the lifestyle of the average American who, seduced by the mass culture of production and consumption, is not aware that art is right there, in front of him, to look for him and be at his service. His fascination is perhaps best illustrated by his words. The everyday offer is the same for everyone, for the rich as well as for the poorest. You watch TV and drink Coca-Cola, the same ones that the President of the United States and the idler on the street corner watch and drink. What is the chance that the president can drink another one ,If he drinks Coca-Cola perhaps we can too“ said Andy Warhol. Or to watch another program if he pressed the same button on the TV.
Another icon of American pop culture is the artist Roy Liechtenstein. Known for his use of basic colors and bold outer edges, Liechtenstein’s personal stamp is associated with comics, which he used as the most important source in his works. Like Warhol, his works marked the second half of the 20th century and the emergence of pop art. Liechtenstein added “Ben-Day” points to further emphasize the style of comics in his pop artworks. With Liechtenstein’s incredible talent, it is not surprising that he quickly broke through on the art scene. Apart from pop art, Liechtenstein was also interested in other topics, such as American folklore and history, as well as mythological motifs and you can see these motives in his earliest works. After some time, he began to expand his range of interests, as well as the painting techniques he used. He did all this while building a teaching career at Rutgers University. Liechtenstein’s works are still very popular and recognizable today because Roy Liechtenstein combines comic art and pop culture.
Although “famous” in America, pop art originated in Great Britain in the mid-1950s. Independent Group – IG from London is considered as one of the founders of the group, who made a series of collages Bunk composed of random clippings from newspapers, comics, commercials, and other graphic products that represented American culture, in an ironic light. The word “pop” is derived from one of his collages, in which the word appears in a cloud of smoke from a gun. Later, one of the art critics used that word to give a name to this new direction, based on the image of pop culture. It was the way for Brits to challenge traditional attitudes with a British sense of humor and to incorporate the visual elements of the mass media in the world of modern art. They imitated Marcel Duchamp and his Dadaism and hated current abstract expressionism. Since the Dadaists used irrational combinations of random images and objects in order to provoke the establishment at the time, IG used similar techniques, using popular culture as the main means of provocation.
If you are looking for a Modern Master, Contemporary Art or vibrant Pop Art and you are in New York and have considered the amount of money to spend you have to come to the right place. It is Madison Avenue on the Upper East Side of New York City, where there is a private, eye-catching, three-floor gallery, the Carlton Fine Arts. Carlton Fine Art is a family business owned by Charles Saffatti. This gallery has been curating relationships with fancy customers, including a „few celebrities “ over the last 50 and more. The gallery also does the authenticity of art pieces within the facility. Nestled on Madison Avenue, Carlton Fine Arts, sells the highest quality original pop art masters from across the world. If you’re looking for show-stopping statement pieces in vibrant colors this is it, from Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Jeff Koons, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Damien Hirst etc… There are also artists such as Miro, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse for sale. This fantastic gallery started in 1969 and specializes in Modern Masters and Pop Art. The “Carlton” experience is a rich, colorful and vibrant journey to stimulate all your artistic senses. And just to color the idea, one Roy Lichenstein at the gallery costs from $60,000 to a fantastic 160,000. You can check it out at http://www.carltonfa.com/artists
Charles Saffatti the owner of the Carlton Fine Arts
Since the 1960s, Wesselman has been painting almost obsessively female nudes, and variations have been included in the “Great American Nude” series. Nudes are getting bolder and more effective, including ringing phones, radios, and working TVs. The nudes themselves are impersonal representations of American sex symbols, conspicuously reduced to a (mere) sexual object.
– He’s a completely different artist. He’s a straight type comic book artist. His work is very nice, and I knew him personally. His studio was in Manhattan and, you know, I went there many, many times when he was alive. He died in the late 90s and I think it was 97 or 98. He had an exhibition shown at the museum and traveled all around the world from Japan and Europe, but always ended up in America. And if you want to be in the business, and have a status, a worldwide executing exhibition is the answer.
