How to Choose the Right Brush for your Art →

A carpenter must understand how to use his or her own tools in order to build a house, so must an artist know how to use his or her tools to paint a successful painting.

At first, knowing how to choose the right art paintbrush is a daunting task.

The material that the paint brush hairs are made of, how they are bunched together, their length and shape all affect the characteristics of the brush.

Here is a list of the duties of some of the most popular brush shapes:

Square: A squared-off brush.

Flat:

• Brush length twice as long as width
• Use for backgrounds and details.
• Use for covering large areas
• blending

Bright:

• Width equal to length Allow for the most control
• Great for coverage
• Blending

Filbert: This brush is similar to a flat but has has a round outer edge.

• The Filbert’s shape can vary from a flatter brush with a rounded outer edge to an oval shape.
• The Cat’s Tongue shape comes to point for more control.
• A multi tasking painting brush.
• This brush can take the place of a round or flat depending on the way the artist holds the brush.

Round Brushes: Primarily used for detail and working in small spaces.

Standard Round:

• Use for shaping, details, and outlining.

Pointed round:

• Use for retouching, finishing touches and details.
• Pointed tip for coloring.
• With a high reserve, this brush is widely used for watercolours
• Worn rounded:
  • Avoids “rounding”.

Script, Liner & Detail: All three brushes are similar and used for painting fine lines. They can all be used for lettering, animal whiskers, branches, and artists’ signatures.

• Script:
  • The longest hair tufts.
  • Holds the most paint.
• Liner:
  • The mid length hair tufts.
  • Compromises between fine detail and longer flowing strokes.
• Detail:
  • The shortest hair tufts
  • Offers the most control

Fan: Fan brushes used for shading, blurring and glazing.

• The Fan paintbrush is a thin layer of bristles spread out
  in the shape of a fan.
• Fan brushes are generally used for blending and feathering colors.
• Fan brushes can be used for painting trees, branches, grasses and detail.
• It is popular for painting hair with its ability to paint multiple flowing strands in a single stroke.

Mop: Like the name says, these brushes allow you to ‘mop’ up a lot of paint.

• Usually larger brushes favored by watercolorists, but also used with oils and acrylics.
• Used for making large washes.
• Used for blending and shading with oils.

Famous Artists: Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986) →

Image via Google

Georiga O'Keeffe

Born on November 15, 1887, in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, Georgia O’Keeffe was a female artist and icon of the twentieth century. She was an early avant-garde artist of American Modernism. Her life spanned 98 years, and her portfolio includes many works of American landscapes. She received early art instruction at the Art Institute of Chicago (1905-1907). In 1907, she moved to New York City and studied under William Merritt Chase as a member of the Art Students League. Her early career led her to further studies at Columbia University Teacher’s College and educational posts at the University of Virginia and Columbia College. 

In her New York years, O’Keeffe created works described as examples of avant-garde Modernism, abstract, Minimalist, and color field theory. Two of her paintings demonstrate her lifelong skill with color regardless of the subject matter. In 1919, O’Keefe created “Blue and Green Music” and became prominent with support from Alfred Stieglitz. This abstract piece is a beautiful work of rhythm, movement, color, depth, and form. She echoes this work again in 1927 with “Abstraction Blue.” When O’Keeffe painted in watercolor or oil, she also captured beauty and emotion. In later works, O’Keeffe continued this tradition, including famous pictures of flowers and New Mexican landscapes. 

O’Keeffe developed a powerful relationship with the wealthy and famous photographer, Alfred Stieglitz. The two were quite a power duo. Stieglitz is remembered as the first photographer to be exhibited in American museums, the power behind Modernist artists with his gallery 291 in New York City, the person who brought Modernism (ala Picasso) to America, and an artistic influence on artists like Ansel Adams. Although their friendship began in 1917 while Stieglitz was still married to his wife, O’Keeffe married Stieglitz in 1924. 

