Pop art came as an aversion to Abstract Expressionism and has ever since maintained the standard of leaving scope for novel things to be incorporated into the art form, but still retaining its ethics that had been created by Andy Warhol and his contemporaries. Peter Max is taking this tradition forward in the best way possible; it is he who was responsible for giving a new meaning to the pop art culture that came to be known as Neo Pop.
Pop art has been developing ever since its inception in the mid 1950’s in the United States of America, and hence it continues to do so. This has led to some versions of the pop art that are being discussed below:
- Scanner Darkly Style – in this form of the art, the characters seem to be real but they are animated in reality. This is made possible through a technique known as the interpolated rotoscoping; this form of technique is used in creating portraits in pop art. The end result displays cartoon characters that look like real life characters.
- Pastel Pop – pop art is all about using of colors, this too does so, but the variation here is, instead of using the traditionally overtly vibrant colors, pastel shades are used. This tones down the effect of the painting to a certain extent, and lends it a calm and soothing rendition. Often it works great with the home décor.
- Delftware Style – Delft in Netherlands in famous for the aquamarine blues and intricate prints on pottery, it is this style that has been incorporated into this style of pop cart and put down on the canvas. The animal and floral motifs are borrowed from the Delft style and the digital prints are converted to the outlines of the portraits drawn on the canvas. Similar shades of blue as are used in Delft are incorporated in this form pop art.
- Obama Campaign Style – this style of pop art is modernist, patriotic, and bright too. It is easily moldable into anyone’s portrait and with a personalized message.
- Ultrasound Pop art – imaging in this form of pop art is taken to altogether different level, it would hard to imagine, how the ultrasound images of an unborn baby are converted into a portrait of this pop art genre. The hard and the soft parts of the scan decide where the dark and where the softer shades need to be used; the endeavor is to create a realistic yet artistic portrait.
Pop art has been a great liberal form of expression for all painting artists ever since it began; it has rightly captured the perceptions of several artists. Peter Max is an exemplary figure in the genre of pop art and despite being associated with such big names as the American Presidents, Pope and even the Beatles; it is his humility that still inspires him to “Be Creative”, which has been motto all his life.