ARTH 284A Pop Art/Pop Culture

SUNY-Binghamton
Fall Semester: October 22 - December 14, 2001
MWF 2:20-3:20 pm, LH004
2 credits

Description
For the United States, the decades following World War II were a time of global dominance­ politically, militarily, and culturally. The period saw the emergence of "popular" or "mass" culture: a new visual environment full of advertising, magazines, comics, films, and television. At the same time, their was a world-wide promotion of new American "high" art. What was the relationship between this world of "High Art" and the world of American popular culture? Where did the ideas of "high" and "low" come from? What threat did the new visual culture pose to the idea of Art? What happened when certain "Pop" artists sought to cross the divide, to draw on the seeming vitality of popular images, to disturb the high seriousness of established Art, but also to pose questions about the vacuity of the new corporate cultural environment? Could this new "movement" avoid becoming another media event in itself? This course will investigate such questions and, on the way, issues of consumerism, leisure, celebrity, and gender will surface as we probe the complex relationship between modern art and pop culture.

Format: Lectures with weekly readings and discussion. Attendance and participation essential.

No Prerequisites. Appropriate for all students.