When Stieglitz died in 1946, O’Keeffe moved from their home in Manhattan’s Shelton Hotel to New Mexico. She divided her time between a home called Ghost Ranch (frequented since the mid-thirties and purchased in 1940) and a Spanish colonial at Abiqui (purchased in 1945 and occupied in 1949). In her “Black Mesa Landscape, New Mexico / Out Back of Marie’s II” (1930), O’Keeffe again depicts movement, beauty, volume, and depth, especially in brilliant blue forms of New Mexican mountains. O’Keeffe’s work reflected other travels and influences, including a friendship with the Mexican artists, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. 

Georgia O’Keeffe’s cultural impact is preserved by the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico. This museum offers the only research center in the world devoted to scholarly study in American Modernism. A visit to this museum or another venue where her work is shown suggests why she was the first woman to have a solo exhibition in 1946 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. O’Keeffe died on March 6, 1986.

Introduction to the Artistic Style of Conceptual Art →

Image via Google

Beginning in the 1960s, conceptual art was described as anti-establishment. First, picture the commercial images of Marilyn Monroe popularized by Andy Warhol. Realize that some artists were opposed to the concept of getting rich through commercial art sales. Conceptual artists wanted to make the masses think instead of giving them plastic art to consume. 

As a movement, conceptual art creates disharmony in society, jarring people out of their traditional understanding of art. According to the “Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,” “Conceptual art, it seems, is something that we either love or hate.” A piece of conceptual art challenges the viewer to defend the work as a true piece of art instead of something masquerading as art. Thinking about the artist’s deeper meaning in a conceptual art piece helps the viewer understand an important statement about society.  

George Brecht (1926-2008) was the son of a flutist for the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. In 1961, Brecht performed his conceptual art piece entitled “Incidental Music.” This performance art can only be described as Brecht stacking up toy blocks inside a grand piano. In his obituary, George Brecht was described as a “provocateur” by the “New York Times.” He belonged to an international collection of artists called the Fluxus, mainly conceptual artists like him. Brecht died at the age of 82. 

A different consideration is the artist Joseph Kosuth (b. 1945). His composition, “One and Three Chairs” (1965) consisted of a plain, beige wood chair sitting next to a life-sized photograph (black and white) of a wood chair. Taken out of historical context, “One and Three Chairs” does not appear to be art at all. However, taking something as plain as a chair captured on photo paper and positioning it next to a real chair suggests simplicity or absurdity depending on your point-of-view.  

The peak of conceptual art occurred from 1966 to 1972. Artists reacted to the art critic, Clement Greenberg’s narrow definition of Formalism. According to Honour and Fleming (2005), Greenberg “saw the art object as being essentially self-contained and self-sufficient, with its own rules, its own order, its own materials; independent of its maker, of its audience; and of the world in general.” 

Even the artist, Marcel Duchamp, a young friend of Dadaism and Surrealism decades earlier, created a piece of conceptual art in the final twenty years of his life – “Given: 1. The Waterfall 2. The Illuminating Gas.” This piece included part of a nude woman made of leather and other pieces of found art. The viewer had to look through a peephole to see this shockingly erotic composition. In “Given” (1968), Duchamp bridged the thirty-year chasm between Surrealism and conceptual art. While conceptual art occurred in the U.S. in the context of civil rights, the same movement abroad bucked all of the traditional notions of the art establishment.

What is Scratchboard? →

The term scratchboard refers to the surface. A scratchboard (aka scraperboard or scratchpaper) is a surface which has been coated with a layer of white clay. This backing can be a hard board (masonite) or a thin paper. I use a scratchboard made by Ampersand — it is prepared on a masonite board, so it does not bend or crack and the layer of clay is thicker than on paper. Scratchboard can be purchased with just the smooth white clay surface or prepared with a layer of black ink.

