Pop Art around the World

Popartuk Knowledge Base

Pop Art in the USA

During the 1920s American artists Gerald Murphy, Stuart Davis and Charles Demuth produced paintings with pop art imagery, depicting ordinary objects taken from American commercial products. The movement in the 1960s was a response to abstract expressionism, with a return to sharper paintwork and representational art.

Pop Art in Spain

In Spain the study of pop art is associated with the “new figurative”. Eduardo Arroyo, with his interest in the environment, his scorn for almost all established styles of art, and his critique of our media culture, could be said to fit within the pop art trend. However, Alfredo Alcaín is the Spaniard who could be considered the most authentic pop artist, because of his use of popular images and empty space in his compositions.

In the category of Spanish pop art is also “El Equipo Crónica” (which translates as the “Chronicle Team”), which existed in Valencia between the years 1964 and 1981. This movement was formed by the artists Rafael Solbes and Manolo Valdés. This movement is characterized as pop art due to its use simplification of photographic compositions and images, as well as its use of comics and publicity images.

The filmmaker Pedro Almodovar surfaced from Madrid’s “La Movida” subculture, making small budget super 8 pop art movies. He was called the Andy Warhol of Spain by the media at the time after this. He is quoted from the book “Almodovar on Almodovar” saying that the 1950s film Funny Face is a significant inspiration for his work.

Pop Art in Japan

Pop art in Japan contains regular subjects and styles, making it unique and identifiable as Japanese. Numerous Japanese pop artists take their inspiration from anime, as well as ukiyo-e and traditional Japanese art. One of the most well-known pop artists currently in Japan is Takashi Murakami. The group of artists, known as Kaikai Kiki, is renowned for their own highly abstract and unique superflat art movement, which is a post-modern, surrealist movement, with inspiration mainly from anime and Japanese street culture. Yoshitomo Nara, another Japanese artist, is famous for his graffiti inspired art. Some artists, including Murakami, are also famous for their mass-produced plastic or polymer figures.