The colors and styles of pop art are having a revival with pop style in the workplace. The international pop art movement began in the 1950s, when artists took an ironic or humorous look at mass media and popular culture, and brought everyday icons into fine art. The movement blossomed into the brightly colored Flower Power look of the counterculture movement of the late 1960s, using organic shapes and psychedelic colors for consumer goods such as tee shirts, album covers, and posters.
The pop movement today in art and design, called Neo-Pop, retains the earlier humorous or ironic look at popular culture, but has moved in several new directions as technology has made the methods and materials of fine art more accessible to a larger population. Visually attractive and high energy, the new methods of reproduction have allowed high-quality Neo-Pop art to move into workspaces.
Neo-Pop no longer embraces the messages of early pop, which might be considered unsuitable for workplaces. New bodies of work are addressing consumer culture and climate change, various human rights subjects, and environmental stewardship. Neo-Pop usually has a strong political or social justice message, and is related in many ways to the blossoming street art movement. Linking workspace art with a company value or social justice message is one way in which businesses are embracing expectations of diversity and inclusion, transparency, and environmental stewardship.Pop art is known for bright colors and organic lines, abstraction, and emerging techniques such as assemblage, serigraph, and mixing text and images. Most of these works are energetic and immediately accessible. Adding pop style in the workplace can mix some older pop such as classic Johns or Warhol, with newer artists who have expanded and energized the medium.
Interested in adding some Neo-Pop or Street Art to your workspace? We would love to work with you! Get in touch.