The basic materials I use are black waterproof ink, a paintbrush, pigment pens, and a fine craft knife with a #11 blade. The above image shows a piece that was started on black scratchboard. These are the quickest as you can start scratching immediately.

Working a white clay surface requires a bit more patience as you have to wait for the ink to completely dry. This is the basic process when starting on a white clay surface.

1. Paint ink onto the surface in the outline of subject

2. Use a fine blade to scratch away the ink.

3. Continue scratching away details with the blade. 
You can add other details with a fine black pen or brush.

Last year I wrote a demonstration article for Artist’s Palette Magazine about how I create a illustration on white clayboard. You can view a PDF of the article here.

Studio Visit: William N. Beckwith

B.B. King enlargement

L.Q.C. Lamar enlargement

Elvis enlargement

William N. Beckwith

is an Artist from Greenville, MS who now lives and works in Taylor, MS. He has produced public and private art for 30+ years. Check out more of his work in our Artist section and here 

World's Biggest Art Collector Sheikh Saud bin Mohammed Al-Thani Dies at Age 48 →

Sheikh Saud Al-Thani, 2002.

Once widely regarded as the world's richest and most powerful art collector, Sheikh Saud bin Mohammed Al-Thani of Qatar died suddenly at his home in London on November 9, age 48. Details of his death have not been announced, although initial reports say it was from natural causes. A cousin of the Qatar's current Emir, Sheikh Al-Thani served as the country's president of the National Council for Culture, Arts and Heritage, from 1997 to 2005. During his tenure, he oversaw the development of the oil-rich nation's ambitious plans to build an extensive network of new schools, libraries, and museums. He also spent well over $1 billion on art purchases during that period, more than any other individual, according to many art-market observers.

Qatar's royal family is known for its prodigious collecting habits, ranging from ancient manuscripts to contemporary art. Over the past two decades, Sheikh Al-Thani acquired a vast collection of art and artifacts, with a special concentration on historical pieces, including Islamic ceramics, textiles, scientific instruments and jewelry (see "Sheikh Al-Thani's Watch Sells for $24 Million After His Mysterious Death"). His collection makes up the bulk of holdings in five existing and planned museums: the Museum of Islamic Art, the National Library, the Natural History Museum, a Photography Museum, and a museum for traditional textiles and clothing.

Sheikh Al-Thani was also a major collector of vintage cars, bicycles, antique furniture, and Chinese antiquities. In 2005, he was dismissed from his post and circumstances surrounding his purchases and holdings were investigated. Relatives accused him of embezzling millions from family members and misappropriating public funds. He was cleared of wrong-doing shortly after, however, and returned to his position as a major player in the international blue-chip art market.

Oil Paint: The History and Development of a Medium →

As evidenced by the innumerable masterpieces exhibited on gallery walls of the most prestigious museums worldwide, perhaps it is the medium of oil that has created the most significant impact on the development of painting as visual art form. Painting with oil on canvas continues to be a favored choice of serious painters because of its long-lasting color and a variety of approaches and methods. Oil paints may have been used as far back as the 13th century. However as a medium in its modern form, Belgian painter, Jan van Eyck, developed it during the 15th century. Because artists were troubled by the excessive amount of drying time, van Eyck found a method that allowed painters an easier method of developing their compositions. By mixing pigments with linseed and nut oils, he discovered how to create a palette of vibrant oil colors.  

Over time, other artists, such as Messina and da Vinci, improved upon the recipe by making it an ideal medium for representing details, forms and figures with a range of colors, shadows and depths. During the Renaissance, which is often referred to as the Golden Age of painting, artists developed their crafts and established many of the techniques that provided the medium of oil to emerge. The refinement of oil painting came through studies in perspective, proportion and human anatomy. During the Renaissance, the goal for artists was to create realistic images. They sought to represent all that was caught by an artist’s detailed eye, as well as capture and present the intensity of human emotions. 

