Pop art is a form of art that emerged in the 1950s and 1960s in Britain and the United States. It was a movement that sought to challenge traditional notions of what art should look like, by taking everyday objects, such as advertising signs, comic books, and consumer goods and transforming them into works of art. This movement was largely in reaction to the Abstract Expressionism movement that had come before it.
Abstract Expressionism was a movement that focused on expressing emotions and feelings through abstract forms. It sought to create works with an emotional intensity, often using intense colors and gestural brushstrokes. The goal of Abstract Expressionists was to create an artwork that conveyed their innermost feelings without relying on recognizable imagery from everyday life.
Pop art, in contrast to Abstract Expressionism, focused on making art out of the objects from everyday life that were so often ignored by Abstract Expressionists. Pop artists embraced the idea of creating works out of popular culture icons such as movie stars or comic book characters.
The goal was not only to create art out of everyday objects but also to comment on aspects of popular culture such as consumerism or mass media. Pop artists also used techniques such as collage or appropriation to comment on these topics in their work.
Pop Art also differed from Abstract Expressionism in terms of its visual aesthetics. Where Abstract Expressionism sought an emotional intensity through bold colors and gestural brushstrokes, Pop Art used flat colors and graphic shapes to emphasize the commercial nature of their subject matter. Pop Art also tended towards a more humorous approach than Abstract Expressionism, using irony or satire to comment on issues related to consumer culture or mass media.
In conclusion, there are several ways in which Pop Art differed from Abstract Expressionism: it embraced everyday objects from popular culture rather than abstraction; it used flat colors and graphic shapes rather than intense colors and gestural brushstrokes; it used irony or satire rather than emotion; and it commented on aspects of popular culture rather than exploring personal feelings or emotions through painting alone. Ultimately, both movements have made important contributions to the history of modern art but they remain distinct styles with different approaches to creating works of art.