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“Life is full of dead spots. Art gives it life”

This quote was said by Irwin Edman, a 20th century philosopher. He mentioned that artists have a way of making life come alive and have been able to do so through time. Art history is full of icons of every type and nature. They can come in the form of images of Christ or the Virgin Mary or even an icon like “Campbells Tomato Soup Cans” by Andy Warhol. Icons let us connect with culture, nature, our own humanity, our inner self, and our religion.

When an artist gives meaning to a symbol or an image (an icon) then it acquires a certain value to society and to history and mankind.  To an artist the icons he takes on represent a part of himself or of the world he lives in, just as Jesus was a part of the world El Greco lived in and “Campbells Soup” was an icon of the world of Andy Warhol. What makes an icon up to a society depends on the societies beliefs, their tradition, and what they find value in, and these will differ depending on age group and on country.

Today much of our contemporary art stems from Pop culture and pop art which originated in the United States in the sixties. The purpose in making contemporary art more pop culture related and less abstract, is based on the idea of making a works message more easily understood by society.

Pop culture and art began by integrating popular items of our times into art forms. Most were either paintings or in the form of sculpture. The first items that were integrated into the pop art movement were tires, flags, maps, stuffed animals and even targets. The movement started as a way to get away from the dullness that modern abstract painting began to take on. It was a way of looking at pop culture sarcastically, a way of mocking our modern world.

Much later media advertisement and TV were integrated into the pop movement. Although pop culture and art became popular, it did not supplant the contemporary movement as its original plan was, but instead became an additional movement within modern painting. Today the pop art movement has become an important element of the modern painting era.

Most pop artists use modern day images, instances and people as their sources of inspiration. These then get re-interpreted as other forms in a pop art painting. What’s interesting is that in the later years, the work initiated by these painters were widely used in the advertising and marketing industry. For example, the coca cola bottle shape is still a mark of sensuality and represents a world of escapism and fantasy.

As far as the pop art scene in America goes, food seems to have been given a central importance. It represents a major outlet for spending income, while also doubling as a leisure and fun time activity. Thus, the emphasis on bottle feeding as opposed to breast feeding in America! From French fries, to burgers, cakes and beer – food has remained an all time favorite inspiration with American pop culture portrait artists.

Pop art is an abbreviation of the terms Popular & Art. Pop art was born as a rebellion against existing painting forms, especially against abstract paintings because of its sophisticated nature. It was an attempt to bring art back into American daily life. To do so, pop art used popular brands, which were a part of everyone’s life and were present in most American homes, and redefined them in the art world. This put art in terms of contemporary life.

In the earlier days, traditional paintings would be rewarded while these pop forms would be openly rejected. Pop art forms mainly aimed at doing away with the deep-rooted idealism of nature and everyday life. They perceived life and its happenings exactly as they were – without any pretension. It was this honesty which served to jolt most people in those times. Most of these rebellious portrayers served to showcase the modern day consumerism. With the advent of pop art this was soon replaced. In its stead came the celebration of materialism. The inspiration came from everyday objects, people and incidents. Thus these painters were able to create paintings which one could relate to more easily. The American artist Andy Warhol remains one of the greatest pop culture portrayers of all time, to this day.