Giovanni Bellini’s work from 1480, “St. Francis in Ecstasy,” captures oil’s ability to create an accurate, complex composition with the soft glow of morning light and the detailed perspective of the natural landscape. Oil became a useful medium during the Baroque period, when artists sought to display the intensity of emotion through the careful manipulation of light and shadows. Rembrandt’s use of oil in his piece, “Night Watch,” from 1642, displays the concerns of the night watch with a dark, yet detailed background and the crisp brightness of the golden garments. In the mid-19th century, as painters explored new approaches and developed new movements, oil as a medium followed. In the 1872 painting “Impression, Sunrise,” for which the Impressionist movement was named, Monet used oil to provide an evocative view of the harbor, silhouettes and sun as reflections danced on the water. Into Modernism and beyond, oil has been used by artists, such as Kandinsky, Picasso and Matisse, to further their experimental approaches in the early 20th century.  

Easily removed from the canvas, oil allows the artist to revise a work. With its flexible nature, long history and large body of theories, oil painting has created a most significant impact on visual art. New developments in oil paints continued into the 20th century, with advent of oil paint sticks, which were used by artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Anselm Kiefer. Since the Renaissance, the masters used oil to create works that continue to inspire, intrigue and delight, and today, artists continue to use this significant medium to express their visions, goals and emotions.

Swiss Artist Valentin Carron Busted For Plagiarism →

Valentin Carron
Photo via: elevation1049

Where does appropriation stop and plagiarism begin? The Swiss artist Valentin Carron has been accused of plagiarism for his piece The Dawn, presented by his Zurich gallery Eva Presenhuber at FIAC last month, Radio Télévision Suisse reports.

The resin sculpture, priced at a reported $67,000, is a replica of a 1977 steel artwork by Francesco Marino di Teana, L'Aube (“dawn" in French), which is displayed in Neuchâtel in front of the city's art and history museum.

Carron told RTS that he “wanted to reproduce the emotion this work provoked" in him when he first encountered it in Neuchâtel. The artist, who represented Switzerland at the last Venice Biennale, described the process as one of “appropriation."

“The copy is so exact that it becomes a forgery," retorted the son of the artist, Nicolas Marino. “It's complete plagiarism."

Valentin Carron, The Dawn at FIAC 2014 (L), Francesco di Teana, L'Aube, 1977, Musée d'art de Neuchâtel, Switzerland

Marino has made clear he intends to sue Carron. He is supported by Jean-François Roudillon, the director of Paris's Galerie Loft, in charge of Francesco Marino di Teana's catalogue raisonné.

“I am saddened and shocked that an international art fair like FIAC facilitates practices that force the artist's heir to go to court to protect his rights and his father's reputation," he said in an open letter.

He continued: “Are contemporary artists so lacking in ideas that, rather than being inspired by the work of their predecessors, they cast copies?"

Several art world personalities have come to Carron's defense, including Christian Bernard, the director of the Mamco in Geneva. Talking to RTS, he insisted on the difference of material between the two pieces. Carron's resin piece “denounces itself as an imitation, presents itself as a replica," he said. “The simple fact that it has the same title shows that it's an appropriation and not a theft."

“Appropriation," he continued quoting the work of Elaine Sturtevant, “is a process that has been legitimated by art history. Valentin Carron has pursued this process and brought something new to it. Accusing him of plagiarism is showing that one ignores everything of today's art."

Bernard said that he was ready to defend Carron's work in court.

Pierre Keller, the former director of the Ecole cantonale d'art de Lausanne (ECAL), has also stepped in to support his former student. He said that Carron had been influenced by his professor at ECAL, John Armleder, who is famous, in part, for his appropriations. In his view, Marino's lawsuit “is already lost."

