Posts Tagged ‘Pop Art’

Pop Art: Popular ‘Art for the People’

Posted on: April 1st, 2023 by Art Leaders No Comments

Pop Art: Popular ‘Art for the People’

Name: Art Leaders Gallery
Price range: $$$

An abbreviation of Popular Art, Pop Art is an art movement that originated in 1950s Britain and soon came to flourish in America in the 1960s. Drawing inspiration from popular appeal and mass media, Pop Art uses recognizable imagery that presented a new-age challenge to the once modest traditions of fine art. Likewise, challenging the culture and dominant traditional views of what art should be.

Bridging the gap between the exclusivity and classical art, the Pop Art movement made art accessible and connectible to the masses, influencing an entire new wave of artistry and expressionism. Paving the way, early 1950s British Pop Art drew heavy inspiration from an outsider’s perspective on western culture and post-war Americana. While early 1960s American Pop Art was inspired by everyday imagery and culture within American society.

Richard Hamilton, Roy Lichtenstein, David Hockney, and Andy Warhol are traditionally viewed as the originators of Popular Art – Pop Art. Richard Hamilton is often labelled as founding father of British Pop Art. And in 1957 he defined the outlining characteristics of Pop Art as follows:

“Pop Art is: Popular (designed for a mass audience), Transient (short-term solution), Expendable (easily forgotten), Low cost, Mass produced, Young (aimed at youth), Witty, Sexy, Gimmicky, Glamorous, Big business”

Join us as we celebrate these iconic ‘characteristics’ in our currently featured in-house artists, highlighting these bold and vibrant colorways of popular imagery and satire that is Pop Art.

Isabelle Scheltjens

In the tradition of Pop artists, Isabelle Scheltjen’s favorite subjects are modern-day celebrities. Using her unique glass-fusing technique, she melts together different colors, textures, and sizes of glass, which she organizes into bold, vibrant and captivating glass portraits. As a result, Isabelle considers her work a form of contemporary pointillism. Likewise, the colorful glass pieces are like the dots of paint used by pointillists. And the glass pieces bring to life a larger mosaic style portrait. Adore some of Isabelle’s celebrity-subjects ‘from a distance,’ in her pieces – Woppi, Someone Who Cares, and Lilou.

View Isabelle Scheltjen’s full collection

Srinjoy Gangopadhyay

The Contemporary Pop artist Srinjoy Gangopadhyay draws his inspiration from the overarching theme of contemporary utopia and its mirrored counterpart. Srinjoy’s works hold a mirror to reflect the contemporary experience. Or ultimately, depict a reflection that transport the viewer to an alternative world or experience of that utopia. Dive into Srinjoy’s beautifully vibrant displays of Pop Art that showcase some iconic pop figures of past and present.

View Srinjoy Gangopadhyay’s full collection of Limited Edition Giclees

The Bisaillon Brothers

Celebrating a creation of dramatic display of Pop Art & Culture, the Bisaillon Brothers – Jeffery & Michael, combine their love of digital art and symbols with an interest for the abstract and Pop Art world. Using various traditional and non-traditional media and a process mixing acrylic painting and graphic design, the Bisaillon Brothers create one of a kind artwork that is bold and vibrant. Feel the vibrancy and liveliness of these works as they come to life inside your domain. Browse the eclectic collection of Bisaillon Brothers’ work here at Art Leaders Gallery.

View The Bisaillon Brothers’ full collection

Craig Alan

In a classic homage of Pop Art, American artist Craig Alan draws his inspiration from popular culture and from the masters of Pop Art past – Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Keith Haring. Displaying his skills using bold colors and fine detailing, Alan creates large portraits and scenes. Using various handmade stencils, Alan creates these illustrious depictions of Pop Art culture and imagery through his use of silhouettes. In other words, let his grouped silhouettes transport you through a sparkling and engaging timeline of Pop Art culture through his Populus series.

View Craig Alan’s full collection

Pietro Adamo

Abandon the normal drawings of geometric forms through textured surfaces and rough contours and explore the beautifully crafted Pop culture graffiti abstracts of Pietro Adamo. Adamo draws his Pop Art influences from all periods of artistry and most importantly from his surrounding environments, much like that of his ancestral homeland in Italy. Hence, Adamo’s influences create a pulsating sense of Pop Art and Graffiti Art through avenues of landscape and iconic imagery.

View Pietro Adamo’s full collection

Ancizar Marin

Specializing in sculpture, Ancizar Marin welcomes in a new-age twist of Pop Art to the traditions of three-dimensional artwork. Ancizar Marin creates an array of colorful wall sculptures of climbers, divers, skiers, snowboarders, koi fish, dogs and cats that appear to move across your wall and interact in your space. Marin creates these athlete and animal sculptures out of fiberglass and volcanic rock. These bold and vibrant sculptures bring a contemporary, pop art flare to your home. Consequently, watch these sculptures come to life and transform your wall into a living art space!

