Still Life No. 17
Mixed media

Tom Wesselmann

Tom Wesselmann (born 1931) is known as a pop artist. Pop was a movement of the 1960s, in which artists adopted and adapted elements of popular culture (hence, the name "pop") into their works of art. Consumer culture, mass production, and advertising were all sources of inspiration, as artists tried to get people to look at the world around them, paying attention to everyday objects that might not normally be noticed.

Many critics felt that popular culture was not an appropriate subject for art, which somehow should be above everyday life. Other people, especially the public, enjoyed the way in which pop artists blended art and life.

Wesselmann created a series of still lifes (works of art that represent a group of inanimate objects) in the 1960s. Number 20 in the series (above) is descibed here. The left side of the work was created with functional items he collected, then placed in a real cabinet above an actual sink ­ the light can be turned on or off and the cabinet opened or closed (see two transparencies). On the right are two-dimensional representations of various types of food and drink. Above is a reproduction of a painting by the Dutch artist Piet (peet) Mondrian (monn-dree-on) (1872-1944) who used the elements of art in their purest forms ­ straight lines, right angles, primary colors (red, yellow, blue) ­ in an attempt to represent a future utopian society. Wesselmann often included reproductions of works by other artists in his still lifes, in part to show that art ­ once so far removed from everyday life ­ had joined the commercial world.