Richard Hamilton. Just What is it That Makes Today's Homes So Different, So Appealing? 1956
The other day in my History of Photography class, I remember looking up to the screen and seeing this magnificent work. It took me back to my first art history course in college about four years ago. I instantly fell in love again. Despite the fact that I'm highly attracted to collages or the use of mixed media, the incorporation of a comic excerpt in the background, the use of photography and just the overall coolness of this picture, the context is what amazes me the most.
Here Hamilton was commenting on how American culture had changed. There was all this new technology which included the camera, the hoover, television, the cinema, space navigation and so forth. He recognized that society had changed and there was no turning back. This was a period in which America was (and it still is) indulging in mass-consumerism and thus he paved the way for Pop Art - my favorite period in art. Hamilton stated that, "Pop should be: Popular (designed for a mass audience, Transient (short-term solution), Expendable (easily forgotten), Low-Cost, Mass-Produced, Young (aimed at youth), Witty, Sexy, Gimmicky, Glamorous, Big Business..." (Seizing the Light, Robert Hirsh, 314). And all this it was. Even though it was true sixty years ago, the fact that we still live in a world in which we are slaves to corporations and mass-consumerism makes Pop Art even more relevant today. Until we surpass this level of being, Pop Art will continue to be a true reflection of our society.
Below is more work from Richard Hamilton:
(Study for a Fashion Plate, 1969)
(The Beatles)
(Fashion Plate, 1970)
(My Marilyn, 1965)
