Pop Art and the American Tradition

"I began working with the imagery of mass culture because I saw it as an untapped resource. I was intrigued by its boldness and its ability to speak directly to the viewer. I wanted to bring that quality into the realm of fine art, to show that the imagery of commercial advertisements and billboards had as much value as traditional painting. In fact, I saw these everyday objects as being more authentic and more representative of modern life than anything in the classical tradition."

- Tom Wesselmann

"Pop Art represents the challenge to traditional notions of what art is, where it comes from, and how it should be consumed. Its primary subject matter is the culture of mass production and mass media—the imagery of advertisements, comic strips, packaging, and consumer products. Pop artists created a new language of art that was both critical and celebratory, using the very tools of the culture they sought to represent. In doing so, they blurred the line between what was considered 'high' culture and 'low' culture, elevating the mundane and the commercial to the level of fine art."

- Lawrence Alloway