Unit 2 Summative: Pop Art #2 (Jay-Z)

The original image of Jay-Z on the bottom with the finished pop art on the top.

Unit 2 Summative: Pop Art #1 (iPhone)

The original image on the bottom with the finished pop art on the top.

Unit 2 Summative: Pop Art- Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol first acquired  his pop art inspiration/education from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh where he studied commercial art. He later moved to New York City where he gained fame for his hand-drawn  advertisement magazine illustrations, specifically of shoes.

Beginning in the 1960s, Warhol first exhibited his iconic pop art that he is so famously known for today. It was during this time that he began making paintings of American icons - products and celebrities. Some of these included Coca-Cola bottles and Marilyn Monroe. This was the start of the pop art revolution. Warhol’s work in the 1960s specifically focused on USA pop culture, such as celebrities and products of the time, as well as controversial news headlines. Later on in the later 1960s and into the 1970s, Warhol began painting portraits of some of the most famous people of the time, who are still icons to this day. These included Mick Jagger, John Lennon, Michael Jackson, and Mao Zedong.

Andy Warhol was the first artist to take commercial art into the fine art industry. He did this by putting commercial images of popular products and public figures of the time and put these on silkscreen prints and called this fine art. This caused controversy in the art world, though Warhol sparked a revolution in art and his works became popular.

Warhol’s art, although produced in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, is still relevant today. Today, people have become objects of consumerism. Warhol was criticized during his time for being a ‘business artist’ and ‘surrendering to consumerism.’ This remains the same today: consumerism and advertisements are all around us, everywhere we go - for our drive, while surfing the internet, and especially while watching TV. Warhol was able to realize that popular culture (popular objects, people, etc.) is what is important to society and in 2008 this is especially true. 

Warhol coined the phrase ’15 minutes of fame’ more than 25 years ago. This refers to the fame and attention a person or objects receives for a short period of time, and then this fame passes onto a new object ‘as soon as the public’s attention span is exhausted.’ Warhol captured this in his art and he couldn’t have been more correct.

Pop Art Formative #1

Summative #1: Triptych

This is the final copy of my triptych. 

*Click on the image to see a larger, more detail copy of the triptych*

Unit 1 Summative: Triptych Questions

Question 1

Explain what each panel represents about you.

In my triptych each of the three panels represents three different things, specifically three different aspects of like that I enjoy. Panel one represents my love for the game of tennis. I have been playing tennis since I was 4 years old, and it has always been an important athletic aspect in my life. The second panel represents my like of travelling to places across the world. This panel includes pictures that my family and I have taken while visiting various places in Europe and in the US. Lastly, the third panel illustrates three things in life that I enjoy all in one panel: music, movies, and games. These things (music, movies, games) are a big aspect of what I enjoy.

Question 2

Explain how you used the elements of line, texture, colour and shape in your work.

I used all four of these elements in a different way in my work:

• Line: I used different directions of line in my work. For example, some of the pictures were rotated. This changed the "line" of the picture to diagonal. As well, each of the pictures is placed either vertically, diagonally or horizontally. In my work, there are examples of wavy, zigzag, diagonal, horizontal and vertical lines in the pictures on my triptych. For example, in the picture of me playing tennis, there is a diagonal line/stripe on my shirt.
• Texture: There are also different uses of texture in my triptych. The two types of texture are visual and physical. Visual texture is implied/simulated texture. For example, the transitions between each of the panels of the triptych falls under physical texture becuase I have blended them together in order to imply a soft, "effortless" transition between panels. Physical texture has also been used. Physical texture is any object that has a "surface feel" in real-life. For example, the grass tennis court has smooth, soft texture while the stone-work on the Pantheon appears more rough.
• Colour: Each object in my triptych has a different colour, though I have used both the warm (yellow, orange, red) and cool (green, blue, violet) colour palettes in my work. More specifically, intermediate (for example, blue-green) colours have been used as well.
• Shape: Of course, each picture in the triptych has a different shape. Geometric (circles, squares, triangles, rectangles) are found in the triptych. Organic shapes (shapes that are found in nature; non-geometric) have also been used in parts of the triptych.

Question 3

Choose one area of the triptych which you feel is an area of strength and write why that is so.

The first panel (far left) is the strongest area of my triptych. I put this panel as the first panel to symbolize that tennis is the thing I enjoy doing most. It shows four different pictures of me playing tennis, and those things "gravitating" around a tennis ball, the most important thing in the game of tennis. The background used, the grass tennis court, helps to make the composition in this panel of the triptych strong. The background makes it appear that the tennis player (me) is standing on different levels of a tennis court. Since the tennis court background is somewhat blurred, it makes the four images of the tennis player appear as if they are moving swiftly across the court, adding excitment to this panel. Overall, these aspects, and since tennis is my favourite thing to do, make this panel the strongest as well as my favourite.

Question 4

Choose one area of the triptych that you feel could use more attention to make it more effective and write why.

I feel that the far right side of the triptych (the third panel) could use more attention to make it more effective. Most of the pictures in this panel of the triptych lack excitment/action, as they are mostly pictures of album, game, and movie covers. To make this area of the triptych more effective, I could've used pictures with people actually in them, for example a picture of me listening to music, or physically holding my favourite album, movie, etc. Pictures of me/people in them always helps draw the viewers eye to a certain area. As well, more photoshop effects could've been used to make this area more interesting. For example, blended layers and masks, and more photo-in-photo.

Photographic Formative #3: Colour