Is Having Your Art Appraised a Good Idea? →

ArtBusiness.com is a consumer resource website for people who own art, people who create art (aka artists), fine arts professionals, and anyone else with a love of or interest in art. The site receives thousands of requests for art price information annually and provides all manner of appraisal services so people can intelligently buy, sell, trade, insure, donate, value for legal purposes, or otherwise transact in original works of art. The following art price information is for each and every one of you who wonders whether you can effectively and accurately evaluate art prices with little or no knowledge of the inner workings of the art market... or whether under certain circumstances, art appraisers, consultants or advisors are actually worth paying for.

To begin with, the art business is totally unregulated. Anyone can call themselves an art dealer, anyone can call themselves an artist, anyone can open an art gallery, anyone can sell whatever they feel like selling and call it art, and anyone can price whatever they call art however they please. As long as they don't engage in fraud or misrepresentation and operate within the law, they can arbitrarily price a work of art at $1000, $10000 or even $100,000-- whatever they feel like-- and regardless of whether the art would appraise for anywhere near those amounts. Believe it; it's true. On the upside, the overwhelming majority of art dealers, galleries and artists price their art fairly-- but not always. And that's why we have art appraisers and advisors-- professionals skilled at accurately evaluating art, determining fair market values, and making sure you have the most up-to-date understandable price information possible.

Let's say you either inherit or have owned art for years and decide to sell. Without current appraisals, you make an easy target for unscrupulous buyers. You have no idea what your art is worth; they do. You can sell way too cheaply without any idea you're doing so, and the bad news is you have little or no recourse for recouping your losses. Appraisers and consultants protect you from that happening.

Think you can appraise art yourself? Think again. Figuring out how much art is worth and, based on those values, whether to buy, sell, trade, insure or donate-- those are by no means easy tasks for people who are unfamiliar with how the art business works, including buyers, bidders, donors, collectors or inheritors... and even artists. The job of qualified appraisers and advisors is to protect anyone who has questions about art values by providing the prices they need according to the situations they're in, in order for them to make informed intelligent decisions. 

Art appraisers evaluate art prices in much the same way that stock brokers evaluate stock prices or real estate brokers evaluate home prices. A qualified art appraiser studies a variety of characteristics of a work of art and the market for that art before valuing it. A typical evaluation includes assessing the artist's exhibition history and career accomplishments, studying and analyzing the artist's recent auction and gallery sales histories, and examining particulars related to the work of art itself including it's size, subject matter, detail, quality of craftsmanship, ownership history, age, condition, and so on. We're talking technical here.

If you're not experienced at pricing art, contact an appraiser or advisor anytime you have questions about value. This is no different than consulting a doctor when you have a medical question or an attorney when you have a legal question. Paying a few dollars for accurate art price information up front can easily save you hundreds and often thousands of dollars later. Believe me-- it's true. Here are some additional pointers on when and how to use appraisers in "art and money" situations.

** If you own original art and you've never had it appraised or you lack current price information, have an appraiser value it.

** Avoid getting appraisals from the people who sold you the art. A gallery that sells you a work of art, for example, has an obvious conflict of interest, and a tendency to appraise high in order to make that art, its artist, and their gallery look good.

** Avoid free appraisals. Free appraisals are rarely free. Please-- for your own good-- avoid free art appraisals. 

** Use a qualified art appraiser to value your art. Don't use your friend who's an artist or your aunt who has a booth at the local antique mall. 

** Update appraisals every three to five years, or before changing the disposition or ownership of any work of art that you own. Art prices fluctuate over time.

** Use art price guides, auction records, online art prices or art price databases and other art price references for entertainment purposes only. Unless you know how to analyze and extrapolate their data, leave those jobs to the pros. 

** Never accept spontaneous or unsolicited cash offers from anyone to buy art that you own. These kinds of offers are usually low. Get appraisals first. 

** If you're not an experienced collector, get an appraiser's or consultant's opinion before buying works of art from dealers or galleries that you don't know or have never done business with. 

** If you're not an experienced collector, get an appraiser's or consultant's opinion before buying art by artists whose names, artwork, or market histories you're either unclear on or not familiar with.

