Pop Art found its way in the mainstream during the ‘50s. Despite the arrival of subsequent movements in the world of visual art, Pop Art continues to have an influence among art lovers and mass consumers alike. Unfamiliar to many, there are other motivations beneath the vibrant and blatant images in Pop Art.
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The ‘50s were a time when people were moving on from the atrocities of World War II. There was a boom in culture, and a consumerist mentality was ingrained in the minds of those who belonged to this generation. Thus, art became a way to entice people to spend more and amass more belongings. With straightforward advertisements, mass audiences surrendered to their need to spend and own.
This phenomenon led artists to use the current trend to address what is being forgotten in their generation. By using screen printing techniques, artists like Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein addressed the consumerist practices that seem to be overshadowing the culture. It was also a way to deconstruct what people were becoming accustomed to. Taking a familiar element and reproducing it in different ways unsettled audiences and led them to think about their reality. Creating a print of a product like a soup can and framing it as an artwork was a way to take an object out of its common context. This was a move that shattered familiarity and awakened interpretation.
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The era’s shift in values and a generation’s seeming desire to drive their culture and economy forward exposed a culture that adopted a materialistic and workaholic mentality. Pop Art showed that with this mindset, the boundaries that set apart class struggles could be reconciled through art.
Mark Borghi Fine Art was founded in New York City in 1998. Its founder, Mark Borghi, subsequently opened a second gallery in Bridgehampton, New York, in 2004, which served as a summer outpost with the same program as its flagship location, and another in Palm Springs, Florida, in 2011. Follow this Twitter page for updates.
Mark Borghi 
