Pop Art, by Max Graff

 Please enjoy this article written by a student in DMHS's "Introduction to Journalism" class!

Pop art was first invented around 1950. It was a small style of art at the time and wasn’t very popular until the 1960s. Some pop artists would even go around the city and vandalize walls and alleys. It got the name pop art for its colors and people described it as if the drawing popped out at you.

Pop art started with the New York artists Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, James Rosenquist, and Claes Oldenburg, all of whom drew on popular imagery and were actually part of an international phenomenon. A quote that I really like from Andy Warhol is he said pop art is about liking things and I think what he means is to create or draw things that you like. Another quote that I like by Claes Oldenburg is “Everything I do is completely original - I made it up when I was a kid.” I can’t say I'm 100% sure on what this means but it sounds like he creates original artwork and artists should be creative instead of copying ideas from others.

But that was all in the past: the Pop art movement that emerged in the mid-20th century in which artists incorporated commonplace objects, comic strips, soup cans, newspapers, and more into their work. The Pop art movement aimed to solidify the idea that art can draw from any source, and there is nothing to disrupt this.

Here are some of the most popular pop art pieces of work:

Andy Warhol's "Marilyn Diptich," 1962

Roy Lichtenstein's "Whaam!" 1963

Keith Harling's "Radiant Baby," 1982