** Get an appraiser's or consultant's opinion no matter what kinds of art bargains sellers tell you that you're about to get.

** Unless you're an experienced auction bidder and buyer, ask an appraiser or consultant to inspect art that you're thinking about buying before you bid on it. This is especially true when buying at online auctions. Online auctions are extremely risky places to buy art.

** No matter what kind of art buying situation you find yourself in, if you're not totally 100% sure what you're doing, ask an appraiser or advisor any questions that you have about the art, artist, or circumstances surrounding the purchase beforeyou buy, not after. You'd be amazed at how many people don't ask questions until after they've spent hundreds, thousands, and even tens of thousands of dollars.

** Never give away, throw out or otherwise get divest yourself of any art that you own, no matter how bad you think it is, what you think of the person who gave it to you, what condition it's in or how unimportant you think the artist is. Always have a qualified appraiser or consultant inspect it first. 

Dislike Abstract Art? Try it again with a Less-Cluttered Mind →

(Photo: Denis Kuvaev/Shutterstock)

The last time you visited an art museum, did you find the abstract paintings sort of … annoying? Were you drawn to the landscapes and portraits, but turned off by the squiggles and dots?

New research suggests this preference may reflect your personality. But it also may be a sign that you’ve simply got too much on your mind, or that the physical environment—the gallery itself—leaves something to be desired.

An Italian research team led by psychologist Antonio Chirumboloreports people with a strong need for cognitive closure—that is, to have quick, definitive answers to vexing questions—are less likely to appreciate abstract art.

While that’s not surprising, the researchers note that while this desire for certainty is a constant for some people, it can be induced in others. If environmental cues are unwittingly prompting this mindset, they are effectively making people less open to abstract art.

“Curators of exhibitions of modern and abstract art should take into account environmental factors which may induce greater need for closure in visitors, and thus negatively affect viewers’ implicit evaluation of the artworks.”

In the online journal PLoS One,Chirumbolo and his colleagues describe two experiments. The first featured 60 women between the ages of 19 and 30, none of whom had any training in art or architecture.

After filling out a questionnaire designed to measure their dispositional need for closure, they completed an Implicit Association Task in which a series of images (abstract and figurative) and words (positive and negative) flashed onto a computer screen. Researchers noted how quickly and accurately they categorized each word and image.

Overall, “participants tended to exhibit an implicit preference for figurative art over abstract art,” the researchers report. But this tendency was exaggerated for those with a high need for cognitive closure.

The second experiment featured 54 women between the ages of 19 and 28, again with no art training. After their baseline need for closure was established, they were randomly assigned to a “high cognitive load condition” in which they were instructed to memorize nine numbers, or a “low cognitive load condition” in which they told to memorize one number. They then completed the same categorization task.

Again, those who were inherently inclined to seek closure showed an implicit dislike for abstract art. But so did those who were distracted by the need to memorize nine numbers. Indeed, the effect of the cognitive overload was distinct from, and stronger than, the participants’ baseline need for closure.

Chirumbolo and his colleagues explain that in situations where “information processing is more costly and effortful, the desire for unambiguous and stable knowledge predominates, and anything which runs counter to this is perceived as unpleasant and displeasing.”

In other words, if distractions are soaking up too much of your brain power, you have little tolerance for ambiguity. You want to get a strong sense of what you’re looking at and move on.

With this in mind, “Curators of exhibitions of modern and abstract art should take into account environmental factors which may induce greater need for closure in visitors, and thus negatively affect viewers’ implicit evaluation of the artworks,” the researchers write. Anything that reduces viewers’ cognitive load, from simple-to-navigate galleries to clear, understandable explanatory labels accompanying the works, will help.

“Beauty is not an intrinsic characteristic,” Chirumbolo and his colleagues conclude. “Judgments about beauty are individual and subjective, and depend on psychological factors.”

