The Role of Consumer Culture in the Works of Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol

Perhaps the two greatest rebels in the history of modern art were Andy Warhol and Jackson Pollock . To a great extent , they knocked what was considered traditional art for a veritable loop with their new and unique approach to what was considered good arts ' Granted , neither artist was the first to rock the traditional method of presenting Gods and Kings ' as the centerpiece of the artist 's canvas . Dadaism Impressionism and a host of other styles of art had been slowly , but surely chipping away at the traditional mores of art for many

decades But , it was Pollock with abstract expressionism and , to a greater degree , Warhol with pop art that truly blew away many of the common conventional themes of the art world and attracting widespread public attention as mega star artists

Now , some of the more trite critics will look at Pollock 's abstractions and Warhol 's elevation of the mundane as something Anyone can do ' or worse , I can do that , but as previously stated such criticism is ridiculously trite and based on a surface value (or non-existent understanding of the work and legacy of these masters . For Pollock and Jackson , art was far more than simply putting paint to canvas . Yes their work was visually appealing (again , Warhol 's work was more appealing , however , on a national level , but this appeal was not limited to merely how good the painting looked . No , there was a unique psychology that captured the pulse of public sentiment that drove the popularity of these paintings . In other words , the paintings touched a raw nerve in their audience because the artist 's had a unique ability to firmly place their finger on the cultural pulse of a society and it was this that made them so popular

Of course , in to understand how they were able to place their finger on the pulse of a nation it is also critical to understand what was motivating them , how they achieved their psychological response in their audience , why the audience was so open to receiving such a psychological response , and what was the dominant cultural themes in society at the time that made their work so wildly popular . Much of this will be examined in this essay and from this a clearer understanding of the work and influence of Pollock and Warhol will b derived

Regarding the ways the careers of Pollock and Warhol went against the standard perceptions of Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art , it would be safe to say that neither Pollock nor Warhol was looking to impress an audience of art critics or maintain their popularity in certain social circles as much as they were looking to take their work directly to an audience and knock the art world for a loop . In other words , they did not seek to be members of an established club of conventional wisdom or taste as much as they were looking to completely re-establish the means and methods of how art was perceived...