What was the value of his work now after his death and before when he was alive?
–His work was very expensive when he was alive, but of course, it became even more expensive after his death. Today, it’s a little different than the time of Van Gogh with these artists that became famous after death. In general, today, most artists need to get their fame during life. They have to create their market and if they don’t create their market then people going to say “oh, they’re going to die, but maybe they’re going to be worth a lot”. A lot of times the artist gets forgotten, and if he thinks that wasn’t somebody of importance, he or she just disappears.
What is the procedure of getting someone out there? What is the process of producing someone’s work?
And who are the people who are actually promoting artists in New York, for example, in America?
For instance, golden gallery Ronald Feldman exhibited fine art with Andy Warhol, among others, Leo Castelli was very instrumental with Roy Lichtenstein and, Tony Shafrazi was somebody that still till today does a lot of different graffiti artists. He was Keith Haring’s promoter and secured him galleries that are very well connected and have a good clientele, getting his art into the hands of the top collectors of the world. That is very important to get it. When our gallery started with artists, like Mr. Brainwash, http://www.carltonfa.com/art?Artist=Mr.+Brainwash
we would want to get his work in the hands of our top collectors. From there, that’s how the artist ends up growing.
Your favorite artist?
-You know, my personal favorite artist is Roy Lichtenstein ahead of all the artists. I don’t know if he’s that big, but he gets there to be the most important. I love his colors and I love his subject matters. His work makes me feel good and makes me feel happy. And that’s one of the most important artists for me. However, everybody has their own taste. That’s what makes horse racing fun, we all pick another horse at the track.
And what would you recommend, who are the new pop artists in the world? Do you have any special recommendations, where to go to New York or where to go for good pop art in Europe? It is hard work, harder than doing art.
-There is an old saying, something like,“hit the pavement – hit the streets“. The artist must go from gallery to gallery to promote himself, you have to show your work to get the interest of anyone, it’s not so easy. There are so many artists, thousands and thousands of artists and some of them are great and never make it because they need to keep showing their work to catch a break. It’s like a lot of actors, you know until they go catch a break. So, some of them are even better than the artists that are out there, but they have no promotion. They need to meet the right people, go to the right galleries, find somebody that believes in them, pick up the artwork, and start selling it to the collectors and giving them an exhibition space. The ones that are committed and wake up in the morning and say I’m going to go out and show what it is, as those are the ones that make it. Artists can’t just only paint, they got to go out and show and show their work until somebody eventually picks up their work.
What are your next presentations in Europe, Berlin, and London. And, can you just mention the places in London or Berlin, where you’re gonna go with?
-I’m leaving to go to Munich, Germany. We haven’t been in Europe for over two years because of COVID and we are going to have a smaller exhibition in the Mandarin hotel in Munich, Germany, for some of the private clients that we have there. We go to many European cities to see our clients and sometimes they bring their friends, and we create new clients. But most of them we originally meet in New York. They end up in our art gallery. We’re on Madison Avenue and we have had another gallery on Fifth Avenue in the past. We meet a lot of people from all over the world in New York and they purchase from us, and we try to keep in contact with them if we are having exhibitions in their local countries.
And the gallery in New York is whereabouts exactly?
-Our gallery is in New York on Madison Avenue. It’s on the 55th. We have, you know, the Rolex shops around us, IWC watches, and Harry Winston is a half of a block away from us. The St. Regis Hotel and the Peninsula Hotel are all in this area too, so it is Madison Avenue where you find high traffic, high profile streets, with Tom Ford style high-end shops, all in our neighborhood. We do have a lot of people shopping with us, like Jennifer Lopez and we have a lot of interesting people that do come into the gallery. We have a number of buyers including DiCaprio, who is a very important collector, 50 cents, he is a very, very big collector as well as Kim Kardashian.