So if you hated that Jackson Pollock exhibit, think back to your state of mind on the day you visited the gallery. If your mental to-do list was long and distracting, you may want to go back in a more relaxed state. You may find the experience much more enjoyable.

Studio Visit: Corey West Watson

Corey's passion lies with painting "layers of texture" through mixed media abstract paintings. "My work is about pattern, layering, texture and the details within the bigger image. My work is approachable and meant to be touched, which makes it unique". Her work is created using layer upon layer of acrylic, ink, soft pastel and papers. Found objects or fabric can also be found hidden within the layers. 

Corey in her studio in California. Working on a few pieces images captured by her husband 

check out her site here

Artist Uses Fire and Soot to Paint Elegant Illustrations →

Québec-based artist Steve Spazuk uses fire to create elegant illustrations out of soot. As he demonstrates in the video below, the fire painter manipulates the flame from a candle or a torch to mark a sheet of paper with trails of soot, which he then etches into using delicate tools like feathers, styluses, and fine-tipped paintbrushes. By sweeping away soot to create negative space, Spazuk transforms smoky swirls into intricate, expressive forms.

Many of his most recent soot paintings are part of his Ornithocide series, which depicts inky, phantom-like birds juxtaposed with manmade pesticides that have the unintended consequence of killing birds as well as insects. Using the bird as a symbol of freedom and hope, Spazuk writes, "Like a dark mirror, the death of millions of birds forces us to see the threat we pose to the planet and all living systems, including ourselves."

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Check out more of his work here

Emil Alzamora’s Distorted Human Figures Appear to Melt, Morph, and Defy Gravity →

Artist Emil Alzamora (previously) explores the human body through his figurative sculptures that distort, inflate, elongate, and deconstruct physical forms in order to reveal emotional situations and narratives. Alzamora works with a variety of materials including bronze, gypsum, concrete, and other ceramic materials to create pieces with smooth, almost non-descript surfaces to instead draw attention to shape and scale. Born in Peru, he began sculpting in the fall of 1998 in New York at the Polich Tallix fine art foundry, and has since exhibited in galleries and museums around the world, most recently at Expo Chicago and the International Sculpture Symposium In Icheon in South Korea. You can see more of his work on Facebook and on Instagram. (via Dark Silence in Suburbia)

Pop Art Movement →

"Pop is everything art hasn't been for the last two decades. It's basically a U-turn back to a representational visual communication, moving at a break-away speed...Pop is a re-enlistment in the world...It is the American Dream, optimistic, generous and naïve." -Robert Indiana

Pop art is now most associated with the work of New York artists of the early 1960s such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, James Rosenquist, and Claes Oldenburg, but artists who drew on popular imagery were part of an international phenomenon in various cities from the mid-1950s onwards. Following the popularity of the Abstract Expressionists, Pop's reintroduction of identifiable imagery (drawn from mass media and popular culture) was a major shift for the direction of modernism. The subject matter became far from traditional "high art" themes of morality, mythology, and classic history; rather, Pop artists celebrated commonplace objects and people of everyday life, in this way seeking to elevate popular culture to the level of fine art. Perhaps owing to the incorporation of commercial images, Pop art has become one of the most recognizable styles of modern art.

