Pop Art – Learn about it!

I’ve chosen to learn more about David Hockney and his hit piece, “A Bigger Splash”

1. What is Pop art

Pop art is an art movement that started in the UK and US around the 1950s. The movement was created to challenge traditions of fine art by instead using imagery from popular and mass culture, like advertising, comic books and mundane mass-produced objects.

2. Why is this artist’s work considered Pop Art?

David’s piece, “A Bigger Splash” is considered Pop art because, as David Hockney has often been quoted about in his process of painting A Bigger Splash, he says that when a splash is photographed, the moment is frozen and it “becomes something else”, and that in real life a splash happens “too quickly” and cannot be seen that way in “real life”. This also leads to the inherent irony in Hockney’s process of creating A Bigger Splash, in which he further explained, that he spent most of his time painting the splash, and “the splash lasts two seconds, and the building would be permanent there”. He also explained that that is what it was about and that “you have to look in at the detail”.

3. Describe some of this artists work.

As stated before, he has his “A Bigger Splash” work, which he is most known for. It’s meant as a piece that captures the small, beautiful instants that pass us by to quickly. Another piece of art of his I find is really lovely is his artwork titled “My Parents,” which depicts exactly what it says on the title. It’s another piece of art with vibrant colors that depicts a serene scene, and was considered a pop art piece because it was a look into the intimate lives of two random people, not celebrities, and was given the same amount of detail and care as one would paint a superstar in

4. Why did you pick this artist and why do you like his/her work?

I found it intriguing that his artwork was simply a splash of water in a pool, so I searched to find the meaning behind it and how it stood out to people as pop art. It wasn’t really so much the art that intrigued me, but the lack of a meaning I could find in it that drew me in. The adventure was kind of worth it in the end though!