One of the very important genres of Modern Art, photo realism is a style which is based upon camera, and using the camera and photography the painter paints a picture which is quite realistic, sometimes looks like a photograph. Photorealism originated in the United States in the early 1970s. Pop art is another art form which was evolved in Britain and USA in the 1950s. In USA, the pop art began as a representational art form. Some critics also mentioned that it can be also named as the return of hard edge composition of the late 1950s. But in Britain, pop art developed only by embracing the American popular culture. It is an art form which is characterized by different types of themes directly derived from the popular culture. It is basically dominated by mass culture like comic books, movie posters, advertising and all the other aspects of life. Along with the minimalism format of art, we can say that these two are the predecessors of the postmodern art (Meisel 114).
The most important aspect of the photorealism is the photograph and it can not exist without the photograph. In this process of art, the artist condenses his imagination with photography and then represents it on canvas. After the development of the slide the artist then transfers the photographic slide to canvas. With other precise effects and techniques after a long process a picture of the genre comes out. Actually as a painting style, the most important feature of it is being precise and tight. There are some qualities of the process:
- The basic information and the color-schemes are gathered by a camera.
- Generally a mechanical process is being employed by the artist for the transformation of the photo-print to the canvas.
- The artist must possess technical qualities to ultimately look the finished product like a photograph.
- Most of the photo realists’ emphasis primarily on reflections of geometric surfaces to stand out from other pictures, and this can be one of the most important features of the art (Raczka 76).
On the other hand, the critics often say that pop art is a reaction to the abstract expressionism which was one of the most dominant intellectual cultures of the time. The main aim of the art was to use all the factors that were overlooked in the elitist art forms. Actually pop art can be described as a vehicle aimed for irony. It also shows in a way how the artist can successfully blend so many different pieces of art together to make a coherent piece of work. Most part of the Pop Art can be called as incoherent, but along with minimalism movement, pop art can be termed as the predecessor of the post modern art form (Hills 165).
Still now pop art is used heavily in the sphere of advertising. Some other very important uses of the pop art culture are in product labeling, logo developing and also making posters. Pop art’s imagery is one of the most used concepts in all these fields (Raczka 79).
Both the art forms, Pop Art and Photo Realism are two very important art forms of the twentieth century and they have produced a number of great artists. It will be very inappropriate to overlook both of these forms of art in the history of art.
Works Cited
Hills, Patricia. The figurative tradition and the Whitney Museum of American Art: paintings and sculpture from the permanent collection. Boston: University of Delaware Press, 1999.
Meisel, Louis K. Photo-Realism. Abradale Press, 2006.
Raczka, Bob. Name That Style: All about Isms in Art. LA: Millbrook Press, 2008.