• By creating paintings or sculptures of mass culture objects and media stars, the Pop art movement aimed to blur the boundaries between "high" art and "low" culture. The concept that there is no hierarchy of culture and that art may borrow from any source has been one of the most influential characteristics of Pop art.
• It could be argued that the Abstract Expressionists searched for trauma in the soul, while Pop artists searched for traces of the same trauma in the mediated world of advertising, cartoons, and popular imagery at large. But it is perhaps more precise to say that Pop artists were the first to recognize that there is no unmediated access to anything, be it the soul, the natural world, or the built environment. Pop artists believed everything is inter-connected, and therefore sought to make those connections literal in their artwork.
• Although Pop art encompasses a wide variety of work with very different attitudes and postures, much of it is somewhat emotionally removed. In contrast to the "hot" expression of the gestural abstraction that preceded it, Pop art is generally "coolly" ambivalent. Whether this suggests an acceptance of the popular world or a shocked withdrawal, has been the subject of much debate.
• Pop artists seemingly embraced the post-WWII manufacturing and media boom. Some critics have cited the Pop art choice of imagery as an enthusiastic endorsement of the capitalist market and the goods it circulated, while others have noted an element of cultural critique in the Pop artists' elevation of the everyday to high art: tying the commodity status of the goods represented to the status of the art object itself, emphasizing art's place as, at base, a commodity.
• The majority of Pop artists began their careers in commercial art: Andy Warhol was an highly successful magazine illustrator and graphic designer; Ed Ruscha was also a graphic designer, and James Rosenquist started his career as a billboard painter. Their background in the commercial art world trained them in the visual vocabulary of mass culture as well as the techniques to seamlessly merge the realms of high art and popular culture.

Great Britain: The Independent Group

In 1952, a gathering of artists in London calling themselves the Independent Group began meeting regularly to discuss topics such as mass culture's place in fine art, the found object, and science and technology. Members included Edouardo Paolozzi, Richard Hamilton, architects Alison and Peter Smithson, and critics Lawrence Alloway and Reyner Banham. Britain in the early 1950s was still emerging from the austerity of the post-war years, and its citizens were ambivalent about American popular culture. While the group was suspicious of its commercial character, they were enthusiastic about the rich world pop culture seemed to promise for the future. The imagery they discussed at length included that found in Western movies, science fiction, comic books, billboards, automobile design, and rock and roll music.

The actual term "Pop art" has several possible origins: the first use of the term in writing has been attributed to both Lawrence Alloway and Alison and Peter Smithson, and alternately to Richard Hamilton, who defined Pop in a letter, while the first artwork to incorporate the word "Pop" was produced by Paolozzi. His collage I Was a Rich Man's Plaything (1947) contained cut-up images of a pinup girl, Coca-Cola logo, cherry pie, World War II fighter plane, and a man's hand holding a pistol, out of which burst the world "POP!" in a puffy white cloud. 

New York City: The Emergence of Neo-Dada

By the mid 1950s, the artists working in New York City faced a critical juncture in modern art: following the Abstract Expressionists or rebel against the strict formalism advocated by many schools of modernism. By this time, Jasper Johns was already troubling conventions with abstract paintings that included references to: "things the mind already knows" - targets, flags, handprints, letters, and numbers. Meanwhile, Robert Rauschenberg's "combines" incorporated found objects and images, with more traditional materials like oil paint. Similarly,  Allan Kaprow's "Happenings" and the Fluxusmovements chose to incorporate aspects from the surrounding world into their art. These artists, along with others, later became grouped in the movement known as Neo-Dada. The now classic New York Pop art of Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, James Rosenquist, and Andy Warhol emerged in the 1960 in the footsteps of the Neo-Dadaists.

Pop art would continue to influence artists in later decades, with artists like Warhol maintaining a larger-than-life presence within the New York art world into the 1980s. Pop fell out of favor during the 1970s as the art world shifted focus from art objects to installations, performances, and other less tangible art forms. However, with the revival of painting at the end of the 1970s and in the early 1980s, the art object came back into favor once again, and popular culture provided subject matter that was easy for viewers to identify and understand. One of the leading figures of the Neo-Pop movement was Jeff Koons, whose appropriation of pop culture icons such as Michael Jackson and mass-produced objects like Hoover vacuum cleaners further pushed the boundaries of high art. In Japan, the work of Takashi Murakami has been cited as a more recent example of Neo-Pop, due to his use of popular anime imagery in his "Superflat" style and his successful partnering with fashion labels like Louis Vuitton. Such artists continue to break down the barrier between high and low art forms, while reevaluating the role of art as a commodity in and of itself.