Pop artists

When Korean and foreign visitors come to the Cheonggye Plaza in front of the Dong-A Media Center in downtown Seoul, they stop and take a photo in front of a marsh snail-like colorful sculpture. It was made by Claes Oldenburg, an 84-year-old Swedish pop artist, in 2006 and its title is “Spring.” He became a household name for creating sculptures with puffed daily items such as a hamburger, a saw, and a lipstick.

Pop art refers to a stream of modern art that accommodates images familiar to the public such as cartoons, trademarks, ads, and movies or consumer products into the scope of art. Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997) who made “Happy Tears,” a piece that became famous after it was used in a corruption scandal, is a good example of pop art. As he and his piece was so often mentioned on the media, people who are unfamiliar with art must have heard about pop art.

Andy Warhol (1928-1987), a pop-art superstar, is the classic example. He named his atelier in New York as "Factory" in that he mass produces his artistic works. He said, “Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.” Ahead of him, Richard Hamilton started pop art in 1956 in the U.K. ahead of Warhol. He said, “Pop Art is: Popular, Transient, Expendable, Low Cost, Mass Produced, Young, Witty, Sexy, Gimmicky, Glamorous, Big Business.”

As Hamilton said, pop art’s glamour gains more popularity and sympathy than any other art movement from the public. Recently, a 20-something Korean pop artist’s behavior created a controversy. She posted a picture in which she is showing her middle finger in the life-size panel of former First Lady Yuk Young-soo when she visited the birthplace of former President Park Chung-hee in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province. With the picture, she left a message saying “Ignorance is a crime to be enlightened and is also violence” on her Facebook. She also posted a wrong fact on Twitter, saying, “It is a dictatorial regime that justified a mass killing on May 18, 1980.” She should have learned facts right before performing pop art.

Editorial Writer Koh Mi-seok (mskoh119@donga.com)