View Ancizar Marin’s full collection

You can find out more about these artists and their work by contacting the gallery. You can also follow Art Leaders Gallery on Instagram and Facebook to get the latest artwork straight to your feed!

Published April 1, 2023

Craig Alan – Together They Stand

Posted on: July 26th, 2022 by Art Leaders No Comments

Populus by Craig Alan

Exhibition on view at Art Leaders Gallery August 1st – 31st, 2022

Published on July 26th, 2022

In recent uneasy times, many of us have seen how much we need one another. Isolation during the pandemic reminded us just how important it is to spend time with friends and loved ones. One person alone may be able to climb a mountain, but a large group of people can move that same mountain, or in Craig Alan’s case, create that mountain. Craig Alan’s Populus series is a visual reminder that humans can create something powerful together.

Inspiration

While he was visiting his hometown, Craig Alan found inspiration for what would become his most popular series of work. The series is composed of tiny figures, grouped together to create larger compositions of human figures, popular icons, and even abstract shapes. This series drew inspiration from a balcony overlooking Orange Beach, Alabama where people enjoying a wedding party seemed to form the shape of an eye where they stood. Furthermore, Craig explains, “Inspiration begins with a ‘What if…’ as I consider alternate imagery, surfaces, effects, results, etc. It comes from the past in conjunction with now. Like a bolt of lightning.”

Since the epiphany, his Populus series is now home to dozens of celebrities and icons of all ages. These icons include celebrities such as, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Freddie Mercury, John Lennon, Michael Jackson, James Bond and James Dean. He also pays homage to master artists such as Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso, and Van Gough.

Craig states, “Art needs to be responsible to its purpose; to inspire and enhance.” To beginning artists he says encouragingly, “be yourself and do what YOU want to do, not what someone else advises or suggests,” and in the words of his Pepaw, “Don’t ever quit!”

From the Ground Up

Craig Alan has become publicly recognized as an innovator in the visual arts industry through the years. For example, he has presence in many galleries across the U.S., England, Germany and Canada. He has done work for commercials, advertisements, and even large-scale murals.

Alan’s most recent mural “From the Ground Up” is Atlanta, Georgia’s newest public art piece. The mural spans six stories tall and is a depiction of the city’s rise from the ashes of the Civil War to become a world known city. “From the Ground Up” embodies Atlanta’s rebuilding amidst the nation’s current civil unrest and its fight to unite against the coronavirus pandemic.

“From the Ground Up’ is also available in a limited edition print! Click here to view the artwork.

Click here to view “From the Ground Up” on YouTube.

View the Craig Alan Populus collection here.

Follow Art Leaders Gallery on Instagram for more updates on Craig Alan’s work!

Pop Art! – In the Art World

Posted on: June 26th, 2018 by Art Leaders No Comments

Pop Art

You can’t not know what Pop Art is. I mean –you can, but if you saw pop art you’d definitely recognize it. And that’s very much the intention of the movement –to be popular. Not to become popular, but to already exist as something popular. How can this be? Pop Art as a movement creates a mirror for popular culture –it’s things like Campbell soup cans, Wonder Woman, and large balloon animals. Artists have faced critiques of originality from the movement’s inception; however, one look at these artworks and you won’t be able to deny their creativity.

Pop art arose in the 1950s as a reactionary art movement to abstract expressionism. Abstract Expressionism concerned itself with the subconscious or the spiritual; it was spontaneous, and had great emotional intensity. The point was to avoid the artistic censorship that occurred after World War II (and all the political propaganda “art” that came with it) by creating art with abstract or neutral subject matter –think Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko.

Pop Artists entered the art scene in an attempt to lighten the mood from the intensity of this genre by reverting to the everyday realities of popular culture. They focused on the banal, kitschy, even the cheap elements of society –employed in an almost satirical or ironic reaction to the art of the times. Things you’d normally see in comic books, advertisements, and every day mundane (albeit cultural) objects appeared in designs whose creators called them “art”. And by the 1960’s, “Pop Art”, was ready to change the world. Artists such as Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol controlled the art scene. But it wasn’t just an art-movement, it was a lifestyle.

The Pop Art Resurgence

In the 1980s Pop art had a resurgence known as “Neo-Pop”. Like the movement in the 60’s it was irreverent and witty. The Pop look never really went away and can be seen today in street graffiti, comic books, photo montage, and large-scale sculpture. The movement remains relevant today because people are drawn to the objectivity of these artworks. Pop culture motifs give viewers a feeling of belonging –the artwork has an immediate personal draw.

Were they trying to make a socio-political statement? A critique of society? Or were they finding real beauty in Campbell’s Soup cans? Maybe they just saw everyday objects artistically?

Images by: https://www.themodern.org/blog/Contemporary-Pop-Art/343 & https://mymodernmet.com/what-is-contemporary-art-definition/

Published June 26th, 2018