Teste Unidade 4 - Pop Art

Unit 4 – Culture, Arts and Society · Pop Art

3. Rewrite these sentences without changing their meaning. Begin with the

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words/expressions given. a. Pop Art was inspired by ever yday life. Most people didn’t really consider it a valid art form. Due to…

b. Andy Warhol is a remarkable Pop artist. His artworks are worth millions of dollars nowadays. Andy Warhol…

c. “I just happen to like ordinary things. When I paint them, I don’t try to make them extraordinary.

I just try to paint them ordinary-ordinary.” – stated Andy Warhol.  Andy Warhol stated that…

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Activity B Read the text and do the tasks that follow it.

Materialism and modern art In the 1960s, material objects and consumer goods crept into the world of art as never before. The presence of well-known corporate symbols and mass-produced goods in modern art reflected the commercialization of popular culture. Pop Art, as the movement is called, has been defined as having a common concern with the problems of the commercial image, popular culture and metaphysical 5

disgust. The concern of Pop Art with materialism suggests a sameness of mass production, the common objects of our affluent society taken out of context and scrutinized for their symbolic value. In general, the Pop Art movement reflects the uncertainty with

which consumer

researchers view

materialism. On one hand, concepts like envy, possessiveness, and materialism have psychologically negative implications. People who are materialistic have been found to have less self-esteem, more 10

conforming behavior, and so on. On the other hand, consumption is researched as a vehicle to express ourselves, to explore and maintain our identities, and enjoy the good life. The artists who developed Pop Art, using commercial objects, advertising themes, and consumer culture as their inspiration, also share this ambivalence. Some of the work seems to glorify materialism, while other work supplies a devastating critique of the affluent society.

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Warhol’s work is most closely associated with Pop Art, and

his themes

are so blatantly commercial

that he stands in for much of commentary on the movement as a whole. So, analysis of Pop Art and materialism naturally begins with Warhol. Two other Pop artists will be discussed briefly, Tom Wessolmann, known for his still life series, incorporating brand images and female forms; and Class Oldenburg, known for his soft sculptural forms of consumer goods. They and other Pop artists were 20

united in their recognition of consumer goods as expressive devices and a preoccupation with manufactured objects removed from nature. Pop Art’s power stems largely from the symbolic connotations of brands and products, symbols created by the ubiquitous and pervasive force of advertising. The question of approval or disapproval of consumer culture by the artists and their work is difficult

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to answer unequivocally. The artists themselves seem to be making an anti-materialistic statement by calling attention to mass banality – the innocent standardized products of our industrial society taken

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 Xplore · 12.º ano · Progress Check

out of context and revealed in their spiritual nakedness. However, Warhol claims that he painted Campbell soup cans and Coca-Cola bottles because he consumed them every day and liked them. In the mind of the viewer, Campbells and Coke serve as referential symbols, spewing meaning all over the canvas. Moreover, 30

companies like Campbells and Coke actively cultivate symbolic associations through advertising, of course, but through other means as well. Art allows us to go beyond basic questions of good or bad and reflect on the nature of our relationships with consumer culture. In so doing, Pop Art in particular reflects and illuminates materialism. Adapted from: http://nativeyouthmagazine.com

1. Match a section from column A to column B in order to build true statements according to

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the text. B

A

a. Modern art became commercial

1. are described as conformist and with low self-esteem.

b. Pop Art attributes symbolic value

2. glorify materialism and also offer criticism on our materialistic society.

c. On a negative perspective, materialistic people d. Under a positive light, materialists e. Artworks belonging to the Pop Art movement can

3. also enjoy the good things in life and easily express themselves.

      g       n         i       n       e        t       s         i         l

4. to common objects of daily life. 5. with the introduction of well-known corporate symbols and mass-produced goods.

   e    d    e

2. Answer these questions according to the text. Use your own words as far as possible.

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a. Which features characterise the works of Pop artists Tom Wessolmann and Class Oldenburg? b. Explain where Pop Art obtains its power and strength. c. How do artists explore standard products of our industrial society? d. Why does Pop Art reveal materialism?

3. Identify what these words or expressions highlighted in the text refer to. a. their (l. 6)

b. which (l. 7)

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c. his (l. 15)

4. Explain the meaning of these expressions taken from the text in your own words.

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a. The artists who developed Pop Art (...) also share this ambivalence. (ll. 11-13) b. Pop Art’s power stems largely from the symbolic connotations of brands and products… (ll. 21-22) c. … innocent standardized products of our industrial society… (l. 26)

Activity C   a   r   o    t    i    d    E   o    t   r   o    P    ©    F    T    2    1    L    P    X

Write an opinion article on the relevance of art in today’s society . Focus on ways art can illustrate or represent positive or negative features of our society. Write about 150-180 words. Use input from Activities A and B to help you.

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80 points

   a    t    i    r    c    s    e    o    ã    ç    a    i    l    a    v    A

Unit 4 – Culture, Arts and Society · Pop Art

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Activity D – Listening Audio CD 2 – Track 28

1. Listen to this text about Pop Art and fill in the blanks with the missing words.

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Use between 1 to 3 words.

Pop Art – Inspired by the Everyday

It was in this climate of 

, experimentation, and

a

that a

b

new generation of artists emerged in Britain and America in the mid- to late1950s. Pop artists began to look for

in the world around them,

c

representing – and, at times, making art directly from – everyday items, d

, and

. They did this in a straightforward

e

using bold swaths of primary colors, often straight from the can or They adopted commercial

,

f 

.

g 

like silkscreening, or produced multiples

h

of works, downplaying the artist’s hand and subverting the idea of  in marked contrast with the highly 

, large-scaled

 j

–

i k

works

of the Abstract Expressionists, whose work had dominated postwar American Art. Pop artists favored

l

heavy doses of 

and wit.

m

, everyday (and even mundane) imagery, and Adapted from: http://blog.bluezeppelin.com

2. Now listen to the recording again and decide if the statements are true or false. Correct the

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false ones. a. Pop artists didn’t pay much attention to the past. b. The artists’ work combined different media, materials and techniques. c. The main purpose of Pop artists was to create new meanings. d. According to Andy Warhol, Pop artists use images that were difficult to recognise. e. The technique of combining, scrambling and remixing images is still rarely used by

performance artists.

 Test Specification  Activity A

Activity B

Activity C

Activity D

Total

1.

= 10

1.

= 15

80

13

2.

= 16

2.

= 16

—

17

3.

= 12

3.

=9

—

—

4.

= 12

—

—

—

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200 points