Andy Warhol was an artist in the pop art. He explored the relationships between advertisement, celebrity culture, and artistic expression. Warhol was very successful as an illustrator of commercial art. He is however known for being controversial in art. His artwork is composed of different types of media such as painting, photography, hand drawing, printmaking, music, film, sculpture, and silk screening. He also pioneered computer generated art. He used collaborators to help him in accomplishing his art (The Warhol, 2013). Warhol focused on the popular people or items to form the subject of his art. Warhol focused on producing art work that was combined of both seriousness and humor. He would paint on silks screens that were produced with a lot of seriousness and then paint his subjects using very bright colors.
Warhol refused to explain his art to the media saying that the art explained itself. A viewer only had to look at the surface of the art and find the answers he or she sought. The oxidation paintings were prepared by using copper painting on canvases and then oxidizing the paintings with urine. Two of his employees were tasked with the job of pissing on the paintings. After doing his art using oxidation, silkscreen, and photography, Warhol went back to painting using a brush. He received criticism at first, but the paintings were gradually accepted by the public.
Banksy is a street artist based in UK. Banksy is a painter, political activist, graffiti artist, and film director. He uses satire to showcase dark humor in graffiti (Web Urbanist, 2014). His art is very distinctive and streetwise. The kind of art work he produces is featured on walls, streets, and bridges. Like Warhol, he makes use of collaborations. Banksy likes graffiti and holds the government in contempt for vandalizing graffiti. He displays his art publicly and does not sell photos or reproductions of his graffiti art. Banksy used stencils because they made him complete his work quickly. The use of stencils made his work distinctive and people would notice and associate his art with him. Banksy’s art shows humorous images sometimes with slogans. He passes messages of anti-capitalism and anti-war. The most common subjects of his art are soldiers, rats, children, policemen, the elderly, and apes.
Banksy uses his street art to pass messages to the public. His art is spurred by humor, and he relays the modern day issues through satirical images. Banksy is largely criticized by many people who say he does a lot of copying (Web Urbanist, 2014). He uses the style of Blek le Rat instead of using his own technique. An artist is recognized for his originality, yet Banksy thrives on copying the styles of other artists. His art also shows signs of copying because some of the images appearing in different types of his works are similar. Critics say that he might be using the computer to develop images for his stencils. Some people also do not like the idea of using stencils because they feel it is like cheating. Banksy however, adopted the use of stencils in his earlier years so as to avoid getting caught.
Conclusion
Pop art and street art are the same thing, but with different perspectives. Andy Warhol pioneered pop art and was seen as a controversial artist. He combined seriousness and humor in his art. He would use popular subjects and bright colors to capture the attention of the public. Banksy uses street art to speak to the public, and has faced controversy as earlier experienced by Warhol. Banksy uses wild humor and satire to pass messages to the public. His work is displayed to the public in full view so that they can get the message. Banksy’s art is comical and raises different reactions from the public. Pop art and street art is the same thing, but portrayed in different ways. Pop art provides the deeper meaning of art, and makes people understand and appreciate the art work. Street art, on the other hand, shows people their rights and passes messages of real issues though in a satirical way. The exhibition of pop art and street art that is scheduled to take place from June to August 2015 in the Museum of Modern Art in New York will be a great opportunity for people to learn more about pop art and street art.
References
The Warhol, (2013). Jean Michel Basquiat: Collaboration with Andy Warhol. Retrieved from: http://www.warhol.org/education/resourceslessons/Jean-Michel-Basquiat/
Web Urbanist, (2014). Banksy Paradox: 7 Sides of the Most Infamous Street Artist. Retrieved from: http://weburbanist.com/2007/07/19/banksy-paradox-unofficial-guide-to-the-worlds-most-infamous-urban-guerilla-street-artist/
