Pop Art

This movement started in Britain around the 1950's. The first time pop art was mentioned was during a discussion among artists from the Independent Group that was formed in the Institute of Contemporary Art in London. This movement was made up of the kids from the baby boom after the war, full of energy and rebellion against Abstract art. 
Some of its characteristics are:
-Recognizable imagery inspired from the media and products
-Images of fictional characters in comic books or well-known celebrities from advertisements and magazines
-Flat imagery
-Use of very bright colours

This movement appreciated "material culture". It did not criticize the excessive consumerism and materialism and all the consequences they brought. It just recognized them as a natural fact.
Notable artists of the Pop Art movement include:
-Andy Warhol
-Richard Hamilton
-Roy Lichtenstein
-Eduardo Paolozzi
-Pauline Boty
-Tom Wesselmann
-David Hockney
-Rosalyn Drexler

Fashion Plate 1969-70. Mediums used Lithograph, screen-print, pochoir and cosmetic on paper.

Hamilton was born in London, attended the Slade School of Art from 1948-51. In 1952 he helped found the Independent Group. In 1956, Hamilton created some of his most well known images. One of them was the "Just what is it that makes today’s homes so different, so appealing?" collage-poster made in 1956.

Marilyn Diptych 1962. Medium used acrylic paint on canvas.

Andy Warhol was born in 1928 in Pittsburgh. He studied pictorial design at the Carnegie Institute of Technology. He worked as a commercial artist and in 1957 was awarded the Art Directors' Club Medal for his shoe advertisements.  From 1960, he started to make paintings that were based on mass-produced images from newspapers, magazines and so one. In 1962 he produced a series of easel paintings of, some of which were 'Campbell's Soup Cans', 'Coca-Cola Bottles', portraits of Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Elvis Presley, Jackie Kennedy. He later produced other paintings of different subjects such as car crashes, electric chair and flowers. He sometimes stuck with the same image and repeated for several times. He is an iconic artist of the Pop Art Movement.

Alessandro Mendini

This Italian designer, architect and journalist was born in 1931. He worked with famous magazines like Casabella, Moda and Domus. He studied at the polytechnic University of Milan. Mendini had Dadaist and Anti-Design ideas. 

His Praust chair designed in 1978 is one of the most famous designs. From this chair onward, Mendini created a furniture line of re-designs. He had come across a copy of a neo-arabesque chair from the 18th century in France. He covered the chair in colourful, hand-painted dots. It is inspired  from the impressionism movement, he attempted to re-create the atmospheric appearance of nature. This was a unique piece, but was replicated into several different designs by Mendini Studio. This design was a cost-saving, classic and original functional construction.

The Wassily chair re-design was produced in 1983. It had a chrome-plated steel frame and leather seat, backrest and armrests. He re-design the famous Wassily chair, 1925 by Breuer, by adding different colours and textures, trying to add ornament detail and decorative aspects. He added a smug effect to the leather, incorporating the military pattern in it. He modernized it and was a pretty innovative design for the 1970's.

The original Wassily Chair by Breuer

Another re-design from Mendini was Rietveld's Zig-Zag chair, designed in 1978 in Milan, with wood. He designed the back to form a cross and represent a pert religiousness, which caused a lot of controversy. 

He liked twisting the meanings and purposes of products and design.