POST 7: 'Pop Art Myths' and the 'MYTHS & HEROES' Notion

'Pop Art Myths' and the 'MYTHS & HEROES' Notion

1) The notion Myths and Heroes  focus on the main ideas which is a popular belief or story that has become associated with a person , institution , or occurrence , especially one considered to illustrate a cultural idea . Many people turn into myths because they made a mark on everyone's mind by reason of glamour, love affair, political commitment , movies, music ... and they are know finally by all the generations through the different years. We can relate the Pop art exhibition and pop art movement  with Myths and Heroes , Pop art used repeatedly famous myths like Marilyn Monroe , Mickey Mouse ...  to made art painting  but they also used object that became myths like the Campbell's Soup Cans, in pop art all the object could be art and at the same time a myth this cultural idea change the mind of people in relation to art. With the pop art movement , artists like Andy Warhol became myths  . 

Artwork by Andy Warhol, Jackie (Four Jackies) (Portraits of Mrs. 

Jacqueline 1964

2) This pop art artwork is screen printed acrylic on four canvas panels made in 1964 and each panel are 20 x 16 inches (50.8 x 40.6 cm).

John F. Kennedy died in 1963, he was assassinated. Andy Warhol picked photographs used in media before and after this tragedy to focus on Jacqueline Kennedy ( the president's widow) . Andy Warhol used this unusual and different approach to image , using photographs of celebrities from newspaper , journal, magazines... to build up an individual's public image rather than conceiving his own artwork and his own interpretation of this American myths. This the combination of four pictures splendidly  edit and the influence of mass media covering and sharing this tragedy. This painting illustrate the notion myths and hero because Warhol focus on Jackie Kennedy who was considerate like a myth of America , her story was also like a myth , the love story with JFK is a kind a popular story , she was related with mafia , his husband was also in a love affair with another myth ( Marilyn Monroe)... The reinterpretation of Warhol shown her as a charismatic, magnetic woman and all this contribute to say that Jackie was and stay a Myths.

3) In My Opinion the Pop art movement is a kind of modern art , artists broke rules of classism but they kept using old bases of art (like painting ) .This movement took the inspiration in objects of everyday life and also in celebrities for example , and this is something I really enjoy in pop art. I also love the way of the bright colors are used it's not conventional , the reinterpretation and the emotional aspect of pop art movement are the most pleasant and that's why I really like pop art movement. 

POP ART MYTHS

POP ART MYTHS

Collage,Advertising,Comics 

(Richard Hamilton's Just What Is It That Makes Today’s Homes So Different, So Appealing? (1956) )

In this exhibition we can contemplate several collages from pop art precursors, Eduardo Paolozzi and Richard Hamilton . This topic of pop art is based on Cubism and Dadaism movements. The first Lichtenstein's pop painting was Look Mickey  took from a comic book and considered also as pop version of Narcissus's myth. Andy Warhol used also Mickey Mouse as a member of mythical pantheon .

Emblems

(Campbell's Soup Cans

Andy Warhol )

Mid-20 th century, because of media , the society has been immersed with logos for consumer products ,slogans and advertising ...that were non-stop on TV and in the press . Objects were considered as specifical target for pop art. The most famous were the Campbell's soup cans from Andy Warhol but also , artists like Robert Indiana turned a series of different words like "eat""hug""err" into emblems.

Myths

 (Mao Andy Wharhol ) 
During the golden era , a lot of people achieved success and became idols for many generations . Artists like Alex Katz , Warhol ,Phillips or Vostell from different nationalities used these myths from musical culture, political life, cinema ...and changed them into art .

Portraits

(David Hockney Portraits)

The beginnig of pop art made a reinterpretation of the gender of portrait painting, the artists were able to broke up the rules and made original portraits not inspired in reality but rather precedes . In this painting there is no longer an implicit subject behind the image. However the portrait is used to make a reflection . Artists like Hockney, used Polaroids and changed the form of portrait .

Landscaps,Interiors,Still lifes

(Roy Lichtenstein, "Still Life with Palette", 1972.)

For pop art every object could become art , in the new consumer society, the object become not just a simple thing but also a thing with meaning behind . Thanks to pop art there is a reinterpretation of landscape ,interior and still lifes .Pop art become public and people see pop art in every commercial space because it's used also to sold.

Urban eroticism
(Blue Nude by Lichtenstein)
In the mid-20th there is more sexual liberty , freedom that made the spread of hedonism and eroticism in every sphere of society, the mass media the society is inundated with erotic metaphors  which were included to pop art. Automobile, and Women become objects of desire.Women turned into a sexual symbol.

History painting
Pop art ( who took part in political explicitly) used some famous historical icone like politician ( John F.Kennedy, Mao Zedong.) and  made a reinterpretation of recent and past history . Some artists like Eduardo Arroyo and Juan Genoves , used pop art to show the irony of the amnesia that afflicted them country in the Franco-era .
Art about art 

(The Bigger Splash, painted by David Hockney in California)
An important aspect of pop art was to used images about images and turned into the subject Art on art. Hockney meditated on Renaissance art , Warhol conceived new versions of Botticelli .Other artists used art on art as a strategy of political denunciation. Equipo cronica actualized Las Meninas using irony and changed it into The living room .

POST 5 MITHS AND HEROES

MITHS AND HEROES WORKSHEET

Quality and Quantity

First of all,I would like to point out that we have two different documents .The first one ,it’s a cartoon showing many people who are idolizing a trolley upstair of a big stone , on the sly we can see that is write “Black Friday”.People usually think that black Friday is the day when you must have to fill your trolley to the brim . We must
> Admit, that the quantity of people who comes to the supermarket on Black Friday it’s significant and it’s also significant the quantity of products they going to buy because the products are cheaper and it’s quite good for the American people, but, An important aspect of the question is that usually people just buy 40% of the things they don’t need. However, in the second document we have a picture of a homeless with a trolley to put the trolley it’s a symbol of his life, all his life is on a trolley, maybe a blanket or an old box, things that people buy normally and they don’t give importance really because these things finish in a bin. But for a homeless someone who doesn’t have anything, it’s important he values the quality of the thing he takes care of them. I definitely believe that they are people who have too much (quantity) and they don’t value the quality whereas there are people who have a few things and they value them much more.
> In short, we can conclude that we have two different documents opposing quantity and quality, we see that progress, it’s different in depend of people and situation, but sometimes progress have no limits and mean that people doesn’t value what is really important.