Focusing on the VIP class, all things controversial, and the restless societal narrative Neo-Pop keeps an ever watchful eye on Western culture. Not to be divided from the Pop Art movement of the mid 1950’s, Neo-Pop marks the expansion of the movement into our more current cultural climate. Ever present in the first wave of Pop art, commercial consumerism is often a focal point of conversation. Warhol’s soup can esthetic resonated into a diverse revolution.

Dawning in the 1980’s and continuing to this day, this new era with an ever growing celebrity culture and polarizing mass media energized social commentary to new heights. Artists like Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst, Matthew Barney, and Takashi Murakami are just a few of the trailblazers that have emphasized Neo-Pop’s variety of form. Mediums ranging from traditional paints, to inflatables, film and even taxidermy mingle in the postmodern minds of these artists. A vibrancy is present creating hues indicative of a plastic, machine-made era. They exhibit extraordinary self-awareness that is not limited to their own lives and personas, but reaches out to the public.

The relevance of the Duchampian readymade was reinvigorated. Replacing toilets with vacuums, an old language was used to describe new ideas. Neo-pop appeals to the viewers’ sense of humor and pokes fun at controversy. Often depicting recognizable subjects in shocking or alien circumstances, Pop art can allow the viewer to attribute new meanings to everyday objects.

Artists serve as sponges that absorb an essence of human experiences and their current culture. They draw attention to the evolving dilemmas of the age. Questioning social norms, feminine issues, celebrity fascination and the symbolic nature of animals, this movement critiques the world as a whole. Their communication keeps us mindful of the past and present, and allows us to wonder how our time will be remembered.